Mark Foley = Ephebophile

However, remember many of the victims of Clergy abuse have been accused of PEDOPHILIA- based in large part by the 'imbalance of power'- Being a Congressman and making sexual advances towards a "page" certainly qualifies in my 'book as being one who is taking advantage of their position.



From Wiki:

It isn't in the dictionary so could you give a definition of this word? It's hard to call someone a "name" when the word can't be found in a dictionary...

An Ephebophile is someone who is attracted to postpubescent adolescents, in contrast to a paedophile who is attracted to prepubescencts.

genuine pedophilia, given time.

Thanks for the definition, I just wonder why I can't find it in any online dictionary. Also, wouldn't it be difficult to make the distinction in this case without actual knowledge of the teen-ager's identity, How do we know what this kid looks like, or if he was pre or post pubescent(not all 16 year olds have hit puberty or look like they have)? And to be quite honest, what difference does it make if he is peodophile or Ephebophile? He is a nasty man who did something horrible and deserves to be punished for his actions. So is this "Ephebophile" clarification just some sort of semantic argument for the sake of political correctness?

It's nothing more than semantics IMO. He's a sexual predator, period.

The issue of ephebophilia is complex and isn't restricted to physical appearance. I suspect a lot ephebophiles are attracted to postpubescents because of the lack of social maturity as much as sexual maturity. That is, they are easier prey, easier to control, influence and so on.

But why are intelligent people dismissive of semantics?

As a smart man once said, "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is like the difference between butter and butterfly"

attributed to Mark Twain but some dispute the origin.

I agree using this term would be complicated and also favor using sexual predator but it will be a cold day in hell when I call someone a pedophile who does not meet the definition.

It is an important part of how the legal system and mental health treatment deals with sex offenders.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ephebe
(Guess you have to be a Mary Renault fan to know what it means off the top of your head...!)

Welcome to DU! :hi:

:dunce:

It's "party on, dudelette!" for him. :party:

view my posts.

the quote explaining what the word meant is missing entirely-
:blush:




(this is from Wikipedia)

I'm not the brightest bulb on the string eh?- And I had to go out and catch the recycling center (dump) before it closed today....

geez do I feel stupid-
:dunce:

blu

Ephebophilia, also known as hebephilia, is the condition of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to adolescents. These terms are used in contrast with pedophilia; however pedophilia is sometimes used more broadly in the western world to describe both ephebophilia and attraction to younger children, that is, any person younger than the legal age of consent. Ephebophilia is a term of recent coinage, and does not have broad academic acceptance as constituting a paraphilia.

does not have broad academic acceptance

the 'recent coinage' surprises me.
I guess it is because so many people have limited "Pedophilia" to infants-puberty. So as soon as a girl has her first period, (like an 8yr old in many cases) they would 'technicly' not be a 'child'????-
sure.... !

Legal age of consent is what should be the caviat. Sick how we can charge children as adults, justify abusing them, but not trust them to make decisions such as buying a lottery ticket, playing bingo in a bingo hall, consuming alcohol, getting married etc.