I taught for 28 years. There is no doubt that the general delight that I took in the company of children and boys in particular made me a more sensitive teacher, though I am not saying that I was an exceptionally good one. (I think issues of perfectionism crept into my teaching which I found it hard to overcome) Though there were occasionally boys that I taught to whom I was physically attracted the number one priority throughout my career was never to have favourites.(My own experience of teachers when I was a child made me decide this). There is, perhaps, an innate instinct to avoid getting emotionally close to people over whom one exercises authority: it is such a blatant misuse of power. (Might this be akin to the natural aversion to emotional and sexual relationships within the family?) I have absolutely no doubt that many excellent and highly respected teachers and child-workers are paedophiles who, because they have normal moral control over their sexual natures, wouldn't ever even be able to contemplate abusing one of the children in their care (or any child.) Certainly, I never did. When a man works with women he may well be attracted, but it is a poor specimen of a man who allows it to cloud his professional judgement. Why should it be any different with a paedophile?
Because of the secrecy issue, the world will perhaps never know the true picture. The world only hears about the paedophiles who do not have this normal moral boundary and so the real distortions arise.
If all the boylovers of the world fessed up one day what a shock the world would get: and I think this in itself is one reason for the overwhelming sense of fear that has gripped society over the past decade. Because of the internet, people are beginning to realise just how many of us there are out there. If only there were more people willing to do some careful, unemotional research into this difficult area . . . .