ephebophile

Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19. The term was originally used in the late 19th to mid-20th century. It is one of a number of sexual preferences across age groups subsumed under the technical term ''chronophilia.'' ''Ephebophilia'' strictly denotes the ''preference'' for mid-to-late adolescent sexual partners, not the mere presence of some level of sexual attraction. It is not a psychiatric diagnosis.

In research environments, specific terms are used for chronophilias: for instance, ''ephebophilia'' to refer to the sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents, ''hebephilia'' to refer to the sexual preference for earlier pubescent individuals, and ''pedophilia'' to refer to the primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children.

Etymology and definitions

The term ''ephebophilia'' comes from the grc, ἔφηβος (''ephebos'') variously defined as "one arrived at puberty", "a youth of eighteen who underwent his ''dokimasia'' and was registered as a citizen (Athens)", and "arriving at man's estate"; and (''-philia'') "love". It has been used in publications by Dutch psychologist Frits Bernard in 1950, and reprinted in 1960 in the gay support magazine ''Vriendschap'' under the pseudonym Victor Servatius, crediting the origin of the term to Magnus Hirschfeld with no exact date given. The word was in fact first published in French (''éphébophilie''), in Georges Saint-Paul's 1896 book, ''Tares et Poisons: Perversion et Perversité Sexuelles''.

The term has been described by Frenchman Félix Buffière in 1980, and Pakistani scholar Tariq Rahman, who argued that ''ephebophilia'' should be especially used with regard to homosexuality when describing the aesthetic and erotic interest of adult men in adolescent boys in classical Persian, Turkish, or Urdu