Pederasty

=Definition: Pederasty =

===The International Agency for Crimes Against Children (IACAC) define //pederasty// – in the academic and classical sense - as an erotic man-boy relationship, with or without sexual relations, with or without consent. In the legal sense, the IACAC defines //pederasty// as sexual relations with a minor. Recent sexuality research on pederasty has expanded in reaction to a growing Western cultural awareness of pedophilic sex crimes (Fisher, 1994; Gartner, 1999; Hunter, 1990); however, this narrow focus creates only a limited culture-bound understanding of pederasty and pederasts. ===

====Pederasty is an umbrella term for erotic and/or amorous relationships between adult males and boys: other terms include "man-boy relationships" and "male intergenerational intimacy." ====

Pederastic relationships have been around for at least the length of recorded human history, and in many disparate societies around the globe. However, as roles of children and views of sexuality change over time and across cultures, pederastic relationships take on new meanings, structures, and significance (Sandfort, Brongersma, & van Naerssen, 1991).

Alone, the number signifying a person's age - or the difference in age between partners - says little about the nature, structure, and meaning of a pederastic relationship. Such relationships and the individuals who practice them are varied and complicated, and require specific descriptive terminology. Among clinical, legal, and academic circles, pederasty is often confused with the related terms and concepts //pedophilia,// //child sexual abuse ////,// and //homosexuality. //

=Pederasty vs. Pedophilia=

====//Pedophilia// is a clinical term for a mental disorder characterized by urges or fantasies of sexual activity with minors - specifically, with prepubescent persons ([|American Psychiatric Association], 2013). ====

A //pedophile// is an individual who experiences part or all of their sexuality as urges or fantasies directed at children. Neither term connotes a behavior; although, //pedophilic behavior// connotes sexual activity with a minor as motivated by the adult's sexual attraction to the child's young age.

By contrast, pederastic relationships arise for a variety of other reasons besides pedophilic urges: the adult male in a pederastic relationship may have a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to other adults, yet still carry on a romantic, erotic, or sexual relationship with a young boy. The adult may turn to a child for romantic or sexual gratification merely because the child is available and vulnerable (IACAC, 2014).

Pederasty has different structures and significance in other parts of the world, and throughout different historical eras.
In some tribal cultures of Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, and Australia, an adult male fulfills a societal obligation by sexually initiating a male youth, thus bringing him out of the world of women and children and into the world of men (Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, 1991). A man-boy relationship sometimes signifies status and wealth, as it did for politicians in ancient Greece (Percy, 1998), and continues to do for military and ex-military personnel in rural regions of Afghanistan (Baily, 2013). In these contexts, a pederastic activity occurs without pedophilic motivations, as the adult is not necessarily sexually attracted to the child's age or youthful appearance.

The rise of Christianity in Europe marked a decline in acceptance: the Byzantine Empire imposed strict religious and legal prohibitions on the practice of pederasty (Lascaratos & Poulakou-Rebelakou 2000). To this day, in most predominantly-Christian nations in Europe and the Americas, pederastic relationships tend to take on a secretive arrangement and signify moral depravity and shame (Snadfort et al., 1991).

= Pederasty vs. Child Sexual Abuse =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C//hild sexual abuse// is any sexual act between an adult and a child that hurts the child, whether physically, emotionally, or psychologically.
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A more complex definition is the use of a power dynamic by an adult to engage sexually with a child: the adult is considered a perpetrator or molester, and the child is considered a victim (Hunter, 1990). Abuse may be overt - openly sexual and apparent - or covert - deceitfully presented as something nonsexual.

Ironically, most child sexual abusers are not pedophiles, in that they do not have a sexual preference for children: they are situational abusers, who have sex with a child because the child is available and vulnerable (IACAC, 2014). It is important to delineate between "pedophilia" and "child sexual abuse," as there is a growing understanding among researchers and clinicians that child sexual abuse arises from many intersecting factors. Models created by Wolf (1984) and Finkelhor (1984) suggest that early exposure to victimization and family dysfunction, use of sexualization to cope with unwanted emotions, availability and vulnerability of the child, and lack of resistance by the child are all factors in the prevalence of child sexual abuse (as cited in Fisher, 1994, pp. 16-24). Beyond pathologizing child sexual abusers as pedophiles, these models incorporate developmental, environmental, and situational factors that lead to the actual occurrence of child sexual abuse.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A pederastic relationship may or may not involve sexual activity, and may or not involve physical, emotional, or psychological pain to the child. At the same time, many argue that a non-traumatic impact on the victim does not lessen the abusiveness of the act (Gartner, 1999). While man-boy child sexual abuse fits under the umbrella definition of pederasty, it is debated as to whether or not pederasty is equivalent to child sexual abuse (Sandfort et al., <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1991).

