Questioning the accuracy of criteria of Pedophilic Disorder

Post Reply New Topic

Questioning the accuracy of the diagnostic criteria for Pedophilic Disorder.

If puberty starts at between ages 10 and 14 in girls, and 12 and 16 for boys, why is the diagnostic criteria for Pedophilic Disorder is sexual attraction for older adolescents is ages 13 and under? Shouldn't diagnostic criteria for Pedophilic Disorder be is when an older adolescent has sexual attraction to people aged 9 and under for girls, and under 12 for boys?

Because when you hit puberty, you are no longer prepubescent child anymore. But, at age 10 and 12, you are still too young to have adult relationships. It can be called Pedophilic Disorder, Hebophillic type, by empathizing that at ages 10 and 12 are pubescent, but depending on how an older adolescent has sexual attraction to those ages can be abnormal.

I have been wondering if I am correct that it is normal for older adolescents or adults to be sexually attracted to people who are on or past puberty.

I am sorry that I asked, the diagnostic criteria for Pedophilic Disorder is slightly confusing, because for girls, at age 10, you are on puberty, and age 12 for boys, you are on puberty.



Sources:

https://medlineplus.gov/puberty.html

https://www.gracepointwellness.org/98-s ... c-disorder

That definitely makes sense. I was also discussing a little bit about biology, if by nature normal to be sexually attracted to people who can reproduce, but being able to reproduce starts a bit too early, at age 10 for girls and at age 12 for boys.

It's very interesting to discuss about biological espects.

The cutoffs are going to be inherently arbitrary. At 13, my dad could go into a liquor store and not get carded, so an adult or much older teen being attracted to him wouldn't have been abnormal at all because he was basically indistinguishable from an adult visually (tall guy with a full beard and mature-looking face). Meanwhile, other 13 year olds haven't even entered puberty yet. And then it gets even messier when you talk about people with clinically abnormal pubertal development - it's possible to be over 18 and not have entered puberty, or be a toddler who is starting to show pubertal signs. I don't know if there's been any real research into how pedophiles and non-pedophiles are likely to react to such abnormal pubertal development.

As for their mental/emotional development, likely the cutoffs there are arbitrary, too. Kids even very young can have developmentally appropriate sexual interactions with the same age and not be harmed - eg preschoolers often experiment with looking at and touching each other's genitals out of sheer curiosity, and this behavior hasn't been found to be linked to any psychiatric issues. It's when the two people involved have an age gap, and/or the behavior itself is developmentally inappropriate, that harm can result. This can even be true if both people involved are under 13 - for example, one of my abusers was around 11 years old when he started abusing me, when I was 1 year old. (I don't think he had pedophilic disorder, btw, his actions were more consistent with a psychopath who opportunistically offended just because I was weaker and he had opportunity, rather than someone sexually attracted to younger individuals.) There's also some evidence that cultural and socioeconomic context can affect maturity levels, eg in some societies teen/adult relationships seem to function better than in other societies.

That makes sense.