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DEFINING PEDOPHILIA

Pedophilia is defined clinically as a recurrent, intense sexual attraction to prepubescent children; the same definition is used here. As I noted in the Introduction , individuals with pedophilia or hebephilia (attraction to pubescent children) can vary greatly (see Exhibit 1.1 for composite case examples). This attraction to children can be manifested in a variety of ways, including sexual thoughts or urges, fantasies, sexual arousal, or behavior. In its strongest, exclusive form, persons with pedophilia are only sexually interested in prepubescent children and have no interest in adults. Others are interested in both children and adults to varying degrees; it is surprising that researchers do not know much about what proportion of persons with pedophilia have an exclusive or nonexclusive form. In a study of 358 help-seeking individuals concerned about their sexual interest in children, 60% were classified as having pedophilia and 28% were classified as having hebephilia (Beier et al., 2009). In the pedophilic group, 61% had an exclusive interest in children, with equal numbers preferring boys or girls. In a recent online survey of 1,189 respondents, Bailey, Bernhard, and Hsu (2016) found that 44% of boy-attracted pedophilic men reported exclusive attraction, whereas 59% of girl-attracted persons with pedophilia reported exclusive attraction.