Ethan Edwards is a pseudonym. I am a pedophile, always celibate, and I have never seen child pornography. My attraction is strongest to girls around 4 years old, but I am also attracted to girls and women up through their 30s or beyond. Now in my late 60s, I'm divorced and living alone. I was married for over 10 years and was heavily involved with raising my 3 daughters. For most of my career I was a successful software engineer. I am very unusual for a pedophile in that I didn't realize that I was one until I was in my 50s—but it was there all along. I am angry that we all must remain silent or risk losing everything. That was my mindset when I co-founded Virtuous Pedophiles in 2012. I soon learned of the the terror of the typical pedophile who realizes as a teenager that his attraction isn't going to go away, who has nowhere to turn for help. The injustice I am most passionate about is the harsh legal penalties imposed on pedophiles who passively view illegal images of children. I stepped down from my role as a director of Virtuous Pedophiles early in 2024 and am delighted to pass the mantle on to a younger generation.

Ethan Edwards is a pseudonym. I am a pedophile, always celibate, and I have never seen child pornography. My attraction is strongest to girls around 4 years old, but I am also attracted to girls and women up through their 30s or beyond. Now in my late 60s, I'm divorced and living alone. I was married for over 10 years and was heavily involved with raising my 3 daughters. For most of my career I was a successful software engineer. I am very unusual for a pedophile in that I didn't realize that I was one until I was in my 50s—but it was there all along. I am angry that we all must remain silent or risk losing everything. That was my mindset when I co-founded Virtuous Pedophiles in 2012. I soon learned of the the terror of the typical pedophile who realizes as a teenager that his attraction isn't going to go away, who has nowhere to turn for help. The injustice I am most passionate about is the harsh legal penalties imposed on pedophiles who passively view illegal images of children. I stepped down from my role as a director of Virtuous Pedophiles early in 2024 and am delighted to pass the mantle on to a younger generation.

9 July 2017

virtuous pedophiles for dummies
ethan edwards

There are bad guys and there are OK guys.

29 March 2017

practical advice on coming out
ethan edwards

Pedophiles often feel a desire to come out — to have their sexuality known. Here are some practical considerations.

6 March 2017

the iq deficit of pedo abusers may not transfer to the celibate
ethan edwards

Research on pedophiles has suggested that we differ from ordinary peoplein a variety of non-flattering ways . The implications of being short or left-handed are obvious and not very serious for a person's self-concept. But IQ is more central to a person's self-worth, and the claimed deficit bothers...

26 February 2017

review: ethical porn for dicks, part 3 of 3
ethan edwards

The author is David Ley, the full title is Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure. This is part 3 of a 3-part review, on implications for pedophiles.

25 February 2017

review: ethical porn for dicks, part 2 of 3
ethan edwards

The author is David Ley, and the full title is Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure. This is part 2 of a 3-part review, on CP.

24 February 2017

review: ethical porn for dicks, part 1 of 3
ethan edwards

The author is David Ley, the full title is "Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure", and it was published in 2016.

29 January 2017

review of erotic innocence by james kincaid
ethan edwards

Kincaid thinks we should go back to hugging kids and playing with them without worrying obsessively. But he then adds, curiously, "if you find yourself getting too excited, going too far, wanting to incite or not to stop — then stop."

19 January 2017

the framing effect as applied to pedophile mental health
ethan edwards

A well-studied cognitive bias is the Framing Effect.

14 January 2017

libby purves' more lives than one
ethan edwards

If you set out to create the most sympathetic pedophile you could, you would get Kit.

18 November 2016

j.d. salinger
ethan edwards

I feel there is pretty good evidence Salinger was actually a celibate pedophile, most attracted to girls of age 10 or so.

23 October 2016

what if ordinary porn was illegal?
ethan edwards

Looking at CP is illegal and can incur stiff penalties, and I would urge everyone to not look at it, for that reason if nothing else. Setting that aside, I think looking at CP is morally questionable. It would certainly make me personally uncomfortable. (I have never seen any).

