This topic is hot, no pun intended, as the diagnostic categories for the proposed DSM-V are being debated. Researchers are jockying to have their preferences enshrined in the manual. One group is arguing that heterosexual male attraction to teenage girls is a paraphilia (hebephilia). There is plenty of laboratory research evidence that indicates that male sexual attraction to adolescent females is completely normal. I have been gathering references on this for the last couple of years. More later.
Is heterosexual male attraction to “underage” females a mental disorder?
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At last month’s meeting of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) in Oslo, Norway, the vote was approximately 100 to 1 against the controversial diagnosis of “pedohebephilia,” according to two reliable sources. The lone dissenting voice was a member of the DSM-5 committee.
Karen Franklin is keeping track of this issue and a whole lot more at her forensic psychology blog.