Replies to '06/06 "I'm Gay, OK?"'

The term "pedophile" has long been used to describe people who are sexually and romantically attracted to prepubescent minors. The connotation of the word has shifted from its original neutral/romantic connotation into one which many in western society would consider offensive and vile. Even in its most neutral use, the romantic connotation has all but vanished, and now merely describes the sexual aspect of pedophilia rather than the full, encompassing classical definition which described the positive, romantic attraction of adults to both children and youth.

"Pedophilia" also comes from Ancient Greek, and it too means "boylove." However, paidophilia was never used to describe the pedagogical eros of the classical period. Two terms, paidophiles and philopais, both meaning "boylover," were coined late by Greek poets as a substitute for the word paiderastes because the accent in the given word for boylover did not lend itself to the metre the poets used in their works about boylove.[6

The suffix -phile in its classical use did not signify a clinical paraphilia, but rather a natural, accepted, romantic connotation. With the rise of the Victorian era's shift in concepts of psychology and sexology, the uprise of child-rights activism and reform [7 in the late 19th century, the eventual rise of age of consent laws in the U.S. from 10-12 to 16-18 years of age[8, and the following shift in public discourse revolving pederastic sentiment, the term fell into a negative connotation.

Because of this shift from "romance" to "illness", certain activists in the modern childlove movement decided to adopt a new term which they feel more fairly and accurately represents their attractions as how it relates to modern atonement of the sentiment and practice of pederasty. This term is pedosexual. The word reflects the gay rights movement's decision to shift from "homophile" to "homosexual".

Unlike "boylover" or "girllover", "pedosexual" does not connotate classic romantic sentiment as did "pedophile", but rather more specifically refers to the explicit, primary sexual interests and self-labelling of the individual. Just as "homosexual" is to "gay", references of lifestyle and attitudes are also cut from its meaning.

The word is not without controversy, even amongst its own activists within the movement. Some activists feel the abandonment of the word "pedophile" is a cop-out and is not the correct move for public acceptance. Others feel it is the "only" way to go and that positive connotative reestablishment of "pedophile" is futile. The term "childluster" is also used interchangably in this fashion. Then, there are those which prefer not to use either "pedophile" or "pedosexual", sticking only to "boylover" or "girllover", exclusively.

Another word to describe boylove is "bay" (e.g.: "boy"+"gay") to describe boylove and pedosexuality. The term was coined by a 15 year old to describe his partner at the time