If no one else reads this whole thing, Photoscribe, I *dare* you
        to read this entire post and reply in good concience.

 P#@> just a few of its problems! AIDS being one, pedophilia being another,
 P#@> (and make no mistake, most pedophilia involves homosexual contact
 P#@> between adult men and young boys,)

        This is a deliberate misdirection.  While *pedophilia* may (or
        may not, I can't refute the *explicit* statement above) be as
        you describe, that is demonstratably *NOT* the case for child
        sexual abuse.

        But wait, weren't you talking about child sexual abuse?  NO.

        "The terms child molesters and pedophiles are not necessarily
        interchangeable and are NOT SYNONYMOUS.  A pedophile has a
        sexual PREFERENCE for children.  Although he may engage in
        sexual relations with adults, the preference is for children.  A
        CHILD MOLESTER MAY OR MAY NOT BE A PEDOPHILE."  (emphasis mine,
        source for all quotes at end of message)

        So pedophiles do not make up the entire group of child sexual
        molesters.  So what is a child sexual molester?  Quite simply,
        it's when an adult uses a child for the adult's sexual
        gratification, regardless of gender.

        What are the statistics for child sexual abuse, you ask?  In
        1983 "Russell conducted a particularly important study in which
        a random sample of 900 household in San Francisco were surveyed.
        Sixteen per cent of the women had experience sexual abuse by a
        family member and 31 per cent experienced sexual abuse by a
        nonfamily member before thier eighteenth birthday.  Overall, 38
        per cent of the women had had sexual victimization experiences
        before reaching thier eighteenth birthday - 28 per cent had been
        abused before age 14."

        But for the *spirit* of Photoscribe's statement (the implicit
        message that the sexual victimization of children is primarily
        committed by male homosexuals) to be true, then well over 38 per
        cent of MEN would have to have been much higher - especially
        since "estimates based upon adult samples may underestimate the
        true extent of the [abuse] problem, since there appears to be a
        tendecy for adults to repress, forget, or deny sexual
        experiences they have in childhood."

        So what *is* the comparative rate?  In the first such study done
        in 1979, on a population of college undergraduates in Boston
        area colleges, 20 per cent of the females and 9 per cent of the
        males reported that they had been sexually abused before thier
        forteenth birthday.  Further, studies "indicate that girls are
        more frequently the victims of sexual abuse...Estimates suggest
        that male abuse is less than 20 to 25 per cent of child
        victims."

        So let's examine Photoscribe's original statement again.

 P#@> (and make no mistake, most pedophilia involves homosexual contact
 P#@> between adult men and young boys,)

        We've discovered that while it can be argued that this statement
        MAY be literally true, that it is not only ignoring, but
        concealing the MUCH greater problem of HETEROSEXUAL child abuse.
        By attempting to divert attention from the problem of sexual
        abuse as a whole for the purposes of persecution of one segment
        of society, you draw attention away from the true problem of
        sexual abuse of children.


[all quotes _Basic Facts About Child Sexual Abuse_, 3rd ed, (c) 1988
National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse]