Are you people telling me there's nothing inherently dangerous about having adults, who are seen as authority models requiring respect or at the very least acquiescence from children, able to initiate and carry out sexual relations with children and young people - youngsters who are, depending on how old they are (and subjective factors depending on personality, mental age, etc..) unable to resist and say no or choose otherwise or realize what is happening to them?
Sexual coersion and aggressivity is rife enough amongst adults - the difference being adults can resist (in most cases) and have the life experience to say no. Adults, unlike children, have safety nets, have space to retreat to. Children, particularily those preyed upon by those they know like family members or family friends, have none of this.
Don't give me this shit about child love, how it can be consensual. Sure it can, because you're working with a blank slate and you're exploiting trust. It's predatory opportunism of the patient kind, nothing more. A long game. A child should not be assumed of knowing the full weight of their actions.
We're not going to nitpick, argue semantics or philosophy. Whatever the particulars of sexuality amongst children, young folk, teens, etc… the situation is not the same as that across the divide between adult and non-adult.
It's irrelevant about whether a particular young human may feel safe and offer consent with an adult. Are pedophiles people, of various stripes, and of various abilities? Absolutely. I'm sure I know a few of them, and they're just like me save for this one particularity. It's an urge. And, simply told, it's an urge that should not be indulged because of the potential for harm.
Here's an easy way to understand it: Yeah, maybe 18 is a random number. Are some 17 year olds more mature? Sure. Maybe 16 year olds? Possibly. But 12 year olds, curious ten year olds, the smiling five year olds? Fuck you. I don't know how you can realistically defend this form of pedophilia.
Human decency should always err on the side of caution.
I'm going to assume, because of the easier logistics and need for subterfuge, that the majority of pedophilia produced is done by a family member or family friend. How can you pretend to assume your actions will have no permanent negative physical, social, or mental consequences resulting from a display of your lust, then and there or somewhere down the line when that kid grows up, realizes what's going on (and, inevitably, internalizes it in some way), and compares it to societal norms and realizes something's up? Can you not imagine the pitfalls?
You're utilizing a human being as a tool, pure and simple. That they may enjoy it in the moment (perhaps not physically, but, say, from a desire to make you happy, etc..) is irrelevant. Think with your head.
It seems completely natural to be that with children being the most vulnerable part of the human race, they, of all people, should be hands off when it comes to sexual involvement with adults. People are generally scumbags, or have moments of scumbaggery, especially when connected to the basic urges - urges that include sexual gratification.
Those of you who actively pursue these acts, you who wouldn't give the benefit of the doubt to your fellow man in the paltriest of matters, somehow trust yourselves to argue what's best for the child as you're fingering them, penetrating them, filming them, sharing the results? What are your reasonings - participation in a certain community? Belonging? Power?