Disclaimer: like most pedophiles, I have never approached a child with anything sexual or otherwise inapporpriate, and I don’t plan ever to do so. I recognize the harm in such actions, and I don’t want to hurt the very people I love. If you expect AMA with a child molester, this ain’t it.
The account is a throwaway, hope you’ll understand this decision given the sensitivity of the topic.
Edit: Thank you for keeping civil and genuine in your questions. I did envision hostility, yet here you are, amazing as always. Lemmy is a wonderful place to be, thanks to you all!
Edit 2: Apparently we have another brave pedophile here in the comments, and he came with a good note I should include in the post: if you find yourself attracted to minors, that’s okay. Acting on your desires is dangerous, but having them isn’t. If you’d like to have some support and/or community that would help you get your bearings or just listen without any prejudice (we’re all in the same boat), there are places that can help you. Visit VirPed (18+) or MAP Support Club (13+; scroll down for details), or refer to other resources through the MAP Resources website.
Hi! I’m not OP, but I am also a pedophile.
What you’re describing is called SOCE “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts” AKA conversion therapy. It doesn’t work for gay people to try to gradually change the gender of the people they’re attracted to, and it doesn’t work for us to try to age up the people we’re attracted to.
Personally, I’ve tried conversion therapy for my being gay (three months at down in the the American South). That went about as well as you’d expect. Maybe a little better in that I’m not horribly mentally and emotionally scarred, I suppose.
For myself, I do seek out other adults, but I do not engage in age-play. It’s not something I need to do to make sex work for me. I don’t even fantasize about children or anything, I just focus on what I’m doing and what my body is feeling and enjoy sex with my partner.
I’m also not an exclusive pedophile. Exclusive pedophiles have a more difficult time with things, though I know of a few that ended up dating other exclusive pedophiles and they make things work with ageplay and mutual fantasy. There are other exclusives that don’t date at all. It can be very lonely being a pedophile.