21 September 2016

should pedophiles talk online?
ethan edwards

This post was inspired by a quote in the Virtuous Pedophiles support group:

28 August 2016

gay lust for straight men — implications for pedophilia
ethan edwards

Adult sex with children is wrong. Making CP as we classically think of it is wrong.

25 June 2016

does this link point to cp?
ethan edwards

Someone recently sent me an email saying that they had been a victim in CP, that someone was trying to make those pictures available on the clear web (not just the dark web) and they wanted my help in getting rid of them. They then included several links.

20 June 2016

privilege is not a helpful framework
ethan edwards

Perhaps some of my readers like the concept of 'privilege', as heard notably in 'white privilege' and 'male privilege'. In the interest of a productive dialog, let me start with some things I do believe.

24 May 2016

mandated reporting: the pedophile perspective
ethan edwards

Professional associations advise their members on how to stay within the law, simplifying the situation and erring on the side of their staying within the law (rather than protecting their clients' rights). Individual therapists will tend to have a less clear understanding, and simplify further, erring in the same direction.

20 April 2016

a path out of self-hatred
ethan edwards

One of my favorite methods in thinking about pedophiles is to compare their situation with ordinary adult-attracted people.

10 April 2016

cp viewing and raw prejudice
ethan edwards

Imagine a man who sees a shocking video of a 4-year-old girl being abused. He went looking for this video in particular, and he finds it terrifically exciting. He is excited by what is happening. How do we make sense of this?

3 April 2016

to every thing a season: objectifying people
ethan edwards

A loud feminist complaint in society is that men objectify women and view them as sex objects. Women want instead to be treated as full people with talents, opinions, and aspirations, just like men. I believe that in general men will instinctively evaluate women with regard to their attractiveness regardless...

21 March 2016

porn: desire overcomes morality for 40% of men
ethan edwards

An article reports that the majority of people just don't think that porn is good. Naturally they are discussing ordinary porn with everyone over 18 years old.

2 March 2016

child sex abuse — recorded or not
ethan edwards

We care a lot more about what we see than what we don't.

23 February 2016

pedophiles need to avoid more than sex
ethan edwards

If any adult voluntarily comes into a child's life, we can naturally hold them to a hig standard, and that is the minimum standard pedophiles should set for themselves.

5 February 2016

saving kids from cp
ethan edwards

We want kids protected from child pornography - both as victims and as users

2 February 2016

if police lie, are they the enemy?
ethan edwards

I've reluctantly concluded that in the US, to the extent I have to assume the police lie to me or my fellow citizens, they have become the Enemy.

26 January 2016

review: lamb - the movie and book
ethan edwards

Although I believe the law is too blunt an instrument to properly intervene in non-sexual friendships between men and children, Lamb shows the emotional dangers.

22 January 2016

thought moralists on sexual attraction
ethan edwards

I got to thinking about this issue when a radio show host was saying that adult male attraction to 16-year-olds was positively sick and perverted. He presented it as something obvious — not a controversial conclusion he had reached that might need some support.

10 January 2016

victimless?
ethan edwards

Suppose we (temporarily) turn away from what is legal and what isn't and address only what is right and wrong?

1 January 2016

private sexual satisfaction is good
ethan edwards

In my last postlast post I argued that once erroneous beliefs about pedophilic desire are corrected, a cascade of bad consequences can be corrected and eliminated.

29 December 2015

the cascade from yuck
ethan edwards

With the negative cascade removed, we could have pedophiles who can honestly share their feelings and lives with other adults.

12 November 2015

regret of early sex in "diary of a teenage girl"
ethan edwards

The early sex was ultimately a serious obstacle to be overcome, not a simple early pleasure.

There are bad guys and there are OK guys.

Pedophiles often feel a desire to come out — to have their sexuality known. Here are some practical considerations.

Research on pedophiles has suggested that we differ from ordinary peoplein a variety of non-flattering ways . The implications of being short or left-handed are obvious and not very serious for a person's self-concept. But IQ is more central to a person's self-worth, and the claimed deficit bothers...

The author is David Ley, the full title is Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure. This is part 3 of a 3-part review, on implications for pedophiles.

