Pedophilia

Pedophilia (American English), pædophilia/paedophilia (Commonwealth English), is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent children. The ICD-10 (F65.4) defines it as "a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age." The word comes from the Greek paidophilia (παιδοφιλια)—pais (παιδί, "boy, child") and philia (φιλια, "love, friendship").

The term pedophile is often also used to describe any person who has perpetrated sexual crimes against children; this use, however, is seen as erroneous by some individuals, especially when viewed from a medical standpoint, as the majority of sex crimes against children are perpetrated by situational offenders rather than people sexually attracted to prepubertal children.

In the United States and some other countries, the term is sometimes used to describe people attracted to adolescents, especially in regards to sexual activities. However, most medical definitions of pedophilia limit it to adults with a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. In cultures or countries where love relationships or dates between adults and adolescents are socially or legally accepted (at least with parental consent) or are viewed with tolerance, such as Brazil, the word pedophilia is almost never used in this sense, neither formally or informally.

In most countries, adolescents above a certain age can be legally emancipated through marriage, economic self-sufficiency, pregnancy or by other means. The marriageable age is generally below the age of majority and in some cases below the legal age of consent. Having sexual relations with emancipated minors is not considered pedophilia.

Definitions

The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1896 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis. He gives the following characteristics:

the sexual interest is toward children, either prepubescent or at the beginning of puberty
the sexual interest is the primary one, that is, exclusively or mainly toward children
the sexual interest remains over time

Some other definitions of pedophilia require an age difference of at least five years. These, however, may overlook the tendency of pedophilic sexual inclination to develop during puberty or childhood^[1]. Some sexologists such as Dr. John Money assert that not only adults but also postpubescent adolescents may qualify as pedophiles.

Some individuals assert sexual attraction to children to be a sexual orientation in itself. This is at odds with the current acceptance that the term sexual orientation only subsumes attraction to one's own sex, the opposite sex, or both. The proponents of such a view point out that homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality are not normally associated with attraction to children and that children are physically and mentally different enough from adults to warrant categorising attraction toward them as a completely different sexual orientation.

Strictly speaking, a person is not necessarily a pedophile simply because he or she is sexually aroused by children; rather, a pedophile is defined as someone whose primary sexual attraction is toward children. In most cases, however, pedophilia is used in a looser sense to describe anyone found to be sexually aroused by children and is often diagnosed solely in the presence of fantasies or sexual urges on the subject's part—it need not involve sexual acts with children. In this regard, there is evidence that at least a quarter of all adult men may have feelings of sexual arousal in connection with children^[2].

The APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition, Text Revision has in its "Diagnostic criteria for 302.2 Pedophilia":

Over a period of at least 6 months, recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger).
The person has acted on these urges, or the sexual urges or fantasies cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulty.
The person is at least age 16 years and at least 5 years older than the child or children in Criterion A.

Note: Do not include an individual in late adolescence involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with a 12 or 13-year-old.

The actual boundaries between childhood and adolescence may vary in individual cases and are difficult to define in rigid terms of age. The World Health Organization, for instance, defines adolescence as the period of life between 10 and 20 years of age, though it is most often defined as the period of life between the ages of 13 and 18.

Pedophiles sometimes refer to themselves as boylovers or girllovers to provide a distinction between what gender they are attracted to (many are not attracted to both); collectively, they are sometimes generalised as "childlovers." The term childlover, however, is considered offensive to some who are attracted to adolescents, or attracted to girls and boys undergoing puberty—and therefore the term "minor attracted adult" is sometimes preferred.

Related terms

Child sexual abuse

A perpetrator committing child sexual abuse is commonly (and often, but not always, mistakenly) assumed to be a pedophile, and referred to as such; however, there may often be other motivations, much as adult rape can sometimes have non-sexual reasons. Most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are not primarily interested in children—a fact which has been recognized by law enforcement^[3]. They are sometimes referred to as pseudo-pedophilies or situational offenders, whereas pedophiles primarily attracted toward children are called structured pedophiles or fixated pedophiles, as their orientation is fixed by the structure of their personality.

