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In the United States and some other countries, the term ''pedophile'' is frequently used also to denote people who are sexually attracted to adolescentsAmes, A. & Houston, D. A. (1990). "Legal, social, and biological definitions of pedophilia." ''Archives of Sexual Behavior''. 19 (4), 333-342., as well as people who have engaged in Sexual Activity With 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. Some scientists refer to a sexual interest in adolescents as '' Ephebophilia ''Rahman, Tariq (1988). "Ephebophilia: the case for the use of a new word," ''Forum for Modern Language Studies'', 24(2), 126-141. or ''hebephilia''.Freund, Kurt (1981). "Assessment of pedophilia," ''Adult sexual interest in children'', 139-179. DEFINITION 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 ).Liddell, H.G., and Scott, Robert (1959). ''Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon''. ISBN 0199102066. The term ''paedophilia erotica'' was coined in 1886 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard Von Krafft-Ebing in his writing '' Psychopathia Sexualis ''.Krafft-Ebing, Richard von (1886). ''Psychopathia Sexualis''. English translation: ISBN 155970425X. He gave the following characteristics:
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, there is evidence that a diagnosis of pedophilia can be appropriate for a post-pubescent adolescent.Janssen, D. J. (2003). " Protoparaphilia. " Unpublished. 23-27. See entry for sexologist Dr. John Money . Use of the term ''pedophile'' to describe all child sexual offenders is seen as problematic by some peopleEdwards, M. (1997) "Treatment for Paedophiles; Treatment for Sex Offenders." ''Paedophile Policy and Prevention, Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series'' (12), 74-75.Underwager, Ralph and Wakefield, Hollida (1995). " Special Problems with Sexual Abuse Cases : Assessment of the Accused Adult ." In J. Ziskin (Ed.) ''Coping With Psychiatric and Psychological Testimony'' (Fifth Edition). Los Angeles: Law and Psychology Press. pp. 1315-1370. ISBN 1879689073Feierman, J. (1990). "Introduction" and "A Biosocial Overview," ''Pedophilia: Biosocial Dimensions'', 1-68., especially when viewed from a medical standpoint, as the majority of sex crimes against children are perpetrated by 's standards as "unsatisfactory". Some individuals, such as Dr. Fred S. Berlin, assert sexual attraction to children to be a Sexual Orientation in itself. Edwards, Douglas J. (2004). '' Mental Health's Cold Shoulder Treatment of Pedophilia '' in Behavioral Health Management, May-June.Berlin, Fred (2000). "Treatments to Change Sexual Orientation," ''American Journal of Psychiatry'', Vol 157. 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. DIAGNOSIS The ICD-10 (F65.4) defines pedophilia as "a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age." World Health Organization, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10. § F65.4 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"American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition), § 302.2 :
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 ageGoodburn, Elizabeth A., and Ross, David A. (1995). "A Picture of Health: A Review and Annotated Bibliography of the Health of Young People in Developing Countries." Published by the World Health Organization and UNICEF., though it is most often defined as the period of life between the ages of 13 and 18. 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.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. 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.Freund, Kurt; McKnight, C. K.; Langevin, R.; and Cibiri, S. (1972). "The female child as a surrogate object." '' Archives of Sexual Behavior.'' '''2''', (2), 119-133. 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.Briere, J. and Runtz, M. (1989) "University males' sexual interest in children: predicting potential indices of "pedophilia" in a nonforensic sample." ''Child Abuse & Neglect'', 13 (1), 65-67. 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, much as adult Rape can sometimes have non-sexual reasons (such as stress, marital problems, or the unavailability of an adult partnerHowells, K. (1981). "Adult sexual interest in children: Considerations relevant to theories of aetiology," ''Adult sexual interest in children'', 55-94.). 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.Lanning, Kenneth (2001). '' Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis '' (Third Edition). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Fagan, P.J.; Wise, T.N.; Schmidt, C.W.; and Berlin, F.S. (2002). "Pedophilia," ''Journal of the American Medical Association'', 288(19), 2458–2465. 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). As noted by Abel, Mittleman, and BeckerAbel, G. G., Mittleman, M. S., & Becker, J. V. (1985). "Sex offenders: Results of assessment and recommendations for treatment." In M. H. Ben-Aron, S. J. Hucker, & C. D. Webster (Eds.), ''Clinical criminology: The assessment and treatment of criminal behavior'' (pp. 207-220). Toronto, Canada: M & M Graphics. (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. Quinsey, V. L. (1977). "The assessment and treatment of child molesters: A review." ''Canadian Psychological Review.'' 18, 204-220. 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."Crawford, David (1981). "Treatment approaches with pedophiles." ''Adult sexual interest in children''. 181-217. Others, such as Dr. Fred Berlin, believe pedophilia can "indeed be successfully treated," if only the medical community would give it more attention. The reported success rate of modern "reparative" treatment on pedophiles is very low. A study by the Council on Scientific Affairs found that the success rate of aversion therapy was parellel to that of homosexual Reparative Therapy .Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association (1987). "Aversion therapy," Journal of the American Medical Association, 258(18), 2562-2565. 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. 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. "Can pedophiles be treated?" Whyfiles.org These methods are rarely used on pedophiles who have not offended. RELATED TERMS
LAW Pedophilia is itself neither a crime nor a legal term." Organized Paedophile Group Activity ," Parliament of Australia Joint Committee. It does not describe behavior, but a psychological state. It is, generally speaking, not illegal to be sexually attracted to a child, and not all pedophiles sexually molest children.Gieles, Frans. "Helping people with pedophilic feelings," Lecture at the World Congress of Sexology, Paris, June 2001. 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. 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. On 7 March, 2005, the 2-year-old son of a self-professed pedophile was seized by Child Protective Services, alleging that the home was "an unsuitable environment" for the child because the father had identified himself as a pedophile on a radio show, which it asserted constituted "support the sexual exploitation of children".Brown, Kevin (2005). "[http://unkind.atspace.com/seizure.html Update on my Son's Seizure by the State ." 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. SEE ALSO
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