Pedophillia vs Homosexuality

Question.
What's the difference between homosexuality and paedophillia?

This may sound like a obvious question to answer but I'd like to hear what people think here.
Don't simply reply. One if a sexual oritentation, one is a mental disorder explain why you think that.
Also please note, the question is directed towards the attractions. Not the relationships each brings.
Although you can bring anything you want into this if it helps explain your opinion.

I got the idea from a vid posted on to youtube then deleted, sadly.
If you're new to this forum please be aware that I'm not gay bashing. This is a genuine question.

The first thing that came to mind is that pedophilia is unacceptable and homosexuality isn't. When I first went to therapy it was interesting how I found homosexuality so unacceptable as an orientation. I had to explain why i'd never want to be gay and I quickly realized it was all based on our culture. This doesn't apply to pedophilia though. It's harmful to kids and they cant consent like adults so thats my opinion on the difference. Seems pretty obvious don't you think?

Since your only talking about attraction then i'm not sure what the difference is.

Both have a lot in common.

Both are sexual orientation, and both are unnatural sex IMO. Pedophilia isn't a mental illness, you can treat a mental illness you cannot change someone's sexuality. You can only give pedophiles coping strategies so they don't re-offend, but like you can't treat homosexuals and you can't treat pedophiles.

Now the difference is, gay sex is between two consenting adults, so it's not a crime

What morning star said, basically. Though, sometimes, I don't think it's that simple with regards to whether or not pedophilia is a mental illness or not. I mean, I don't know for sure, but in my case, either an array of mental illnesses and bouts of insanity have spurred from my pedophilia, or they're a part of it.

It will vary from homosexual to homosexual just as it does for pedophiles of course. This isn't a very good list, but it's best I can come up with on the spot. I'm especially ignorant about motivations for homosexuals since I haven't read anything about it in ages.

Similarities:
taboo/non-traditional
usually stems from the lack of a healthy father-child relationship
often accompanied by discomfort with candidates who would be socially acceptable partners
usually accompanied by the pursuit of other deviant sexual stimulation
a wide range of variance in social skills, profession, and personality
often stereotyped to extremes but the extreme is sometimes true
a wide range of self acceptance and self-justification from self-haters to activists and everything in-between

Unique to homosexuality:
stereotyped fashion-conscious and/or effeminate for men
stereotyped butch or feminine-but-aggressive for women
often more conscientious of how others see them
feel secure or powerful when alone with the same gender

Unique to pedophilia:
typically more reclusive or may like solitude
stereotypically over-obsessed with sex
feel secure or powerful when alone with a child
more likely to enjoy an unbalanced power dynamic in a relationship (i.e. dom/sub)

The difference is age ranges.

People that may describe themselves as liking the same sex normally find others of similar age attractive.

Where pedophilias can be sexually attracted to the same sex, just they have a very specific age of interest, or appearance which corresponds to certain ages..

The first thing that came to mind is that pedophilia is unacceptable and homosexuality isn't.

The first thing to come to mind is that both are sexual deviancy and both give no benefit.

I had an interesting conversation the other night about homosexuality and anything that deviates from the 'norm'. He had an interesting view on the subject.

His belief is that the human body is made up of all the chemicals, synapses and all that and when everything works as it should everybody should be genetically similar in that men are suppose to be attracted me woman and visa versa. He thinks that any deviation from 'God's plan' is a disorder. That when a synapse isn't firing right or if the right combination of chemicals aren't in a persons body then they will have many of the disorders/deviances that are prevalent in society.

We didn't have time to really get into the subject but I found his views interesting to say the least

As someone who's both homosexual, and have mild pedophile tendencies. I think this is an interesting topic to discuss.
If anything that deviates from the normal is a disorder, then homosexuality too probably can be considered a disorder,the truth is the majority of all institutes in the world do not classify homosexuality as a disorder.Because "perfectly normal" simply do not exist, everyone on earth deviates from "normal" one way or another,the consensual homosexual relationships does not harm anyone, and benefits the partners in the relationship, of course it wouldn't be really considered a disorder. I think by our default definition, anything derived from the normal so much, and could potentially harm yourself directly, or harm others directly, would be something that's considered a disease or a disorder. Whether homosexuality is "normal" or not is still up for some stupid debates, but certainly it doesn't fit the bill of a "disorder".
Pedophilia is in a way not so much different from homosexuality, it could be considered a sexual orientation, it's a physical attraction that we have that's different from the majority. I don't think the attraction itself is really any worse than homo/heterosexual tendencies, of course saying this does not sound convincing because as a society the stigma we associate with pedophilia tendencies is just too much, you pretty much are forced to conform to the general views on this one.
While the attraction itself is not so much different from any other sexual orientation, I agree that it's not unreasonable to label it as a mental illness. Because clearly this is not a harmless orientation like hetero/homosexuals are, acting out on the desire will harm children in many ways, that's very dangerous.
So it's fair I guess if something that clearly derives from the normal, if acted out can harm the society, then we probably should label it as a illness that should be treated, it's fair. But I always say this, don't associate the stigma with the attraction, associate the stigma with the act, distinguish between child molesters, and people with pedophilia tendencies. Of course that's my point of view.

One more thing that could distinguish Homosexuals and pedophiles, is that Homosexuality likely has a genetic basis to it. Homosexuals as a group is distinct enough from Straight/bi to be called a genetic variation, a variation of a phenotype of a single/multiple genes, of course it would be a relatively rare phenotype, it makes sense. It's hard to say the same things about pedophiles, I don't know for sure, but I think it's unlikely that pedophilia tendencies come from genetic factors. It's not a distinct group of people, it is not exclusive to straight or gay or bi, all theses groups of people could also be exclusive/non exclusive pedophiles, if it's not sexual orientation they share in common, it could be past experiences, these tendencies would likely be subconsciously influenced by environment, and not something we're born with, then again, I'm not sure. I've never been sexually abused, so exactly where did this subconscious influence come from?
It may not be fair to label pedophilia as a mental illness, not to the people who can't help their attractions, just like straight/gay people can't help their attractions. But is it necessary to label it as mental illness, So that people would seek help to make sure children are protected? Probably yes.

Kellicious wrote:I had an interesting conversation the other night about homosexuality and anything that deviates from the 'norm'. He had an interesting view on the subject.

His belief is that the human body is made up of all the chemicals, synapses and all that and when everything works as it should everybody should be genetically similar in that men are suppose to be attracted me woman and visa versa. He thinks that any deviation from 'God's plan' is a disorder. That when a synapse isn't firing right or if the right combination of chemicals aren't in a persons body then they will have many of the disorders/deviances that are prevalent in society.

We didn't have time to really get into the subject but I found his views interesting to say the least

It's hard to define disorder, just about anyone has traits unique to him/herself, because the term "disorder" is usually defined by social majority, people who have traits that deviates from normal will be alienated. But remember, no one is perfectly normal, but when it comes to sexuality, these "abnormalities" are sensitized.
I see it like this, any condition a person has that derives significantly from social majority, mentally or physically , that may directly cause physical or mental harm to the person, or to the others in the society,can be considered as a disorder.
Anything else, they are just variations really.