>>1619554I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as pedophilia, is in fact, hebephilia, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, ephebophilia. Pedophilia is not merely the attraction to anyone under 18, but rather a totally separate disorder (not a legal term) listed as a sexual-psychological disorder categorized under paraphilias, a group of sexual-psychological disorders in the DSM-IV and considered a disorder under the standards of the American Psychological Association.
Many people could be considered ephebophiles despite the fact that they themselves may not know the term, much less what it means. Through a peculiar turn of events, ephebophilia and hebephilia became grouped under the very general and inconclusive cultural term "pedophilia," and the majority of people using the term are unaware that they are referring to non-paraphilic sexual preferences that are unmentioned in the DSM-IV and occur relatively harmlessly in a great deal of the population. There really is a pedophilia, and these people may be referring to it, but nevertheless it is a small part of what is labeled under "pedophilia." Pedophilia is labeled as a paraphilia because it is by nature unhealthy. Paraphilias are all unhealthy and destructive to relationships, but are restricted to the definitions set forth in the DSM. Pedophilia is simply grouped with the non pathologized conditions of hebephilia and hebephilia because they share a few similar traits. In reality, pedophilia separate from both and should be treated as such, and many people described as pedophiles would be better described as hebephiles or ephebophiles.