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pederasty vs. Homosexuality =

//Homosexuality// is a sexual attraction to a person or persons of the same sex. However, not all cultures recognize same-sex attraction as a component of pederastic activity.
Homosexuality as an identity - as opposed to a preferred activity between individuals of the same sex - is a predominantly Western cultural concept that emerged in the early eighteenth century (Weeks, 2010). The concept of a homosexual identity suggests that homosexual behavior can be explained by underlying sexual drives, as opposed to social, environmental, or situational factors. In the context of a pederastic relationship, homosexual attraction would imply that the adult male is sexually attracted to the boy's maleness or male characteristics. In much of the Western discourse on pederasty, homosexual desires are largely assumed (Gartner, 1999).

Pederastic relationships may have a homosexual component - homosexual sex, homo-romanticism, and homoeroticism (NAMBLA, 2010) - but not always. As stated above, a pederastic relationship may evolve out of a societal obligation, or as a symbol of status or wealth <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">( Baily, 2013; <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, 1991; Percy, 1998). The adult may be attracted to a young male for his pre-pubescent feminine features, such as the absence of body hair (Baily, 2013; Gartner, 1999). In cultures that value gender segregation, the inaccessibility of women or emphasis on male-male bonding may motivate a heterosexual adult male to turn to male children for sexual gratification (Varnell, 2002). In the United States, the correlation between child sexual abuse of boys by men and homosexuality is fairly low: Groth and Oliveri (1989) and Jenny, Roesler, and Poyer (1994) reported that pedophiles actually described themselves as heterosexual, and were predominantly homophobic (as cited in Gartner, 1999).

To define pederasty as motivated by homosexual desires, or to define pederasts as homosexuals, are common Western cultural misunderstandings. These misunderstandings can lead to devastating consequences in cases of child sexual abuse: namely, the misappropriation of homosexuality serves to deny the presence of abuse and causes the child victim to self-blame. A young male who is first abused by an adult male and then later in life identifies as homosexual may interpret his early abuse as a form of sexual initiation: he may even describe his abuser as doing him a favor for showing him that homosexual activity was acceptable (Hunter, 1990). A victim of abuse may also question his own sexual orientation well into adulthood, rationalizing that the abuse could not happen - or that he could not experience arousal from the abuse - unless he was actually homosexual or gave off a homosexual vibe to attract the abuser (Gartner, 1999).

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References =

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). //Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders// (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Baily, J. (2013). Wah! Wah! Meida meida! The changing roles of dance in Afghan society. In K. Salhi (Ed.), //Music, culture and identity in the Muslim world: Performance, politics, and piety// (103-121). New York, NY: Routledge.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, G. (1991). Pederasty among primitives: Institutionalized initiation and cultic prostitution. In T. Sandfort, E. Brongersma, & A. van Naerssen (Eds.), //Male Intergenerational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives// (13-30). New York, NY: The Haworth Press.

Fisher, D. (1994). Adult sex offenders: Who are they? Why and how do they do it? In T. Morrison, M. Erooga, R. C. Beckett (Eds.), //Sexual Offending against Children: Assessment and Treatment of Male Abusers// (pp. 1-24). New York, NY: Routledge.

Gartner, R. B. (1999). Sexual victimization of boys by men: Meanings and consequences. //Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, 3//(2)//,// 1-33.

Hunter, M. (1990). //Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse.// Washington, D.C.: Lexington Books.

IACAC. (2014)//. International Agency for Crimes Against Children:// //Child Trafficking, Exploitation, & Cyber Crimes Tactical Initiative.// Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lascaratos, J., & Poulakou-Rebelakou, E. (2000). Child sexual abuse: Historical cases in the Byzantine empire (324-1453 A.D.) [Abstract]. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24(8), 1085-1090.

Percy, W. A. (1998). //Pederasty and pedagogy in archaic Greece.// Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.

Sandfort, T., Brongersma, E., & van Naerssen, A. (1991). Foreword: The debate on pedophilia. In T. Sandfort, E. Brongersma, & A. van Naerssen (Eds.), //Male Intergenerational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives// (1-4). New York, NY: The Haworth Press.

Schuijer, J. (1991). Tolerance at arm's length: The Dutch experience. In T. Sandfort, E. Brongersma, & A. van Naerssen (Eds.), //Male Intergenerational Intimacy: Historical, Socio-Psychological, and Legal Perspectives// (199-229). New York, NY: The Haworth Press.

Varnell, P. (2002). Pederast isn’t Greek to post-Taliban Afghans [Abstract]. //Washington Blade, 33//(10), 32-32.

Weeks, J. (2010). //Sexuality// (3rd ed.). New York, N.Y.: Routledge.