The author is David Ley, and the full title is Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure. This is part 2 of a 3-part review, on CP.

The author is David Ley, the full title is "Ethical porn for dicks: a man's guide to responsible viewing pleasure", and it was published in 2016.

Kincaid thinks we should go back to hugging kids and playing with them without worrying obsessively. But he then adds, curiously, "if you find yourself getting too excited, going too far, wanting to incite or not to stop — then stop."

A well-studied cognitive bias is the Framing Effect.

If you set out to create the most sympathetic pedophile you could, you would get Kit.

I feel there is pretty good evidence Salinger was actually a celibate pedophile, most attracted to girls of age 10 or so.

Looking at CP is illegal and can incur stiff penalties, and I would urge everyone to not look at it, for that reason if nothing else. Setting that aside, I think looking at CP is morally questionable. It would certainly make me personally uncomfortable. (I have never seen any).

This post was inspired by a quote in the Virtuous Pedophiles support group:

Adult sex with children is wrong. Making CP as we classically think of it is wrong.

Someone recently sent me an email saying that they had been a victim in CP, that someone was trying to make those pictures available on the clear web (not just the dark web) and they wanted my help in getting rid of them. They then included several links.

Perhaps some of my readers like the concept of 'privilege', as heard notably in 'white privilege' and 'male privilege'. In the interest of a productive dialog, let me start with some things I do believe.

Professional associations advise their members on how to stay within the law, simplifying the situation and erring on the side of their staying within the law (rather than protecting their clients' rights). Individual therapists will tend to have a less clear understanding, and simplify further, erring in the same direction.

One of my favorite methods in thinking about pedophiles is to compare their situation with ordinary adult-attracted people.

Imagine a man who sees a shocking video of a 4-year-old girl being abused. He went looking for this video in particular, and he finds it terrifically exciting. He is excited by what is happening. How do we make sense of this?

A loud feminist complaint in society is that men objectify women and view them as sex objects. Women want instead to be treated as full people with talents, opinions, and aspirations, just like men. I believe that in general men will instinctively evaluate women with regard to their attractiveness regardless...

An article reports that the majority of people just don't think that porn is good. Naturally they are discussing ordinary porn with everyone over 18 years old.

We care a lot more about what we see than what we don't.

If any adult voluntarily comes into a child's life, we can naturally hold them to a hig standard, and that is the minimum standard pedophiles should set for themselves.

We want kids protected from child pornography - both as victims and as users

I've reluctantly concluded that in the US, to the extent I have to assume the police lie to me or my fellow citizens, they have become the Enemy.

Although I believe the law is too blunt an instrument to properly intervene in non-sexual friendships between men and children, Lamb shows the emotional dangers.

I got to thinking about this issue when a radio show host was saying that adult male attraction to 16-year-olds was positively sick and perverted. He presented it as something obvious — not a controversial conclusion he had reached that might need some support.

Suppose we (temporarily) turn away from what is legal and what isn't and address only what is right and wrong?

In my last postlast post I argued that once erroneous beliefs about pedophilic desire are corrected, a cascade of bad consequences can be corrected and eliminated.

With the negative cascade removed, we could have pedophiles who can honestly share their feelings and lives with other adults.

The early sex was ultimately a serious obstacle to be overcome, not a simple early pleasure.

the p word is a collection of 320 articles, blogs, podcasts and threads in the voices of pedophiles and others who oppose adult child sexual contact and sexual exploitation of children. Despite our mainstream views, this content is frequently removed from social media or blog sites because openly discussing pedophile attractions or avowing them are not tolerated. Our side of the conversation continues here.

editor at the p word net

Except where stated, all images are AI and do not depict real people.

the p word is a collection of 320 articles, blogs, podcasts and threads in the voices of pedophiles and others who oppose adult child sexual contact and sexual exploitation of children. Despite our mainstream views, this content is frequently removed from social media or blog sites because openly discussing pedophile attractions or avowing them are not tolerated. Our side of the conversation continues here.

editor at the p word net

Except where stated, all images are AI and do not depict real people.