Pedosexuality

Part of NewgonWiki's series on minor-attracted identities
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Pedosexuality is a relatively new term intended to be used as a non-biased, value-neutral term for strong physical-erotic attractions primary toward children, whether it be boys or girls. A person experiencing these attractions is described as a pedosexual. It is intended to be analogous to terms such as homosexuality. Homosexuals are seldom called "homophiles" today for instance. In a reversal of this alternative etymology, the activists of the Mattachine Society in the 1950s, probably the earliest modern homosexual rights organization, often referred to themselves as homophiles.

The proposed benefits which would arise from the use of this term are dependent upon whether or not communities such as boylove and girllove actually practice usage as outlined.

A disadvantage of the proposed term would be that a large portion of minor-attracted persons who are primarily attracted to adolescents would be excluded from the group of people described as pedosexuals. This is the same problem that has caused some opposition to the term "childlover." Boylovers on the internet for instance, are not a cohesive community in many respects but to a large degree they do not tend to separate themselves into communities of those attracted to prepubescent boys and those attracted to older boys. Coining a term that would magnify the difference between those subgroups could be seen as divisive and might have the potential to actually divide the communities if adopted.

The term could also be criticised on grounds of etymology. If the constituent term "sexuality" is seen as identifying a preference for one gender, both or the other, "pedosexuality" is an inaccurate term as it intends to identify a chronophilia (age-based attraction). Whilst other preferences, notably Zoophilia/Zoosexuality have been described as sexual preferences, this does not necessarily make the usage of this term correct.

Pedosexual vs. pedophile

The term pedophile has existed for millennia. The recent issues with the term mainly center around its modern connotation. In the 19th century, it was adapted into a term for a paraphilia, that is, a clinical mental illness. This has allowed the ideal regarding the preference, and practice, to fall into further and further negative light. With the recent upturn in publicity regarding child abuse, rape, and clear cases of molestation, the term "pedophile" has become a media term, used in a variety of circumstances, and is felt to have cast permanent damage on the definition and connotation of the word.

Pedosexual vs. minor-attracted/childlover/boylover/girllover

There is an ongoing controversy within the boylove/girllove communities regarding the sexual vs. non-sexual nature of the two terms. Some identify themselves as non-sexual girllovers for example. Arguments against this allege that such people are mislabelling themselves or in denial.