Ephebophilia: symptoms, causes and treatment of this paraphilia

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

However, some people develop a fixation or experience intense fantasies with unusual objects of desire, little conventional or even criminal, which generate a deep dissatisfaction or suffering to those who suffer or their objects of wish. One of these cases is ephebophilia, the sexual attraction to underage adolescents, which we are going to talk about throughout this article.

• Related article: "Filias and paraphilias: definition, types and characteristics"

Ephebophilia as paraphilia

It receives the name of ephebophilia or hebephilia the preferential sexual desire towards underage youth, pubertal or postpubertal age. It is a paraphilia or paraphilic disorder, which are characterized by the appearance of intense sexual fantasies in which the main object of desire is focuses on non-human beings, objects, non-consenting subjects or without the capacity to consent or involves the existence of harm and suffering for oneself or for the the rest.

These fantasies are played out intensely for a minimum of six months and generate dysfunction and alteration in the day-to-day of the subject, occupying a part of their time and may or may not cause discomfort to the person himself.

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

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 the puberty.

In this sense, sexual interest can appear between 11 (more typically from 15) and 18 years of age, and the other subject must already be an adult with an age difference of at least 5 years. Likewise, the attraction can appear both 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 the ephebophile's desire 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 passing puberty or has already passed it, while in classical pedophilia the interest is focused on prepubertal subjects (without sexual attributes).

In general, paraphilias can imply an exclusive or almost exclusive sexual attraction, although depending on the case it is also possible that you can maintain functional relationships with subjects completely Adults. 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 near-adult sexual characteristics.

However, characteristics such as the search for environments where this type of minors abound for the mere fact of being near an object of desire, grooming or sadistic or predatory characteristics towards this sector of the population may be speaking of a problem of the paraphilic.

• You may be interested: "The 3 stages of adolescence"

Is it a criminal paraphilia?

Some paraphilias may not be criminal, excessively disabling or affect beyond what merely sexual, but in other cases such as the one in which we are dealing with the implementation of the fantasies themselves may lead to the commission of a crime, since ephebophilia could be considered pedophilia or rape depending on the age and the circumstances surrounding consent.

In Spain and today, the minimum age for sexual consent is 16 years old. However, even if consent is given, conditions of equality must exist for this: if there is abuse of authority or the adult seduces the minor through manipulation we are talking about a case of rape, a type of abuse sexual. If this is not the case and as long as it is over sixteen years of age, we would not be facing an interaction constituting a crime.

Causes

The causes of ephebophilia are not totally clear, as it happens with the rest of paraphilias. There is also a debate as to whether or not it should be considered paraphilia in those cases in which the attraction is not exclusive and does not generate an alteration in the life of the subject or the object of her desire.

Among some existing hypotheses we could consider the existence of a deficit in coping skills, social skills, or high insecurity or lack of self-esteem. In this sense, the ephebophile could be considered incapable of relating to people of the same age, something that can lead them to feel more comfortable in the company of prepubescent children.

It is also possible that there is a desire for domination and power with someone who, although physically resembling an adult, is generally more innocent and has less life experience, which means that the ephebophile has a position of superiority. In addition, the adult may already have resources while the adolescent is less likely to possess them, in such a way that the adult could see himself as a provider and protector of her object of desire.

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

Finally, it must be taken into account that the fact that the physique can already be practically that of an adult can cause a certain attraction not to exist. necessarily pathological, although it should be noted that their level of development, both physical and especially psychic, does not correspond to that of the subject adult.

Treatment

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

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

After that, 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 minor.

Sometimes it can also be useful Acceptance and commitment therapy, especially in cases that do not have paraphilic characteristics and in which there is a normative sexual attraction.

Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Masson, Barcelona.