Why pedophilia is an orientation

Research papers which consider pedophilia a sexual orientation

https://www.jsm.jsexmed.org/article/S1743-6095%2815%2930336-2/abstract

Sexual interest in children resembles sexual gender orientation in terms of early onset and stability across the life span.

https://sci-hub.se/downloads/2019-01-08/81/seto2012.pdf

I begin by defining pedophilia and sexual orientation, and then compare pedophilia (as a potential sexual orientation with regard to age) to sexual orientations with regard to gender (heterosexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality), on the bases of age of onset, correlations with sexual and romantic behavior, and stability over time.

https://sci-hub.se/10.1007/s10508-016-0799-y

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343738345

In opposition to sexual motivations, we propose to use the term sexual orientation for deeply engrained sexual inclinations that are not amenable (or exceedingly difficult) to change (Imhoff et al., 2017). Prototypical sexual orientations are highly typified gender (hetero- vs. homosexual) or sexual maturity (pedophilic vs. teleiophilic) orientations. Empirically, these can be best understood as discrete classes (or taxa) rather than dimensional continuums (Norris et al., 2015; Schmidt et al., 2013; McPhail et al., 2018) and most scholars agree on the facts that sexual orientations a) have an early onset (preceding the start of sexual activities as a form of “sexual awakening”; Bailey et al., 2016; McPhail, 2018) and b) cannot be changed effectively later in life. As sexual orientations are bound to general object features such as gender or pre-, peri,- or postpubescent sexual maturity status they form the frame within which sexual motivations may develop.

https://www.docdroid.net/qSmIApN/dsm20v-pdf#page=730

The diagnostic criteria for pedophilic disorder are intended to apply both to individuals who freely disclose this paraphilia and to individuals who deny any sexual attraction to prepubertal children (generally age 13 years or younger), despite substantial objective evidence to the contrary. Examples of disclosing this paraphilia include candidly acknowledging an intense sexual interest in children and indicating that sexual interest in children is greater than or equal to sexual interest in physically mature individuals. If individuals also complain that their sexual attractions or preferences for children are causing psychosocial difficulties, they may be diagnosed with pedophilic disorder. However, if they report an absence of feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety, about these impulses and are not functionally limited by their paraphilic impulses (according to self-report, objective assessment, or both), and their self-reported and legally recorded histories indicate that they have never acted on their impulses, then these individuals have a pedophilic sexual orientation but not pedophilic disorder.

http://jaapl.org/content/42/4/404

Second, at present, in discussing Pedophilia, DSM-5 makes reference to the term Pedophilic Sexual Orientation. Sexual Orientation is ordinarily used to designate the category, or categories, of persons whom a given individual finds to be sexually appealing. Those who are heterosexually oriented are sexually attracted to adults of the opposite sex; those who are homosexual, to adults of the same sex; men with a heterosexual pedophilic orientation, to prepubescent females; and men with a homosexual pedophilic orientation, to prepubescent boys.

In the face of significant criticism of its inclusion in the DSM-5, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has stated its intention to remove the term Pedophilic Sexual Orientation from the diagnostic manual. Removing that term in response to public criticism would be a mistake. Experiencing ongoing sexual attractions to prepubescent children is, in essence, a form of sexual orientation, and acknowledging that reality can help to distinguish the mental makeup that is inherent to Pedophilia, from acts of child sexual abuse.

https://sci-hub.se/10.1007/s10612-016-9342-7

There exists overwhelming evidence that minor attraction is a sexual orientation. It is estimated that up to 5% of adults in the United States are preferentially attracted to prepubescent children, to the exclusion of attraction to adults (Seto 2008), and larger numbers of adults have been shown to exhibit some attractions to prepubescent children, whether preferential or not (Hall et al. 1995). The prevalence of preferential attractions to minors who are in the beginning or later stages of puberty is unknown (although perhaps significant, as we later discuss), but the prevalence of attractions to prepubescent children alone mirrors numbers of other sexual minorities: According to Gates (2011), 3.5% of the adult population in the United States identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, while 11% reports some level of same-sex attraction. Yet other research suggests there are additional dimensions to sexual orientation that extend beyond orientation to gender. For example, asexuality is a commonly accepted sexual orientation despite its lack of definitional pull toward attraction to a given gender (Prause and Graham 2007), though asexual people may still prefer to engage in romantic relationships with members of a particular gender.

