Ephebophilia
Ephebophilia, also known as hebephilia or Lolita syndrome, is the sexual attraction of an adult to adolescents. It is a chronophilia, i.e. belongs to a group of paraphilias of the stigmatic or eligibilic type in which the paraphile's sexuoerotic age is discordant with his or her actual chronological age and is concordant with the age of the partner. Pederasty is the attraction to male adolescents.Some argue that only men who consistently prefer prepubescent girls are practicing an unsound reproductive strategy (pedophilia), while men who prefer postpubescent girls may practice a very sound reproductive strategy (Ephebophilia). Sociobiological research shows that all primate males prefer young females. A study on human male preferences showed that all males in the study from 7 years and up preferred the faces of 17-year-old girls.
However, the people attracted to may be below the age of consent, and when they are models in pornography, this is considered child pornography.
Often pedophilia and ephebophilia are confused. The reason for this is that definitions of the legal age and the biological age of a child conflict. According to some Catholics, the child abuse cases in the American church often are instances of ephebophilia rather than paedophilia. (See: Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal)
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