The term pedophile is not used legally, and is not a legal category; an act by a child molester of molesting children is not legally referred to as pedophilia. However, newspapers and other news media frequently make erroneous use of the terms accused pedophile or convicted pedophile in reference to individuals accused or convicted of sexual abuse of children; other perplexing terms such as "serial pedophilia" have also come into use.

Ephebophilia

Ephebophilia, also known as hebephilia, is the condition in which adults are dependent on the sexual attraction to postpubescent adolescents. Pederasty refers to attraction toward male adolescents. Attraction to female adolescents is sometimes referred to as "Lolita syndrome" or "Lolita Complex" (an equivalent term for males is the uncommon "Shota Complex"). These terms are used in contrast with pedophilia; however pedophilia is sometimes used more broadly in the western world to describe both ephebophilia and attraction to younger children, i.e. any person younger than the legal age of consent.

Sexual desires including youths are common among adults with a heterosexual or homosexual orientation, though their attraction is not specifically to persons that young. Only when it is a specific and exclusive attraction, is it labeled ephebophilia as a sexual condition or orientation. It should also be noted that unlike pedophilia, attraction to adolescents has never been regarded by psychologists as pathological. In fact, it has often been considered normative in some societies, such as those in which adolescent girls have been married to adult men. Nonetheless, it is often illegal for adults to act on an attraction to adolescents below a certain age, and such activity is disapproved of in many societies.

Nepiophilia

Some researchers have suggested a distinction between pedophilia and nepiophilia—that is, the attraction to very young children in the age range of 0-3, because the difference between these two preferences seems quite large. It is unusual for pedophiles to prefer toddlers.

Cultural norms

Historically, in Western societies, sex was considered a privilege of marriage, and marriage was allowed as long as there was parental consent. It was fairly common for adolescent and in some cases prepubescent females to marry adult men, and it is hard to believe that sexual activity was absent in all cases. Changes in the reason for marriage from improving social status to love, along with anti-child sex advocacy during the industrial revolution led to laws preventing this in most places.

Western societies have also, until the 20th century, considered attraction to the body of prepubescents as acceptable, as evidenced by acceptance of artwork involving nude and erotic depictions of children (for example: Lewis Carroll). During the 20th century, attempts were made (sometimes successfully) to destroy such artwork, make it illegal, or remove it from public libraries. Though such artwork can sometimes be considered legal, social pressure has prevented creating new forms of such artwork and ownership of such artwork.

Sex between children and adults was condoned and often encouraged by Polynesians and other cultures, especially matriarchal societies.[4] The reason for this was because these societies revered fertility and motherhood and did not attempt to control sex. Western influence and domination has eroded their open views about sex. Therefore, direct observation is no longer possible, and the only references are older observations made before widespread Western influence.

Law

Pedophilia itself is not a legal term, as it describes no act. In modern western societies, sexual acts between adults and prepubescent children are usually considered both a taboo and a crime; common reasons given include some of the following:

children are seen as unable to understand the putative physical, emotional, and social consequences of sexual acts and are therefore seen as unable to give informed consent;
sexual acts can, like all relationships, involve coercion and abuse of power, which can break bonds of trust and perhaps "damage" a child;
belief that children would never agree to engage in sex without coercion, and wouldn't naturally seek it;
it's often considered unnatural for an adult to engage in sexual activity with a prepubescent because they are unable to reproduce. Yet, evidence for such activity occurs in nature, with the most obvious example being Bonobos. Also, high levels of sexual hormones appear in females well before the onset of menses, and sexual identification (preference towards pheromones of the opposite sex) is scientifically observed to be somewhere between two and four years of age.
the television, radio, and other media often depict sexual activity as harmful to children and wrong;
belief that individuals shouldn't have sex until marriage (or a fixation on virginity in females), paired with legal prevention of marriage below a certain age; and
religious or pseudo-religious faith often prevents scientific inquiry, as illustrated when the U.S. Congress voted unanimously to condemn Rind et al.

