...and people can "love" the spouses they abuse. It's not a healthy kind of love, however, in part because it's so selfish: An abuser believes he has a unique claim over the body of his (or her) victim that supersedes the victim's autonomy.
As for the pedophile OP telling a disgusted comnenter to get an education, Humbert should consider doing that for himself:
Most child molesters are friends of the child's family or are related to their victims.
It's dead wrong to expose kids to things they can't cope with emotionally or intellectually - and to do so merely because the abuser has a strong sexual desire that involves the child is selfish to the point of psychopathy. The abuser may come up with self-serving justifications to blunt the severe nature of sex crimes against children, but his self-imposed ignorance doesn't lessen the gravity of his crimes nor does it lessen the impact his actions have on the victim. No, people don't 'get over it' and nor are they enriched by the experience of being used as a prop - as a sex toy; an object - by persons who start out as trusted family or friends.
It is not a surprise or some newly uncovered revelation that age-inappropriate sexual contact has a profound and lasting impact on survivors.
A tip-toe through past research turns up, among other things, a review published back in 1986 - a time when there were less corroborateing data than now - outlining the effects of childhood sexual abuse on victims:
"...empirical studies have indicated reactions - in at least some portion of the victim population - of fear, anxiety, depression, anger and hostility, aggression, and sexually inappropriate behavior. Frequently reported long-term effects include depression and self-destructive behavior, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self-esteem, difficulty in trusting others, a tendency towards revictimization, substance abuse, and sexual maladjustment." -- Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of the Research
The targets of predatory "love" more often than not suffer serious and lasting damage to their minds if not their bodies also.
I've seen molesters' excuses, which include the following:
That not all children react with equal severity to the abuse, which allegedly means those that do react at extremes are driven to it not by the predator but by society. (That is an asinine argument on its face, making as much sense as a claim that because not all drunk-driving related accidents are equally severe that it's okay for someone 'who can handle it' to drive while intoxicated.)
That some children seem to "enjoy" the attention...and especially the gifts and hush-money offered by their attackers. This argument, too, is just plain ridiculous: Kids may at first enjoy things that are very bad for them, such as perhaps the taste if certain toxins, but poison is poison is poison. And people showing love don't feed dangerous chemicals to the unwitting.
That the victim initiated the sexual contact. (Doesn't matter: Children don't have the capacity to consent. There's also a lot else wrong with that argument in particular.)
It goes on and on, and it's all easily refuted bullshit.
If pedophiles truly like abd love children, they'll let them grow up rather than pushing them into adult situations (with adult risks) when they're not mentally, emotionally, or even physically mature enough to consent or to handle the potential consequences.
Pedophiles who refuse to get help and who justify their actions with flimsy excuses do not love their victms. They love using their victims.
Pedophiles who behave that way, and continue in it while excusing the damage they do, are dangerous - and those who don't want help are dangerous wholly and completely by choice - and should be locked up for a long time in response to the seriousness of their crimes and to prevent them from reoffending.
If you molest a child, regardless of how you rationalise it, you are a child molester.