Seto (2012) compared age of awareness of attractions, romantic behavior, sexual history, and persistence, between those attracted to prepubescent children and teleiophilic straight and gay individuals (teleiophiles are people who are preferentially attracted to adults). Seto’s findings showed that people attracted to prepubescent children experience a similar identity development process as gay and straight teleiophiles. MAPs often report becoming aware of their attractions to children during adolescence, typical of the ages of awareness seen in other sexual minorities (Freimond 2009; Freund and Kuban 1993; Li 1991; Marshall et al. 1991; Seto 2012; Seto et al. 2000, 2003). For many MAPs, this means that they initially are attracted to same-age peers, but as they age, they realize that those who they are attracted to remain in younger age categories (Goode 2010). MAPs also report feeling romantic attachments to children in addition to sexual attractions. In a qualitative study of men who have had sexual contact with minors, multiple participants described feeling love or affection in addition to—or in place of—sexual attraction (Li 1991). Minor-attracted persons may also have fantasies about children that approximate romantic imaginings among adults; for example, a respondent in Goode’s (2010: 104) study detailed that his fantasies were ‘‘sometimes sexual, sometimes not, spending time together, walking on a beach, watching a movie, laughing, having fun, talking.’’ Although there has been very little quantitative research about MAPs, one longitudinal study showed that among this population, attractions to minors persist over time (Hanson et al. 1993).

Due to the similarities between MAPs’ and teleiophiles’ identity processes, Seto (2012: 231) and others have considered pedophilia a "sexual age orientation." In fact, this age orientation may inhibit orientation to a particular gender: MAPs are less likely to have a preference for gender than individuals who are preferentially attracted to adults (Freund and Kuban 1993; Freund et al. 1991). Additionally, while sexual orientation such as gay or lesbian identity is seen as an involuntary and enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to members of the same sex (GLAAD 2010), it is not uncommon for minor-attracted people to describe their attractions as innate, inherent to who they are, or even that they were born like that, suggesting a similarly enduring and unchangeable orientation (Li 1991).

Why it doesn’t make sense to not label pedophilia as an orientation

Defining sexual orientation as only about which gender(s) your sexual attractions are oriented toward doesn’t make sense, since gender is not mentioned anywhere in the term, unless you are a transmisist who believes sex = gender. Defining sexual orientation as only about which sex you’re attracted to doesn’t make sense with how the term is usually used in modern contexts (denoting which gender(s) you’re attracted to). What does make sense is defining sexual orientation as what you are sexually attracted to/what your sexual attractions are oriented toward, counting it as an orientation when it resembles the established sexual orientations (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, etc.) in terms of strength, age of onset, stability over time, etc. Pedophilia (and other chronophilias) do fit these criteria, as shown above.

The suffix -philia has been appended to the targets of some attractions, such as paraphilic ones, to denote that the individual with it is attracted to the target-of-attraction. The first usages of the term “paraphilia” (para meaning abnormal and philia referring, approximately, to a variety of feelings of affection/attraction, including platonic/loving/romantic/sexual) were by psychologists as a replacement for clunkier terms such as “sexual deviance.” Its definition and usage have varied and evolved over time; it has and today does generally cover both sexual and romantic attractions, especially by people who recognize the split attraction model and/or who are inclusive (identity-wise).

The names of sexual orientations have a suffix of -sexual because they denote sexual attractions. Likewise, gender-based romantic orientations are labeled with the suffix -romantic instead of -sexual to denote romantic attraction, i.e. heteroromantic, homoromantic, biromantic, aromantic, etc. The equivalent with pedophilia is “pedosexual” to denote sexual attraction to children, and “pedoromantic” to denote romantic attraction to children (some/many pedophiles do use the terms this way to self-identify). Pedosexuality is a sexual (age-based/chronophilic) orientation, while pedoromanticism is a romantic (age-based/chronophilic) orientation, and pedophilia (in general) is an orientation (not specifically sexual or romantic unless specified).