The
DSM-V defined pedophilia as an exclusive or preferential sexual attraction to prepubescent children. In order to be considered a pedophile according to the DSM-V, an individual must be at least sixteen years old and attracted to children five years younger than themself.
Pedophilia is not a disorder. Pedophilia is a chronophilia (an age-based pattern of attraction/
orientation) which generally remains stable over time. Pedophiles can be attracted to other age ranges alongside their attraction to children.
Away from clinical settings, inclusive MAP communities today aware of the existence of aspec people and the split attraction model generally use “pedophilia” as an umbrella term to varying degrees, extending the definition of pedophilia to include asexual pedophiles who are romantically attracted to children, aromantic asexual pedophiles experiencing alterous attraction(s) to children, and pedophiles whose attraction to children is “significant” though not preferential. Adolescents are considered pedophiles even if they are younger than sixteen years old, as long as they are attracted to prepubescent children significantly younger than them. Many communities are shifting towards a more fluid, personal, identity-based definition rather than the classic rigid box determined by academia for precise categorization and research purposes.
Pedophilia refers to attraction, not action. Attraction does not always correlate to action, and action does not always correlate to attraction.
Most CSA offenders are not pedophiles, and
most pedophiles are non-offending. A sexual or romantic relationship between an adult and a child is not “pedophilia” anymore than a relationship between two adults is “teleiophilia,” or a relationship between a man and a woman is be “heterosexuality.”
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