I have always felt bad for 'non-practicing' pedophiles. It must be a horribly lonely thing to go through. Not only are you universally hated, but you have desires and longings you can -never- act on, a need that can -never- be fulfilled. Add to that the isolation.. it must be hell. And all because of something they can't change. And the worst thing about it is that the hatred is so understandable. Where someone's kids are involved, of course they won't take any risks. Of course they're going to lash out at anything and anyone that might be dangerous. It's a visceral thing.

But you're right. This idea that every pedophile wants to rape kids is probably very damaging. Not just to the pedophiles themselves, but also the kids around them. When you push someone into a secret corner where they can't talk to people about their issues, where they can't be honest, can't get help... you'll only make sure that some of them don't look for help, when they might have otherwise. Someone with nothing to lose is more dangerous than someone with some social net.

Maybe I would feel different if I had kids myself, but I have always approached it from a rational point of view. Does every heterosexual guy rape women? Does every heterosexual woman rape men? Does every gay man rape men? No, of course not. Being attracted to someone obviously doesn't mean you will end up raping them. Especially when romantic feelings are involved.. most people don't want to hurt the people they're in love with. So why assume that every pedophile rapes children? I am no expert, but I assume there are way more people with these feelings than we would like to know. Luckily most humans have some sort of self-control.