[user104658]

Originally Posted by Josy

And also, sexual orientation refers to the gender that a person is attracted to whereas paedophiles are attracted to children

Depends if you're talking common usage or literal usage. In common usage, yes, it's talking about sexuality. If we're talking literal, it would mean literally any form of sexual desire (as "orientation" is a very broad term that could mean anything).

I have recently argued on here that common usage is always the more linguistically correct usage, though... so yes if I was the editor for this article I'd probably have recommended rewording that.

Regarding conversion therapy, that's where it becomes a very hot topic, because obviously people are going to want to brand it "impossible" to address for fear of adding fuel to the fire of people who advocate conversion therapy for perfectly normal sexualities.

It's not the same thing, though. As he's pointed out, paedophilia is usually a result of trauma and trauma IS very treatable - thus, treating childhood trauma could (almost as a side effect) "cure" paedophilia. I think it is important to frame it as a trauma-related mental health problem though, as it pretty much always is, rather than an orientation. He actually does DESCRIBE it as a trauma-related problem, so it's a strange choice of words for naming it.

I have read before that anonymous surveys have shown that (scarily, I suppose) the vast majority of paedophiles DON'T ever commit an offense or even tell anyone. The abnormal feelings and the ability to actively harm someone are two completely separate things.