The act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children.
pedophiliac ped'o·phil'i·ac (-ăk) adj. & n.
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The act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children.
pedophiliac ped'o·phil'i·ac (-ăk) adj. & n.The cause or causes of pedophilia are not well understood. Personality problems may be evident, and the pedophile often shows little or no concern for the effects of his sexual behavior on the child. Researchers have reported that psychotherapy in conjunction with the use of testosterone-lowering drugs has substantially reduced the desire in male pedophiles to molest children. See also child abuse.
Pedophilia or pædophilia (see spelling differences) is the primary or exclusive sexual attraction by adults to prepubescent youths. A person with this attraction is called a pedophile or paedophile.[1] The ICD-10 and DSM IV, which are standard medical diagnosis manuals, currently describe pedophilia as a paraphilia and mental disorder of adults or older youths, if it causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
The term pedophile is also used colloquially to denote an adult who is sexually attracted to adolescents or youths below the local age of consent,[2] as well as those accused or convicted of child sexual abuse or child pornography related offences.
The word comes from the Greek paidophilia (παιδοφιλία): pais (παις, "child") and philia (φιλία, "love, friendship"). Paidophilia was coined by Greek poets either as a substitute for "paiderastia" (pederasty),[3] or vice versa.[4]
The classic spelling with ae or æ is preferable, because pedophilia looked on etymologically means attractance to the ground (πέδον). It should not be confused with podophilia either, which is attraction to the feet (πούς > octopus / ποδός / πηδόν > pedal). It is correctly pronounced using the "ped" as in "pediatrician," not as in "pedestrian" (as the original spelling contained an æ, which is pronounced as a long e)"
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:
As people who have this interest would include many adolescents and prepubescents, some experts who theorise that minor-attraction is more common among youth, specify that the interest must be toward pre-pubescent youths at least five years younger than the subject.
Adults sexually attracted to pre-pubescent youths were placed into three categories by Krafft-Ebing:
Other researchers used their own terms for the Krafft-Ebing categories:
This three-type model as well as the fundamental mental and behavioural differences of the three types were empirically evidenced, among others, by Kinsey; Howells 1981;[6] Abel, Mittleman & Becker 1985;[7] Knight et al. 1985;[8] Brongersma 1990;[9] McConaghy 1993;[10] Ward et al. 1995;[11] Hoffmann 1996;[12] Seikowski 1999.[13]
The term pedophile is commonly used to describe all child sexual offenders, including those who do not meet the clinical diagnosis standards. This use is seen as problematic by some people,[14][15][16] Some researchers, such as Howard E. Barbaree,[17] 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". Child sexual abuse, whether perpetrated by a clinically diagnosed pedophile or a situational offender, is illegal in most jurisdictions.
Some psychologists,[18][19] such as Dr. Fred S. Berlin, assert sexual attraction to pre-pubescent youths to be a sexual orientation in itself.[20][21] In one article, Berlin writes "it is likely that no one would choose voluntarily to develop a pedophilic sexual orientation. Those with such an orientation have no more decided to have it than have any of us decided as children to be either heterosexual or homosexual."[22] Berlin also defends the classification of pedophilia as a mental disorder, however, stating "In our society, to have a pedophilic sexual orientation can create both psychological burdens and impairments."[22]
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."[23]
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":[24]
The APA diagnostic criteria do not require actual sexual activity with a pre-pubescent youths. The diagnosis can therefore be made based on the presence of fantasies or sexual urges alone, provided the subject meets the remaining criteria. "For individuals in late adolescence with Pedophilia, no precise age difference is specified, and clinical judgment must be used." (p. 527 DSM).[25]
German psychologist Michael Griesemer theorizes[26] that pedophiles miss the switch of sexual interest from prepubescent to postpubescent partners (so-called sex-dimorphic maturation of the frontal brain) that usually occurs with the onset of puberty, so that pedophilia is a developmental disability besides a sexual orientation.
Some medical studies have suggested that pedophilia may have physical causes: according to one case report pedophilia was observed to coincide[27] and disappear with a brain tumor and there are indications of a familial transmission.[28]
The extent to which pedophilia occurs is not known with any certainty. Historically, sexual contacts between older pre-pubescents and adults were relatively common and accepted in many places, including the United States and England, where the legal age of consent typically ranged from 7 to 12 years until the end of the 19th century [29] [30]. Some studies have concluded that at least a quarter of all adult men may have some feelings of sexual arousal in connection with pre-pubescent youths.[31] One study found that professionals failed to report approximately 40% of the child sexual abuse cases they encountered.[32]
A perpetrator of child sexual abuse is commonly assumed to be and referred to as a pedophile and will usually meet the DSM criteria; however, there may be other motivations for the crime[17] (such as stress, marital problems, or the unavailability of an adult partner),[33] much as adult rape can have non-sexual reasons. Child sexual abuse alone may or may not be an indicator that its perpetrator is a pedophile; however, regardless of cause, sexual contact with pre-pubescent youths is evidence of pedophilia according to the DSM-IV definition.
