Be VERY wary when you encounter a person trying ever so hard to lean into that invisible line between pedophilia and hebephilia or ephebophilia, because chances are excellent you are talking to a person who does not or will not understand the very real and lasting harm done by any of these acts, and possibly approves of one or more strongly.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a sixteen year old who looks twenty-five; to me that’s an entirely separate issue. If you genuinely believe you are looking at an adult, IMO there’s neither harm nor foul in having thoughts there.
Instead I am referring to looking at an obviously underage, clearly pubescent or pre-pubescent boy or girl and finding that sexually attractive.
People who defend that by slapping the label of ephebophilia on it, when clearly the age and/or appearance of the victim does not rise to that standard, are hoping you don’t already know exactly what ephebophilia means, that it is different than hebephilia and pedophilia, and that it, too, is incredibly questionable.
As a reminder for anyone not sure (definitions extracted from the first paragraph of the Wiki article for each):
Pedophilia: sexual attraction to prepubescent children; psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13
Hebephilia: strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14
Ephebophilia: primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19
Be VERY wary when you encounter a person trying ever so hard to lean into that invisible line between pedophilia and hebephilia or ephebophilia, because chances are excellent you are talking to a person who does not or will not understand the very real and lasting harm done by any of these acts, and possibly approves of one or more strongly.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a sixteen year old who looks twenty-five; to me that’s an entirely separate issue. If you genuinely believe you are looking at an adult, IMO there’s neither harm nor foul in having thoughts there.
Instead I am referring to looking at an obviously underage, clearly pubescent or pre-pubescent boy or girl and finding that sexually attractive.
People who defend that by slapping the label of ephebophilia on it, when clearly the age and/or appearance of the victim does not rise to that standard, are hoping you don’t already know exactly what ephebophilia means, that it is different than hebephilia and pedophilia, and that it, too, is incredibly questionable.
As a reminder for anyone not sure (definitions extracted from the first paragraph of the Wiki article for each):
Pedophilia: sexual attraction to prepubescent children; psychiatric diagnostic criteria for pedophilia extend the cut-off point for prepubescence to age 13
Hebephilia: strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14
Ephebophilia: primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19