Pedophile Beards

Not that I ever goof around on Facebook when I'm bored at work, but if I had, I might have stumbled upon a link to a satirical infomercial for a product called Pedophile Beards.  The video is obviously meant to be funny.  However, my sense of humor has been a little warped from years of violence against women and children work and too many Red Bull-fueled late night comedy shows.  So is this funny?  Why or why not?

While this video may appeal to some senses of humor more than others, it brings up an excellent point: we have a very clear picture in our heads of what a pedophile looks like.  He's a white guy in his 40s with an outdated fashion sense and, perhaps, some unwieldy facial hair.  But like all stereotypes, identifying pedophiles on the basis of what they look like means missing a lot of people who would seek to have sex with children.   

There's a prevailing idea that the men who buy children for sex are like the guy in this ad- obviously creepy.  They're not.  They're fire fighters and policemen and teachers and businessmen.  They have wives and children and families of their own.  Some seek out children for sex, while others just want someone "young and fresh", regardless of the girl's age.  And because they don't wear signs (or glasses) that declare "I am a child predator", they are much harder to identify.  It's important for us to recognize that a beard does not a pedophile make.

Thankfully, unlike this video may claim, looking like a pedophile isn't popular.  Acting like one by buying sex with children is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly so.  Maybe it's time we started a new trend?