Attraction to adolescent boys

Various terms are used for preferential sexual attraction to boys (and girls) who have reached puberty; that is, cases in which attraction to adolescents is stronger than attraction to adults or prepubescent children.

• Some North American researchers and clinicians, particularly those in Canada, refer to this as hebephilia .⁶
• Others, especially in the U.S., use the term ephebophilia .⁷
• Still other researchers, mainly those in Europe, do not use the terms at all.⁸
• Neither term appears in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR), the organization’s authoritative handbook for diagnosing mental disorders.⁹

Again, hebephilia and ephebophilia refer to feelings of attraction, not necessarily to sexual behavior with pubescents or adolescents. Sexual interaction between adults and adolescents is termed ephebosexual behavior .¹⁰

Some scholars, particularly historians, use the term pederasty in this context. The Greek word paiderastes originally referred to a man who fell in love with male adolescents. However, pederasty has acquired several meanings over time:

• sexual activity between men and adolescent boys
• sexual activity between adults and adolescents of any gender
• homosexual practice among males regardless of age¹¹

This site is concerned with hebephilia/ephebophilia in those cases involving men's preferential sexual feelings for boys.