CURRENT CONTROVERSIES (PJ KLEINPLATZ AND C MOSER, SECTION EDITORS) Can Pedophiles Change? James M. Cantor 1 Published online: 26 July 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Purpose of Review To provide a critical analysis of purported claims to have cured pedophilia, including their scientific and policy implications. Recent Findings A single recent study has been in published in which authors claimed to find evidence that half of pedophiles cease to be pedophiles, when tested with a phallometric test in use at those authors’ facility. Bootleg simulation of the original dataset confirmed prior criticisms: When analyzed correctly, the data were indistinguishable from random. Despite that the study was not a treatment study, claims continue to appear that pedophiles can become non-pedophiles. Summary To tell pedophiles that they cease to be pedophiles relieves them from any need to develop skills for managing that pedophilia (the current clinical consensus of the field). Although it is hoped that there may one day be methods to “convert” pedophiles into non-pedophiles, there is no evidence we are there yet. Keywords Conversion therapy . Pedophilia . Paraphilia . Sexual orientation . Sexual preference . Regression to the mean Introduction For more than a century, clinicians have sought methods to change sexual interests that clients find distressing. The most widely researched and discussed of these interests has been homosexuality. There have been occasional clinicians who claimed to have successfully “converted” gay men and les- bians into straight men and women; however, despite the self- reports and preliminary studies accompanying those claims, none held up to subsequent scientific scrutiny. Over time, the neurological and prenatal features of homosexuality came to be demonstrated [1], and the attempt to convert homosexuality to heterosexuality has generally given way to helping clients accept their homosexuality and manage the struggles associ- ated with living in homophobic environments. Similarly now for pedophilia, neurological and prenatal features have come to be demonstrated [e.g., 2••, 3••, 4••], and the consensus is correspondingly to accept the sexual interest pattern, and in this instance to manage the behaviors, it motivates “Viewing pedophilia as a sexual orientation would suggest that treat- ment is more likely to be effective if it focuses on the self- regulation skills” [5••, pp. 233–234]. History As with homosexuality, there have been claims of a successful cure for pedophilia before. The most recent spanned the 1970s and 1980s, applying then-popular behavioral techniques to pedophilia, including masturbatory extinction [6], aversion therapy [7], orgasmic reconditioning [8–10], and others [see 11]. In the long run however, the research has shown that “Changes in sexual arousal to children can be made using behavioral conditioning techniques, but follow-up studies have not shown evidence that this change generalizes outside the laboratory or persists over the long-term” [5••, p. 233]. The failure of any method (thus far) to convert pedophilia to teleiophilia (the sexual preference for adults) is widely ac- knowledged as the current scientific consensus, even by the opponents of that consensus [e.g., 12••, 13]. It was in this context that Müller et al. [14]; Fedoroff as corresponding author] claimed to have found evidence sug- gesting pedophilia is not lifelong after all, triggering declara- tions that pedophilia merely seems to be unchangeable only This article is part of the Topical Collection on Current Controversies * James M. Cantor jcantor@torontosexuality.ca 1 Toronto Sexuality Centre, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1820, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1J3, Canada Current Sexual Health Reports (2018) 10:203–206 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-018-0165-2