There are medical reasons that sex (especially for pre-pubescent females) is considered more dangerous for females:

sexual activity in girls has been linked to irregular pap smears and perhaps even cervical cancer, but lack of true scientific inquiry means that the link is not fully established, nor are preventative measures known. For instance, since this link is considered bacterial-related, it isn't known whether cleansing of objects before being placed into the vaginal canal can prevent this.
sexual intercourse in pre-pubescent girls has sometimes lead to vaginal tearing, though this may be due to coerced penetration (as is often the cause of vaginal tearing in adult women). A girl within a few years of puberty is usually able to accommodate an adult male's penis without tearing, whilst a girl of a younger age is often more disposed to experience tearing during such an act.

It must be stated however that the term "child" varies from culture to culture. Some set the upper limit of this figure at puberty, while others set it higher, to coincide with legal definitions of "majority" for their country, which is usually around 18 or 21.

Sexual acts between adults and postpubescent adolescents are also seen as a taboo in some cultures, while in others they are viewed naturally or with tolerance. Cultures are influenced by the local age of consent, religion and language.

The percentage of pedophile perpetrators in cases of child sexual abuse is estimated to be 2 to 10 percent (Kinsey-Report, Lautmann, Brongersma, Groth). Abuse is mainly a phenomenon of heterosexual and homosexual orientation.

Most cases of father-daughter incest are believed to involve fathers who are situational offenders, rather than pedophiles^[5]. Some have argued that these cases are triggered by the withdrawal of the mother from the family, often due to physical or mental illness.

Legally, relationships between adults and adolescents do not necessarily include sex. Most of them involve sexual attraction. Courting a teenager below the age of consent is legal in some jurisdictions, especially when the individual's age is above the marriageable age. In other jurisdictions, this may be illegal.

Advocacy of pedophilia

There are a number of organisations and web-based communities, together referred to as the childlove movement, that seek to remove the stigma from pedophilia. Goals for these organisations and communities range from wanting to legalise sexual relationships between adults and children or teenagers, to merely offering a place for support and advice to those with a sexual attraction to children.

The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) advocates legalisation of consensual sexual relationships between boys and men.
MARTIJN is a Netherlands-based advocate of adult-child sex.
The Human Face of Pedophilia is a well known pedophile advocacy site.
BoyChat is a support forum for male-attracted pedophiles.
Girl Chat is a support forum for female-attracted pedophiles.
Pedophiles Against Child Molestation (PACM) is a community of conscientious pedophiles and non-pedophiles opposed to child abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

The main PACM forum is presently offline. You can visit a temporary forum here

tkGL.net is a support forum similar to Girl Chat featuring personal testimonies, on-topic debates, and coverage of related news/media.
Butterfly Kisses is a support web site and forum for female pedophiles.

See pedophilia and homosexuality for the historical relationship between pedophilia advocates and the gay rights movement.

"Pedosexual"

The word pedosexual was coined by childlove activists somewhere between the 80's and 90's of the 20th century.

The term "pedophile" has long been used to describe people who are sexually and romantically attracted to prepubescent minors. The connotation of the word has shifted from its original neutral/romantic connotation into one which many in western society would consider offensive and vile. Even in its most neutral use, the romantic connotation has all but vanished, and now merely describes the sexual aspect of pedophilia rather than the full, encompassing classical definition which described the positive, romantic attraction of adults to both children and youth.

"Pedophilia" also comes from Ancient Greek, and it too means "boylove." However, paidophilia was never used to describe the pedagogical eros of the classical period. Two terms, paidophiles and philopais, both meaning "boylover," were coined late by Greek poets as a substitute for the word paiderastes because the accent in the given word for boylover did not lend itself to the metre the poets used in their works about boylove.^[6]

The suffix -phile in its classical use did not signify a clinical paraphilia, but rather a natural, accepted, romantic connotation. With the rise of the Victorian era's shift in concepts of psychology and sexology, the uprise of child-rights activism and reform ^[7] in the late 19th century, the eventual rise of age of consent laws in the U.S. from 10-12 to 16-18 years of age^[8], and the following shift in public discourse revolving pederastic sentiment, the term fell into a negative connotation.

