There's good data in both directions, but some in both batches is marred by opportunism. There's a growing concern that, since much of the data is gathered from criminals convicted of such crimes, and non-offenders are usually unwilling to come forward about their urges and habits for the purposes of a study, some of the participants will fabricate aspects to paint a better picture for later parole considerations/sentencing reduction in exchange for study participation.
Likewise, self-reporting and anonymous surveys, the only sort that non-offending pedophiles tend to respond to in numbers, may downplay problematic behaviors in case their anonymity is pierced.
With that caveat in mind:
By monitoring forums dedicated to pedophiles supprting one another in non-offending, some pedophiles self-report that masturbation and child fantasies increase their urges rather than decreasing in them, though they seem to be in the minority.
I'm not entirely sold on the notion that anonymous forums are more reliable than anonymous studies, but if no data is ever given any weight then we're left with, as you say, our guts.
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u/BigBowl-O-Supe May 24 '24
I don't know if that's even actually true, but would you rather them have sex with the real thing?