# sexual psychology term question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563 "2005-06-09T04:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jane\_sbrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jane\_sbrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jane_sbrain)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563/1 "2005-06-09T04:23:31Z")
A long time ago I was reading a criticism of Nabokov’s Lolita, where it was explained that a person attracted to someone going through puberty was an “eadophile,” because a pedophile was someone who was only attracted to children. I introduced in it lit class when we were talking about JCO’s “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,” which was a term nobody was familiar with. I googled it when I got home and got no relevant links (not good). I then looked it up on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) where even my abysmal spelling(?) would be compensated for and got no repsonses (even worse). Just when I thought I’d made it up and was going crazy, it was used on Law&Order, where it was correctly defined. I still can’t find it in any printed material, so what gives? Is it in the DSM? Did it wind up on the trash heap of logismal history before it even got online? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563/2 "2005-06-09T04:40:48Z")
Wikipedia defined [Ephebophilia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia) as “a sexual preference or orientation in which an adult is primarily or exclusively sexually attracted to adolescents.” I can’t find anything about eadophilia, though. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563/3 "2005-06-09T14:43:30Z")
I’m looking at my most recent copy of the DSM-IV-TR and I don’t see a distinction between pedophilia, ephebophilia or eadophilia. Here’s what the index has on sexual disorders: 302.2 Pedophilia 302.3 Transvestic Fetishism 302.4 Exhibitionism 302.6 Gender Identity Disorder 302.6 Gender Identity Disorder NOS 302.70 Sexual Dysfunction NOS …actually I’d better stop now lest I risk crossing the line of “fair use” and go into plagairism. Suffice to say that the DSM diagnoses for sexual disorders, at least in the index, stops at 302.9 Sexual Disorder NOS and does not include any subsets of pedophilia. I also note that the 2000 DSM does not included Corprophilia (sp?), which I guess would have to be a sub-category of 302.81 Fetishism. Pedophilia is defined as: > [@](#): > > A. Over a period of at least 6 months, recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a **prepubescent** [bolding mine] child or children (generally age 13 years or younger). **friedo** : does your definition define adolescents as “people going through puberty” or as “people between the onset of puberty and age 18 or so”? **jane’s brain** if you’re interested in more info on what the DSM says e-mail me and I’ll see about loaning you my copy (I’ll bookmark the relevant pages). ---
**Author:** ![Fortean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fortean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fortean)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563/4 "2005-06-10T10:36:23Z")
It may be just a literary academic term which doesn’t mean the same in scientific circles. When I was writing my MA about gay Frenchmen I used the term ‘ephebe’ to describe the type certain gays at the time found sexually attractive, ie, the beautiful passive narcissistic young male, aged 14-21 or thereabouts. Since then I’ve been a bit worried that ‘ephebe’ really means someone much younger than that and I’ve accused all those poor Frenchmen of being paedophiles. I must have got the term from somewhere, though, and it must have been a load of other academics writing about the same thing – but perhaps there’s some ambiguity involved. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sexual-psychology-term-question/307563/5 "2005-06-11T19:42:23Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’m looking at my most recent copy of the DSM-IV-TR and I don’t see a distinction between pedophilia, ephebophilia or eadophilia. That’s because hebephilia (aka ephebophilia) is not a mental disorder so would not be listed in the DSM, and eadophilia is not a real word (mishearing of ether hebe- or ephebo-) so would not be listed anywhere. As you quoted, pedophilia is for ages below 13. There’s the distinction right there between pedophilia and the others.