Not a Pedophile

The GVGL is not a pedophile. He’s a pedosexual, and he’s a girl lover. Pedophile, pedosexual, and girl lover have distinct meanings.

Pedophile

The term pedophile has lost its historical meaning. The term was first used by Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1886 and denoted a persistent and exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children. In 1886 pedophile would almost have been an correct description of the GVGL. Almost, because the GVGL does have a sexual interest in some peripubescent girls (those in the midst of puberty). Today, pedophile is a catch-all term used to describe not only violent child rapists, but also statutory rapists, situational child molesters †, people who download child porn, adults attracted to teenagers, Jack McClellan, and the boneheads entrapped by perverted justice. There’s a presumption today that a pedophile is a criminal. That presumption did not exist in Krafft-Ebing’s definition, the GVGL is not a criminal, so to call the GVGL a pedophile is wrong.

Pedosexual

The GVGL is a pedosexual. That is his sexual orientation. You may not think it’s a sexual orientation, but others do. Fred S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D., National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma, writes ⁽¹⁾

The spectrum of human sexuality is diverse. Thus, a visitor from a distant planet could easily observe that there are some adults here on earth who are strongly, and perhaps exclusively, attracted to other adults of the opposite gender. Such persons are said to have a heterosexual orientation. That visitor would also be able to note that there are others who are strongly attracted to adults of the same gender, and who are therefore said to have a homosexual orientation. Finally, he could observe that there are those who are strongly attracted to children, and who are therefore said to have a pedophilic orientation.

Hall & Hall, write ⁽²⁾

Pedophilia, especially the exclusive type, may be best thought of as its own category of sexual orientation, not something that is superimposed on an existing heterosexual or homosexual identity.

Many people who realize this orientation in themselves call it pedosexuality, which makes them pedosexuals. This term, pedosexual, is needed as an unbiased way to refer to the great number of people who are “strongly attracted to children”. The GVGL uses the following definition

Pedosexual An adult with an attraction to children that is comparable to or exceeds their attraction to adolescents or adults.

The attraction in the definition covers the full aesthetic, romantic, and sexual attraction. To the GVGL the key distinction between pedophile and pedosexual is that the pedosexual can really fall in love with prepubescent or peripubescent children.

Girl Lover

Pedophile as used by Krafft-Ebing is extremely specific and excludes many persons with a non-exclusive sexually attraction to prepubescent children. The modern usage of pedophile is excessively broad and groups together criminals with non-criminals, those having mental disorders (according to the APA) with those free of mental disorders, and those sexually attracted to new-born babies with those sexually attracted to sixteen year olds. Another problem with pedophile is the term’s association with sexual attraction to the exclusion of the aesthetic and romantic elements of attraction. Pedosexual is a better term because it’s indicative of more than just sexual attraction. Most heterosexuals experience aesthetic, romantic, and sexual attraction to other adults. By extension, most pedosexuals experience aesthetic, romantic, and sexual attraction to children. But even pedosexual, alone, is inadequate to describe girl lovers. That’s because girl love is not a sexual orientation, it’s a lifestyle that an informed pedosexual can choose to lead. Both ancedotal evidence and research suggests that the pedosexual orientation typically manifests itself during the later stages of puberty. Girl love, in contrast, is something the pedosexual must learn or be taught. The critical question is what is girl love? The answer is that girl love is a framework for responsible relationships between adults and prepubescent or peripubescent girls. The GVGL will elaborate on his concept of girl love, and how one learns to be a girl lover, on the Girl love page. For those interested, reading the Terminology page will also be helpful.

Notes & References

† The GVGL will not attempt to analyze here the very complex subject of child molestation. His point is only to show that some, possible many, child molesters are not sexually attracted to children and are totally distinct from Krafft-Ebing’s original concept of pedophile and from the modern mental health concept of pedophile. Lanning writes ⁽³⁾

The situational-type child molester does not usually have compulsive-paraphilic sexual preferences including a preference for children. He may, however, engage in sex with children for varied and sometimes complex reasons.

There’s also evidence that a significant fraction of molestations are perpetrated by juveniles themselves. Child molestation, despite its supposed prevalence, is poorly understood, and much of the research and statistics available can be misleading. Hall & Hall ⁽²⁾ suggest that “when reviewing research studies on pedophilia, it must be remembered that there is a strong potential for sampling biases.” The reason is that the samples for many of these studies are drawn from individuals in or previously in the criminal justice system for child molestation. To draw conclusions about all pedosexuals based on the study of men who have molested children is analogous to drawing conclusions about all heterosexuals based on the study of men who have raped women.

(1) Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 31, No. 6, December 2002, pp. 479–503
(2) Ryan C.W. Hall, Richard C.W. Hall, Mayo Clin Proc. 2007;82:457-471
(3) K.V. Lanning, Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis, 2001