You're much too young, girl
I learnt a new word today. That word is Ephebophilia. No, before you ask (if you already know what the word means) I didn't learn it because it relates to me in the slightest. I learnt it because I read it and wanted to know what it meant so I looked it up.
Basically, it means a person who is sexually attracted to teenagers, anywhere from ages 13-16 I think. Anyway, I had always (wrongly) assumed that being attracted to anyone under the age of 16 (if you are over the age of 18 or 19 anyway) was paedophilia. I now realise this was a stupid assumption and one I only made because I never thought on it too deeply. If you'd asked me the definition of paedophilia I would have replied that it was being attracted to children and I would have been referring to people under the age of 12 or 13 probably. Therefore, it makes sense that there is another word for being attracted to people older than that but who it is still inappropriate (in my mind anyway) to be attracted to.
I read a very interesting article on Ephebophilia (which the spell checker wants to change to haemophilia so obviously the word isn't a well-known one.) The article also talked about different country's ages of consent. In New Zealand it is age 16 but I think there are extra laws if the older of the two is over a certain age. In a lot of American states it is 18 but this article informed me that in some states it is as low as 14. In the Netherlands the age of consent is 12! (But again, there are laws regarding the age of the partner so as to protect young people from predatory teachers and other Ephebophilia-suffering adults).
It's funny really. It's not like teenagers really consider the legality of sex before doing it. Well, I never did anyway, maybe some do. Yet, it would seem very inappropriate if the government ever tried to revoke our laws on it and have no age of consent. I guess most of my friends lost their virginities between ages 16-19 so maybe the law actually does work, at least a little bit? Or maybe my group of friends were an oddity?
I really hate ending blogs. I always have an insane desire to wrap up what I have talked about in an essay-like conclusion that is thoroughly inappropriate for a blog. Usually (as you'd have noticed) I end my blogs like I end my emails, with an excuse as to why I am stopping. Other times I just stop writing and press 'publish post'. However, doing it this way necessitates me studiously not thinking about the lack of properly rounding off what I was talking about and annoys me no end if I go back and re-read it later.
To that end I will now make my excuses. I am hungry and I have run out of things to say so this is the end for today. share this: facebook
Basically, it means a person who is sexually attracted to teenagers, anywhere from ages 13-16 I think. Anyway, I had always (wrongly) assumed that being attracted to anyone under the age of 16 (if you are over the age of 18 or 19 anyway) was paedophilia. I now realise this was a stupid assumption and one I only made because I never thought on it too deeply. If you'd asked me the definition of paedophilia I would have replied that it was being attracted to children and I would have been referring to people under the age of 12 or 13 probably. Therefore, it makes sense that there is another word for being attracted to people older than that but who it is still inappropriate (in my mind anyway) to be attracted to.
I read a very interesting article on Ephebophilia (which the spell checker wants to change to haemophilia so obviously the word isn't a well-known one.) The article also talked about different country's ages of consent. In New Zealand it is age 16 but I think there are extra laws if the older of the two is over a certain age. In a lot of American states it is 18 but this article informed me that in some states it is as low as 14. In the Netherlands the age of consent is 12! (But again, there are laws regarding the age of the partner so as to protect young people from predatory teachers and other Ephebophilia-suffering adults).
It's funny really. It's not like teenagers really consider the legality of sex before doing it. Well, I never did anyway, maybe some do. Yet, it would seem very inappropriate if the government ever tried to revoke our laws on it and have no age of consent. I guess most of my friends lost their virginities between ages 16-19 so maybe the law actually does work, at least a little bit? Or maybe my group of friends were an oddity?
I really hate ending blogs. I always have an insane desire to wrap up what I have talked about in an essay-like conclusion that is thoroughly inappropriate for a blog. Usually (as you'd have noticed) I end my blogs like I end my emails, with an excuse as to why I am stopping. Other times I just stop writing and press 'publish post'. However, doing it this way necessitates me studiously not thinking about the lack of properly rounding off what I was talking about and annoys me no end if I go back and re-read it later.
To that end I will now make my excuses. I am hungry and I have run out of things to say so this is the end for today. share this: facebook
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on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 1:32 PM.
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