pedophilia, haebophilia, ephebophilia. the distinction matters.

CW assault mentions (no in depth descriptions of anything)

havent posted here in a while, thought id come back with an opinion thats proven to be rather controversial to most people. lets see how many times i'll be accused of being a pedo defender/a predator this time ! if thats what you choose to reply to this post with, im just gonna assume that you didnt read my post & not respond to you.

for those who are dont know (understandable, these terms arent discussed frequently): pedophilia is attraction to children ages eleven or younger, haebophilia is attraction to children ages twelve to fourteen, ephebophilia is attraction to children ages fifteen to seventeen (eighteen & nineteen also falls under ephebophilia, but im talking specifically about attractions thatd be criminal to act on).

the word pedophile is VERY diluted, thats why i think that the other two words should be used as well. no, im obviously not stating that haebophilia & ephebophilia is ANY BETTER than pedophilia. all of those philias NEED therapy to treat, all those philias are criminal to act upon, all those philias deeply damage & scar the children that fall victim to them. i can personally confirm that. but holy fuck the word pedophile is losing its meaning at a rapid rate, & yes, THIS DILUTION DAMAGES VICTIMS.

pedophilic is used like its synonymous with predatory or creepy. this is what causes the word to lose its impact & meaning. when i say that ive been victimized by pedophiles, people no longer assume that i experienced horrible things in early childhood, they assume that im talking about dealing with being creeped on as a teenager or being hit on by old men as an eighteen year old, & im ultimately not taken seriously. thats EPHEBOPHILIA. yes, ive had traumatizing experiences with ephebophiles too, but those experiences should NOT be lumped in with my experiences from early childhood. the impact those experiences had on me are incomparable. again, in no way am i saying that being victimized as a teenager is better or less serious, but i AM saying assault in early childhood & assault in adolescence impact people in vastly different ways, & its unfair to lump it all under one word. this is why the distinction is so important to me.

the most common pushback i get to this standpoint, is that haebophilia & ephebophilia are diagnostic terms that are typically only used in a clinical setting, & its simply easier as a layman to lump all attraction to minors under 'pedophilia'. i think thats a bullshit response, because, yk... pedophile is ALSO a diagnostic term used in clinical settings, yes? so why did we pick that one to lump everything predatory under?

"well its the most commonly used term" i dont caaaaaaaareeeeeeeeee. language evolves, people. you dont have to use a term just because everyone else is using it.

"but people arent familiar with the terms hebephilia & ephebophilia" did you see how easy it was to define them in my second paragraph? hell, i probably couldve made my explanation of the terms even shorter, & you still wouldve understood what i was saying. youre not an old dog, you can learn new words.

as far as im aware, there is no good reason to lump everything predatory towards minors as pedophilia (hell, every predator gets labeled pedo at this point, even if minors are uninvolved), & every reason to make the distinction between the different philias. the last time i posted about this (in a different subreddit, the post got taken down & i ultimately deleted it), i was a little too hardheaded, & stated that i dont care to hear other peoples arguments. i dont hold that standpoint anymore, i do want to hear peoples counterarguments. unless you think these opinions makes me a predator for some unknown reason, im under no obligation to give those people my time of day. be respectful with me & i'll be respectful with you :) ok have a good day everyone