Some research indicates that most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are not primarily interested in pre-pubescent youths.[34] In two studies designed to measure sexual preferences using phallometric data, it was found that "30% of the [child sex] offenders tested did not show sufficient arousal [to children] to derive a usable score." [35] Sociology professor Rüdiger Lautmann, stated in his book on pedophilia that, "In this book I am concerned exclusively with the first type [the true pedophile who "has a general interest in social contact with children, including a sexual dimension"], which constitutes approximately 5% of all pedosexually active men."[36] A survey of cases of father-daughter incest concluded that most involve fathers who are situational offenders, rather than pedophiles.[37]
As noted by Abel, Mittleman, and Becker[38] (1985) and Ward et al. (1995), there are generally large distinctions between the two types of offenders' characteristics. 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 extrafamilial; are more inwardly driven to offend; and have values or beliefs that strongly support an offense lifestyle.
Attempts have been made to use criminal profiling to identify pedophiles, however, these methods have come under criticism for making claims that are in excess of what the evidence supports.[39]
A number of proposed treatment techniques for pedophilia have been developed. In 1981, writer David Crawford reported that the success rate of these therapies was very low.[40] Crawford's article did not address the use of Depo-Provera, today the most common drug used to decrease libido in sex offenders. Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic, believes pedophilia can "indeed be successfully treated," if only the medical community would give it more attention.[20]
Anti-androgenic medications such as Depo Provera may be used to lower testosterone levels, and are often used in conjunction with the non-medical approaches above. (This is commonly referred to as "chemical castration.") Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, which last longer and have less side effects, are also effective in reducing libido and may be used.[41]
Other programs induce an association of illegal behavior with pain by means of the more controversial aversion therapy, in which the pedophile is given an electric shock while fantasizing.[42] A study by the Council on Scientific Affairs found that the success rate of aversion therapy was parallel to that of homosexual reparative therapy; that is to say, extremely low.[43] This method is rarely used on pedophiles who have not offended.
Convicted sex offenders, including many pedophiles, have been treated by the psychosurgical procedure commonly known as lobotomization. Psychosurgery has long been controversial, particularly the historical use of surgical intervention on homosexuals given that homosexuality is no longer considered a mental illness by the psychiatric community (see for instance Rieber et al. 1976;[44] Sigusch 1977;[45] Rieber & Sigusch 1979;[46] Schorsch & Schmidt 1979)[47] Lobotomization is generally no longer practiced and is prohibited in a number of countries.
Thalamotomy is an alternative surgical treatment of sex offenders in practice since the problems with leucotomy have been commonly known (see Greist 1990;[48] Diering & Bell 1991;[49] Hay & Sachdev 1992;[50] Rappaport 1992;[51] de la Porte 1993;[52] Poynton 1993;[53] Bridges et al. 1994;[54] Cummings et al. 1995)[55] and is increasingly advertised as an "effective therapy" for sex offenders (as well as for some children suffering from symptoms of child sexual abuse, since the 1980s (see for instance Andy 1970;[56] Bradford 1988a;[57] Wyre & Swift 1991;[58] Abel et al. 1992;[59] Bridges et al. 1994;[54] Cummings et al. 1995).[55] As Levey and Curfman have noted, however, given the availability of psychopharmacological treatment options, psychosurgical interventions are not likely to be employed given their extreme side effects and irreversible nature. See the same article for an in depth review of treatment options and diagnostic criteria. Additionally Reid 2002 writes that neurosurgery for sex offenders is "essentially unavailable" in the United States and that data on its use is sparse.[60]
Klaus M. Beier of the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at Charité, a large university hospital in Berlin, Germany, reported success in a preliminary study using role-play therapy and medicine. According to researchers, the pedophiles were better able to control their urges once they understood the pre-pubescent youth's view.[61][62]
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Français (French)
n. - pédophilie
Deutsch (German)
n. - (Med.) Pädophilie
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παιδεραστία
Português (Portuguese)
n. - pedofilia (f)
Español (Spanish)
n. - pedofilia
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - pedofilia, sex. intresse av barn
中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
恋童癖
中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 戀童癖
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 어린이에 대한 이상성욕
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - אהבת ילדים (סטיית מין)
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