Sexuality is an important part of our being; our way of living it is diverse and the interests and objects of desire we may have can be profoundly varied.

However, some people develop a fixation or experience intense fantasies about unusual, unconventional or even criminal objects of desire, which generate deep dissatisfaction or suffering for those who suffer from it or for their objects of desire. One of these cases is that of ephebophilia , the sexual attraction to underage adolescents, which we will talk about throughout this article.

Ephebophilia as a paraphilia

It is called ephebophilia or hebephilia the preferential sexual desire towards underage youth, in puberty or postpuberty . It is a paraphilia or paraphilic disorder, which is characterized by the appearance of intense sexual fantasies in which the main object of desire is focused on non-human beings, objects, subjects without consent or capacity to consent, or involves the existence of damage and suffering for oneself or for others.

These fantasies are presented in an intense way during a minimum of six months and generate dysfunctionality and alteration in the subject’s daily life , occupying a part of his time and may or may not generate discomfort to the person himself.

The fantasy can remain in the imaginative or they can push the subject to try to practice them, and it usually generates an exclusive sexual interest (although this last one is not essential) towards the paraphilic stimulus.

Symptoms

In the case of ephebophilia, as we have seen, we find that the object of sexual desire that forms part of the fantasies of those who suffer from this paraphilia are minors who have already entered puberty.

In this sense, sexual interest may appear between the ages of 11 (more typically from 15) and 18, and the other subject must already be an adult with an age difference of at least 5 years . Also, the attraction may appear towards people of the opposite sex as well as the same sex.

Technically this type of sexual interest could be considered a type of pedophilia, since in that case the subject of desire of the ephebophile is still a minor. However, there is one characteristic in which they differ: in the case of ephebophiles the subject already has sexual characteristics similar to those of an adult subject , since he is going through or has already gone through puberty, whereas in classical pedophilia the interest is focused on pre-pubertal subjects (without sexual attributes).

Usually paraphilias can involve exclusive or almost exclusive sexual attraction, although depending on the case it is also possible to maintain functional relationships with completely adult subjects. Ephebophilia is considered a paraphilia, especially if the attraction is only and fixed towards postpubertal minors . In other contexts, settings and cultures, however, it is considered a normal sexual response, because the object of desire has adult or quasi-adult sexual characteristics.

However, characteristics such as the search for environments where this type of minors abound simply because they are close to an object of desire, grooming or sadistic or predatory characteristics towards this sector of the population may be talking about a paraphiliac-type problem.

Is this a criminal paraphilia?

Some paraphilias may not be criminal, excessively disabling or have an effect beyond that which is merely sexual, but in other cases, such as the one in which we are concerned with the implementation of the fantasies themselves , it may lead to the commission of a crime , since ephebophilia could be considered as paedophilia or statutory rape depending on the age and the circumstances surrounding consent.

In Spain and at present, the minimum age of sexual consent is 16 years old . However, even if consent is given, conditions of equality must exist: if there is abuse of authority or the adult seduces the minor through manipulation, we are talking about a case of statutory rape, a type of sexual abuse. If this is not the case, and as long as the child is over sixteen years of age, we are not dealing with an interaction that constitutes a crime.

Causes

The causes of ephebophilia are not completely clear, as is the case with all other paraphilias. There is also debate as to whether or not it should be considered a paraphilia in those cases where the attraction is not exclusive and does not generate an alteration in the life of the subject or his object of desire.

Among some existing hypotheses we could consider the existence of a deficit in coping skills, social skills or a high level of insecurity or lack of self-esteem . In this sense, the ephebophile could be considered incapable of relating with people of his own age, something that may lead him to feel more comfortable in the company of prepubertal people.

It is also possible that there is a desire for dominance and power with someone who, while physically resembling an adult, is usually more innocent and has less life experience, implying that the ephebophile has a position of superiority.

Another explanation could be found in learning by modeling or even by parental models : a subject can learn that adolescent subjects are sexually desirable from what the environment teaches him. In addition, masturbatory conditioning may have occurred if sexual arousal or orgasm has been associated with the image of adolescents.

Finally, it must be taken into account that the fact that the physical may already be practically that of an adult may cause a certain attraction that is not necessarily pathological, even though it must be emphasized that both the physical and especially the psychological level of development do not correspond to that of the adult subject.

Treatment

Sexual attraction to adolescents may not require treatment, but in those cases where the attraction is exclusive and involves clinically significant discomfort , or involves statutory rape, it is possible to try various procedures.

In this case it should be sought first what implications the figure of the adolescent has for the subject and what elements of it are relevant to generate the excitement. Likewise, in case of discomfort, it will also be necessary to discuss where the discomfort and the affectation generated by the subject in his day-to-day fantasies come from.

After this, we proceed to seek to develop positive emotional ties with non-paraphilic situations to proceed to desensitize the paraphilic stimulus with procedures such as masturbatory reconditioning or the breaking of the chain of actions that leads to arousal with the child.

Sometimes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can also be helpful, especially in cases that do not have paraphilic characteristics and where there is normative sexual attraction.

Bibliographic references:

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.