Moral Illness

The big question behind someone like Jerry Sandusky, (and their are evidently plenty of sexual child abusers running around), is, is there a mental illness problem, or a moral defect, a lack of morality?

My inclination is to look hard at the morality factor. Morality is of course concerned with good behavior, perfect morality being, in theory, perfectly good behavior, which of course nobody except Jesus Christ ever possessed. This means that we all, if we want or need something badly enough, and are sufficiently constrained from it, will resort to immoral behavior to obtain it.

This seems to be what Sandusky did. What he wanted was a life which included the joys and attributes of a sex life. Who doesn't? His big problem was being gay. As a high profile football coach in a small, close knit community, Sandusky possibly considered an above board, age appropiate homosexual relationship out of the question, because it might threaten his career. A secret relationship would have been impossible.

All old people are attracted to young people. Let's get that straight right now. We are all "pedophiles", mentally. "Pedophiles of the heart", former president Jimmy Carter might say.

What makes people moral is their behavior, not their biological inclinations. Its OK for a middle aged person to be attracted to a young person, but its not OK to act on it. Is it mental  illness to be attracted to people who haven't even reached puberty? Probably. And possibly, just possibly, the pain and rejection brought about by the threat of loss of status can trigger mental illness.