Pedophilia, paedophilia, or pædophilia (see spelling differences), is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to pre-pubescent children. Persons with this attraction are called pedophiles. The differences in the spellings of British English and American English are as follows: Spelling differences between U.S. usage on one side and British and Commonwealth usage on the other are generally more conspicuous than spelling differences within the Commonwealth. ... In psychology and sexology, paraphilia (in Greek para παρά = besides and -philia φιλία = love) is a term that describes sexual arousal in response to sexual objects or situations which may interfere with the capacity for reciprocal affectionate sexual activity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Puberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a childs body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. ... Two children. ...

In the United States and some other countries, the term pedophile is frequently used also to denote significantly older adults who are sexually attracted to adolescents^[1], as well as those who have sexually abused a child. In countries where the legal age of consent is lower, like France or Brazil, the mainstream media avoid using the terms pedophilia or pedophile to refer to consented relationships between adults and adolescents. The term child sexual abuse (CSA) is commonly defined in contemporary western culture as any sexual acts engaged in by minors and adults. ... Worldwide age of consent laws. ...

Some scientists refer to a sexual interest in adolescents as ephebophilia^[2] or hebephilia.^[3] This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Definitions

The word comes from the Greek paidophilia (παιδοφιλια)—pais (παιδί, "child") and philia (φιλια, "love, friendship"). Paidophilia was coined by Greek poets as a substitute for "paiderastia" (pederasty).^[4] The term pederasty embraces a wide range of erotic relations between adult males and adolescent boys. ...

The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1886 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis.^[5] He gave the following characteristics: 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (August 4, 1840 – December 22, 1902), German / Austrian psychiatrist, wrote Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), a famous study of sexual perversity, and remains well-known for his coinage of the term sadism. ... Psychopathia Sexualis (Psychopathy of Sex) is the most famous work Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, first published in 1886. ...

• 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

Strictly speaking, this definition would include many adolescents and prepubescents, for whom such an interest might be normal; thus, some experts add the criterion that the interest be toward children at least five years younger than the subject. However, according to some experts, a diagnosis of pedophilia can also be appropriate for a post-pubescent adolescent.^[6] See entry for sexologist Dr. John Money. Dr. John Money John Money, Ph. ...

Use of the term pedophile to describe all child sexual offenders is seen as problematic by some people^[7][8][9], especially when viewed from a medical standpoint, as the majority of sex crimes against children are perpetrated by situational offenders rather than people sexually preferring prepubertal children.^[10][11][12] Nevertheless, some researchers, such as Howard E. Barbaree ^[13], have endorsed the use of actions as a sole criterion for the diagnosis of pedophilia as a means of taxonomic simplification, rebuking the American Psychiatric Association's standards as "unsatisfactory". In the study of crime, a situational offender is a person who commits crimes only when in an environment which permits or encourages those acts. ... The American Psychiatric Association is a professional organization of psychiatrists whose members are American and international physicians who are trained in psychiatry. ...

Some individuals^[14][15], such as Dr. Fred S. Berlin, assert sexual attraction to children to be a sexual orientation in itself. ^[16][17] This is at odds with the current popular acceptance of the term sexual orientation as meaning attraction to the opposite sex, the same sex, or both. Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ...

Diagnosis

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (F65.4) defines pedophilia as "a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age." ^[18] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

The APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition, Text Revision gives the following as its "Diagnostic criteria for 302.2 Pedophilia"^[19] : The American Psychiatric Association is a professional organization of psychiatrists whose members are American and international physicians who are trained in psychiatry. ... It has been suggested that DSM cautionary statement be merged into this article or section. ...

• 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 19 years of age^[20], though it is most often defined as the period of life between the ages of 13 and 18. Adolescence is the period of psychological and social transition between childhood and adulthood (gender-specific manhood, or womanhood). ... WHO emblem The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ...

The APA diagnostic criteria do not include actual sexual activity with a child. The diagnosis can therefore be made based on the presence of fantasies or sexual urges alone, provided the subject meets the remaining criteria.