Because of this shift from "romance" to "illness", certain activists in the modern childlove movement decided to adopt a new term which they feel more fairly and accurately represents their attractions as how it relates to modern atonement of the sentiment and practice of pederasty. This term is pedosexual. The word reflects the gay rights movement's decision to shift from "homophile" to "homosexual".

Unlike "boylover" or "girllover", "pedosexual" does not connotate classic romantic sentiment as did "pedophile", but rather more specifically refers to the explicit, primary sexual interests and self-labelling of the individual. Just as "homosexual" is to "gay", references of lifestyle and attitudes are also cut from its meaning.

The word is not without controversy, even amongst its own activists within the movement. Some activists feel the abandonment of the word "pedophile" is a cop-out and is not the correct move for public acceptance. Others feel it is the "only" way to go and that positive connotative reestablishment of "pedophile" is futile. Some within the childlove communities consider the word "pedophile" as a negative connotation as well and use it in equivalence as the word "nigger" is used within the black community to describe childlovers that openly act and speak in immoral (or what they refer to as "perv") fashion. The term "childluster" is also used interchangably in this fashion. Then, there are those which prefer not to use either "pedophile" or "pedosexual", sticking only to "boylover" or "girllover", exclusively.

Another word to describe boylove is "bay" (e.g.: "boy"+"gay") to describe boylove and pedosexuality. The term was coined by a 15 year old to describe his partner at the time.

References

There is quite a large amount of literature related to child sexual abuse, and sex offenders. However, what is lacking is proper authoritative peer-reviewed research into pedophiles in general, who may not have offended. Such information is of course hard to gather given the controversial nature of such research, and the fact that any research that gives a pro-adult/child sex outcome being condemned at large by various governing bodies, and children's charities.

^ Janssen, D. F. (2003). "Protoparaphilia." Unpublished. 23-27.
^ Freund, K. and Costell, R. (1970). "The structure of erotic preference in the nondeviant male." Behaviour Research & Therapy 8 (1), 15-20.
Quinsey, V. L. et al. (1975). "Penile circumference, skin conductance, and ranking responses of child molesters and 'normals' to sexual and nonsexual visual stimuli." Behavior Therapy. 6, 213-219.
Hall, G. C. N. et al. (1995) "Sexual Arousal and Arousability to Pedophilic Stimuli in a Community Sample of Normal Men" Behavior Therapy. 26, 681-694.
^ Lanning, Kenneth (2001). Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis (Third Edition). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
^ Quinsey, V. L. (1977). "The assessment and treatment of child molesters: A review." Canadian Psychological Review. 18, 204-220.

Ames, A. & Houston, D. A. (1990). "Legal, social, and biological definitions of pedophilia." Archives of Sexual Behavior. 19 (4), 333-342.
Fagan P. J. et al (2002). "Pedophilia" (requires registration). Journal of the American Medical Association. 288, 2458-2465.
Green, R. (2002). "Is pedophilia a mental disorder?" (summary). Archives of sexual behavior. 31 (6), 467-471.
Rind et al. (1998). "A meta-analytic examination of assumed properties of child sexual abuse using college samples." Psychological Bulletin. 124 (1), 22-53.
Levine, Judith. (2002. Harmful to Minors. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Discusses the perception and reality of pedophilia. ISBN 0816640068.
Wilson, Paul R. (1981). Paul Wilson: The Man They Called a Monster. Melbourne: Cassell Australia. ISBN 0726992828. (Book about a court reporter who had sexual relationships with 2500 adolescent males; includes interviews with the later adults who reflect on these relationships.)
Underwager, Ralph and Wakefield, Hollida (1995). "Special Problems with Sexual Abuse Cases." In J. Ziskin (Ed.) Coping With Psychiatric and Psychological Testimony (Fifth Edition). Los Angeles: Law and Psychology Press. ISBN 1879689073. 1315-1370.

External links

Dictionary of Sexology, based on the books of sexologist Dr. John Money.
Sexual Arousal and Arousability to Paedophilic Stimuli in a Community Sample of Normal Men
Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions.
Logical Reality, articles relating to pedophilia from a tolerant perspective, and a large discussion forum.
Diagnostic criteria for Pedophilia in DSM-IV