Ephebophilia

All you want to know about Ephebophilia

This article is about the sexual preference of adults for adolescents. For the sexual preference of adults for prepubescent children, see Pedophilia.
An Ephebe Kisses A Man
Tondo from an Attic kylix, 5th c. BCE by the Briseis painter. Louvre

Ephebophilia is the sexual preference for mid to late adolescents.[1] In research environments, specific terms are used for age preferences: ephebophilia to refer to the sexual preference for late adolescents, hebephilia to refer the sexual preference for pubescent persons, and pedophilia to refer to the sexual preference for prepubescent persons. The term pedophilia, however, has also been used colloquially to refer broadly to all three of these preferences (that is, any sexual interest in minors), regardless of their level of physical development. Clinically, ephebophilia is not regarded as a mental disorder except in very specific circumstances.

Contents

Etymology

The term comes from the Greek: ἔφηβος (ephebos) variously defined as "one arrived at puberty," "a youth of 18 who underwent his dokimasia and was registered as a citizen (Athens)," and "arriving at man's estate;" and φιλία (-philia) "love".[2][3] It has been used by Dutch psychologist and pro-pedophile activist Frits Bernard as far back as 1950,[4] reprinted in 1960 in the gay support magazine Vriendschap under the pseudonym Victor Servatius,[5] also crediting it to Hirschfeld though giving no exact date.[6]

The term has been described by Frenchman Felix Buffiere in 1980[citation needed] and Pakistani scholar Tariq Rahman,[7] who argued that "ephebophilia" should be used in preference to "homosexuality" when describing the aesthetic and erotic interest of adult men in adolescent boys in classical Persian, Turkish or Urdu literature.

Characteristics

Some level of sexual attraction to late adolescents is common among adults of all sexual orientations.[8] The term ephebophilia is used only to describe the preference for late adolescent sexual partners, not the mere presence of some level of sexual attraction. In some cultures, such as those in which adolescent girls are routinely married to older men, it is considered normal for adults to include adolescents among their sexual interests. In these cultures an attraction to adolescents is not necessarily thought to require an essentialist classification in terms of abnormality, deviancy or mental health, but is seen as a possibility or a taste.[citation needed]

A sexual preference for individuals in late adolescence is not generally regarded by psychologists as a pathology when it does not interfere with other major areas of one's life. Ephebophilia is not listed by name as a paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), or the ICD-10. This is as opposed to pedophilia, which is categorized as a specific disorder in those systems with its own diagnostic criteria. However, it can sometimes be diagnosed as a disorder under the DSM specification 309.2, "Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified," or under the ICD-10 F65.8 "Other disorders of sexual preference."[9][10]

See also

Endnotes, references and sources

  1. ^ Blanchard, R., Lykins, A. D., Wherrett, D., Kuban, M. E., Cantor, J. M., Blak, T., Dickey, R., & Klassen, P. E. (2008). Pedophilia, hebephilia, and the DSM–V. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI 10.1007/s10508-008-9399-9.
  2. ^ Rahman, T. (1988). Ephebophilia: the case for the use of a new word. Forum for Modern Language Studies, 24(2), 126-141.
  3. ^ Human sexuality: Definitions of terms involving the sexual abuse of children, retrieved May 25, 2007
  4. ^ sexology
  5. ^ Bernard, F. (1998). Selected publications of Dr. Frits Bernard - An international bibliography. Rotterdam: Enclave.
  6. ^ Servatius, V. (1960, March 15). Ephebophilie en wetenschap [Ephebophilia and science]. [http://www.ihlia.nl/documents/pdflib/Vriendschap/1960/1960-04.pdf Vriendschap, 35-35.
  7. ^ Rahman, T. (1990). Boy-Love in the Urdu Ghazal. Annual of Urdu Studies, 7, 1-20.
  8. ^ S. Berlin, Frederick. "Interview with Frederick S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D.". Office of Media Relations. Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
  9. ^ "Disorders of adult personality and behaviour" (JSP). ICD-10.
  10. ^ Foley, Sharon R.; Arthur, K.; Kelly, B. (2006). "Psychiatric sequelae of Parkinson disease: a case report". European Psychiatry 21: 211–213. 
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