Extent of occurrence

The extent to which pedophilia occurs is not known with any certainty. Some studies have concluded that at least a quarter of all adult men may have some feelings of sexual arousal in connection with children.^[21] A study by Hall et al. of Kent State University, for example, found that 32.5% of their sample — consisting of eighty adult males — exhibited sexual arousal to pedophilic stimuli that equaled or exceeded their arousal to the adult stimuli. Further studies indicate that even men erotically fixated on adult females are generally prone to react sexually when exposed to nude female children.^[22]

In 1989 Briere and Runtz conducted a study on 193 male undergraduate students concerning pedophilia. Of the sample, 21% acknowledged sexual attraction to some small children; 9% reported sexual fantasies involving children; 5% admitted masturbating to these fantasies; and 7% conceded some probability of actually having sex with a child if they could avoid detection and punishment.^[23] In some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelors degree. ... Masturbation is the manual excitation of the sexual organs, most often to the point of orgasm. ... This article is about sex acts and practices (i. ...

Occurrence in child sex offenders

A perpetrator of child sexual abuse is, despite all medical definitions, commonly assumed to be a pedophile, and referred to as such; however, there may be other motivations for the crime^[13] (such as stress, marital problems, or the unavailability of an adult partner^[24]), much as adult rape can have non-sexual reasons . Thus, child sexual abuse alone may or may not be an indicator that its perpetrator is a pedophile; most perpetrators of it are in fact not primarily interested in children.^[25] The term child sexual abuse (CSA) is commonly defined in contemporary western culture as any sexual acts engaged in by minors and adults. ...

Those who have committed sexual crimes against children, but do not meet the normal diagnosis criteria for pedophilia, are referred to as situational or regressed offenders, whereas offenders primarily attracted toward children are called structured, preferential, or fixated pedophiles, as their orientation is fixed by the structure of their personality. It is estimated that only 2 to 10 percent of child sexual abuse perpetrators meet the regular criteria for pedophilia. (Kinsey-Report, Lautmann, Brongersma, Groth). Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are crimes. ... In the study of crime, a situational offender is a person who commits crimes only when in an environment which permits or encourages those acts. ...

As noted by Abel, Mittleman, and Becker^[26] (1985) and Ward et al. (1995), there are generally large characteristical distinctions between the two types of offenders. Situational offenders tend to offend at times of stress; have a later onset of offending; have fewer, often familial victims; and have a general preference for adult partners. Pedophilic offenders, however, often start offending at an early age; often have a large number of victims who are frequently extra-familiar; are more appetitively driven to offend; and have values or beliefs that strongly support an offense lifestyle.

Most cases of father-daughter incest are believed to involve fathers who are situational offenders, rather than pedophiles. ^[27] Incest is sexual activity between close family members. ...

Treatment

A number of proposed treatment techniques for pedophilia have been developed. Many regard pedophilia as highly resistant to psychological interference and have dismissed as ineffective most "reparative strategies."^[28] Others, such as Dr. Fred Berlin, believe pedophilia can "indeed be successfully treated," if only the medical community would give it more attention.^[16] The reported success rate of modern "reparative" treatment on pedophiles is very low.^[28] A study by the Council on Scientific Affairs found that the success rate of aversion therapy was parallel to that of homosexual reparative therapy.^[29] Reparative therapy, or conversion, reorientation or differentiation therapy, is any of several techniques that are aimed at changing a persons sexual orientation from homosexuality to heterosexuality (or ex-gay). ...

Treatment strategies for pedophilia include a "12 step support system", parallel to addiction therapy, though such a system is generally regarded as the least efficacious method of treatment. Anti-androgenic medications such as Depo Provera may be used to lower testosterone levels, and are often used in conjunction with other approaches. Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection (medroxyprogesterone acetate) is the U.S. brand name of a birth control product manufactured by Pfizer Inc. ...

More favoured is cognitive-behavioral therapy, in which the subject is taught to associate "pedophilic behavior" with various unpleasantries. Usually, this is done by telling the pedophile to fantasize of "deviant sexual activity", and then, once aroused, they are given instructions to imagine the assumed legal and social consequences of such an action. Other programs induce an association of illegal behavior with pain by means of more controversial aversion therapy, in which the pedophile is sent an electric shock while fantasizing. ^[30] These methods are rarely used on pedophiles who have not offended. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Related terms

• Ephebophilia, also known as hebephilia, is the condition of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to adolescents. 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, that is, any person younger than the legal age of consent.
• Pederasty, or the Shotaro complex, generally refers to the attraction toward adolescent or older underage males.
• Lolita syndrome or Lolita complex are terms sometimes used to refer to attraction to adolescent or older underage females.
• Nepiophilia, also called infantophilia, is the attraction to toddlers and infants (usually ages 0-3). Some researchers have suggested a distinction between pedophilia and nepiophilia, as it is unusual for pedophiles to prefer toddlers.

This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The term Western world or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... Worldwide age of consent laws. ... The term pederasty embraces a wide range of erotic relations between adult males and adolescent boys. ... Shounen Ai no Bigaku is a popular shotacon manga anthology. ... Lolita Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first published in 1955. ... Lolicon art often depicts childlike characteristics with possible double meanings. ... Infantophilia or nepiophilia (From Greek nepion, infant + -philia) is the primary sexual attraction of adults to very small children (defined by various studies as 0–4). ... A male toddler A female toddler A toddler is a child between the ages of one and three years old, although some may consider a toddler to be between two and five. ... A human infant The word Infant derives from the Latin in-fans, meaning unable to speak. ...

Law

Pedophilia is itself neither a crime nor a legal term.^[31] It does not describe behavior, but a psychological state.^[9] It is, generally speaking, not illegal to be sexually attracted to a child, and not all pedophiles sexually molest children.^[8][32][33]

Sexual activity between adults and prepubescent children is almost always considered child sexual abuse, and it is illegal in most countries. The matter can be complicated, however, by varying laws concerning youth marriage, emancipation of minors, and the age of consent, all of which can affect the legality of child sex in certain jurisdictions. Intercourse is typically allowed at the ages of 16 to 18, but can range as high as 21 or as young as 12. Emancipation of minors is a process that occurs when a court (or another body given that authority) declares that someone who is still a minor is nevertheless to have the legal rights of an adult, and to be free of any authority from their parent or other legal guardian. ... Worldwide age of consent laws. ...

Child pornography, child prostitution, and recruiting or meeting children for sex using the Internet may also be illegal depending on the jurisdiction. Some people with a history of sexual activity with children may be prevented, by court order or by legislation, from associating with children or being employed in a position that may bring them into contact with children, or from owning mobile phones or computers, having the ability to use the Internet or owning childrens' toys. Generally, child pornography (sometimes referred to as CP, child porn, KP, or kiddie porn) is an illegal form of pornography, featuring minors. ... The Optional protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the prostitution of children or child prostitution is the practice whereby a child is used by others for sexual activities in return for remuneration or any...

On 7 March, 2005, the 2-year-old son of a self-professed pedophile was seized by American Child Protective Services, alleging that the home was "an unsuitable environment" for the child, in part because the father had identified himself as a pedophile on a radio show, which it asserted constituted "support [of] the sexual exploitation of children".^[34]

Pedophile activism

Main article: Pedophile activism

The pedophile activism movement, referred to by some supporters as the childlove movement, is a social movement that encompasses a wide variety of views, but generally advocates one or more of the following: social acceptance of adults' romantic or sexual attraction to children; social acceptance of adults' sexual activity with children; and changes in institutions of concern to pedophiles, such as changing age-of-consent laws and mental illness classifications. The movement is extremely controversial and has made little progress toward these goals. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not include all significant viewpoints. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not include all significant viewpoints. ...

See also

• Child sexuality
• Age disparity in sexual relationships
• Child sexual abuse
• Pedophilia in literature and film
• Moral panic and the Brass Eye 2001 Paedophilia Special
• Child pornography
• Lolicon
• Shotacon

Child and youth sexuality refers to sexual behavior and activity among children. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The term child sexual abuse (CSA) is commonly defined in contemporary western culture as any sexual acts engaged in by minors and adults. ... Pedophilia and romantic or sexual relations between adults and children have been the main theme of many books and several films. ... A moral panic is a mass movement based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group of people, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. ... Brass Eye is a UK television series of satirical spoof documentaries which aired on Channel 4 in 1997 and was re-run in 2001. ... Generally, child pornography (sometimes referred to as CP, child porn, KP, or kiddie porn) is an illegal form of pornography, featuring minors. ... Lolicon art often depicts childlike characteristics with possible double meanings. ... Shounen Ai no Bigaku is a popular shotacon manga anthology. ...

Notes and references

Rind, Tromovitch and Bauserman are the authors of A meta-analytic examination of assumed properties of child sexual abuse using college samples. ... Judith Levine (born 1952) is a noted author and civil libertarian. ... Harmful to Minors Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex (ISBN 0816640068) is a book by Judith Levine that was published in 2002 with a foreword by former United States Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. ...

External links

• Dictionary of Sexology, based on the books of sexologist Dr. John Money.
• Diagnostic criteria for Pedophilia in DSM-IV
• Male Homosexual Attraction to Minors Information Center
• FAQ For Parents of Teenage Boys who are Attracted to Minors

Dr. John Money John Money, Ph. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. ...