History of pedosexuality and what it means to me
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2026 11:02 am
I've never personally liked the term map which I've talked about elsewhere because the term is too one directional and focused on the adult attraction of men towards young people. Actually I prefer the idea of a term, if there is to be a term, for a two way relationship, a mutual attraction and interest between two people. In homosexual relationship it's understood that it's a relationship between two adults that are attracted to each other, the same for heterosexual relationships. Pedosexual relationships are often presented as a one way abusive relationship which isn't necessarily true. There will be heterosexual and homosexual adults engaged in abusive relationships together but there are many more that are mutual. When I think of pedosexual relationships I think of a mutual type of relationship between two consenting people. Abuse is abuse regardless of age and can never be tolerated, but relationships are not automatically abusive. I decided to look back through history to see if there are terms to describe such relationships and I found it to be an interesting journey of discovery for me.
In ancient cultures such as Greek, Roman and Abrahamic societies there was no word that specifically described relationships between adult's and young girls. Such relationships certainly happened and were quite common but they were generally managed through marriage rules. In Ancient Greece and Rome, adult men frequently married girls as young as 12 to 16 and the unions were legally and socially accepted as marriage. In Southern Africa, Basotho women in Lesotho took other women and young girls as "special friends", a term called Motsoalle, a long term and socially celebrated relationship. In some cultures, betrohals could happen as young as 7 years of age.
For boys it was similar except since marriage rules could not be applied then separate terminology was created to describe such relationships. There was the term paidika in Ancient Greece for "things having to do with children" or youths which primarily was used in the context of pederasty which was the socially accepted romantic relationship between an adult male and a young male, usually teens but could be younger. Similar relationships have existed across many cultures. In the Congo warriors would take boy-wives, in Tanzania tradition approved of pederastic relationships. In Australia before colonialisation, the Warlpiri people initiated boys as the boy-wife of the future father-in-law, and the various aboriginal tribes permitted sexual experimentation between children before marriage. In Central Asia, Bacha bāzī (boy play) was the practice of men buying and keeping adolescent boys for entertainment while in East Asia, Pederasty was socially accepted in China for much longer than in existed in Europe. Classical novels such as The Carnal Prayer Mat discuss relationships between adult men and young boys and scholars often engaged in pederastic relationships with boy actors. In Japan it existed in similar forms, there is plenty of history in Buddhist monasteries and samurai circles of such relationships. In Europe there are ancient cultures such as the Greeks and Roman's but even in the Victorian era there was a deep admiration of ancient Greek cultures including relationships between young men and adults, modern classics such as The Picture of Dorian Gray being written. I read that book, it's pretty boring, but it struck me when I read it that the story is built around a young man who appears to be a teenager that men just adore and lust after, and he uses is sex appeal skillfully. There's a history in the old boarding schools such as Eton and Harrow of pederasty between the older boys and young boys, not officially sanctioned but permitted and well documented. That's quite similar to similar practices in the British Navy in the 17th to 19th century.
In the Islamic World, pederasty was common especially in the upper classes. In Oceania, in New Guinea the Simbari people traditionally incorporated pederasty as part of the ritual initiation into manhood, Keraki people had similar customs as did other cultures. In the Solomon Islands, particularly the Nggela Islands, most men traditionally partook in sexual intercourse with multiple boys from the ages of seven to eleven years old. In Malakula, men men took boy-wives.
It isn't just old cultures, relationships between adult men and young boys was known during WW2 with local boys and young men and it certainly persists around the world even if it's forced to be less public.
So from this it can be viewed that such relationships have always existed and have been much more accepted. For young females, it was mostly treated the same as for adult females using marriage rules. You mostly stayed pure until marriage which was usually permitted from around 12. It's reasonably accepted that sexual relationships did happen sooner but wasn't encouraged in polite society since virginity for the husband was something treasured. That doesn't mean everyone was polite and stayed pure, there would have been sexual relationships that happened as has been the case throughout history, it just wasn't something usually public for young women being kept for marriage. For young males it was as common but since it wasn't for marriage purposes there were more often different terms used to describe these types of coupling.
Today the argument is made that sexual experiences at a young age can be traumatic and so while it's something that has happened naturally as long as humans have existed, it for some reason is traumatic. This seems odd to me, that something that we as a species have done forever would be traumatic. young girls and women forced into sex would I'm sure find it traumatic, rape isn't something women report positively, but mutual sexual play is reported positively in most cases. Why would this be different just because one person is under 18? WHy do so many people seek out and engage in underage sex? Keeping oneself pure until 18 is something many do, but many don't and the act of staying pure is a choice. Some people choose to wait until they are married or are in a long term relationship, many others don't. As soon as they are in university and away from their restrictive parents then many engage in drinking and sex and parties, all the things they've been repressed from and that all floods out when they gain that freedom.
So this raises some questions for me.
One, we shouldn't just accept the argument that sex at a young age is traumatic. There is a lot of evidence that it isn't. I myself was engaged sexually from a young age which I enjoyed so I know personally that sex isn't always traumatic. Considering the amount of underage sex, that many young people pursue older people and the way people embrace their sexual nature so much as soon as they are free to do so should make people question this argument. Also, the fact that we have throughout history engaged in sexual relationships from earlier ages would suggest that we are evolved for that and that the actual unnatural state is the current forced state of making what we have done naturally for so long, taboo.
Two, as I stated above, don't like the term MAP because it's it's focused on a one way attraction. Minor Attracted Adult, rather than a term expressing something more mutual. Pedophilia is quite a recent term that used Greek terms but not Greek language. Pedophilia wasn't a term in ancient Greece, you were a paidika for boys or just something attracted to females that often included young females, but it wasn't a separate term. I'm thinking more of a Motsoalle style dynamic where there's a special mutual attraction and relationship. Maybe a modern definition of pedophile is correct, a child lover in a romantic sense, but even then it's quite one way. I suppose I'm seeking a term that describes someone seeking a respectful, mutual relationship with someone who could be a child. Yes there would likely be a sexual dynamic to such a relationship but it's much more about a mutual attraction and respect just as it would be between an adult heterosexual couples. I don't have to define myself as someone seeking a loving relationship with an adult woman, the term heterosexual is sufficient. I am heterosexual but it just happens that for it to be a relationship then the female partner would be young. To be clear, I'm married to an adult lady around my own age so I'm talking hypothetically. We met when quite young and she is the only adult woman I feel such attraction towards. Ever since I was young myself I've only really felt attraction to young girls, that is still the case except with my wife who I formed a close bond to when younger and that love endured. That isn't the case for many.
Three, related to two, I feel there should be a movement that focuses on mutual respect and care between adults and children to break down the barriers that exist today in society. MAPs advocating for child protection from abuse, youth rights, the empowerment of youth. Youth rights means the right to say no, but it also means the right to say yes. Forcing a young person into a sexual relationship is abuse, but I would argue that denying a child the right to a sexual relationship is also abuse. They are equivalent extremes. Forcing someone to say no is an abuse as much as it is forcing someone to say yes. A basic human right is to choose. That shouldn't be a right reserved for the intellectual or any group, it should be a basic right such like access to food, water and shelter. Today, society is carrying out a terrible abuse against children by forcing a choice on them, a choice that is mainly for the benefit of parents. I understand that, I'm a protective parent to and would not consider anyone worthy to be with them, I doubt I would even when they reach 18. But that's my hangup, is it right that I should be putting my interest ahead of theirs? It is an important issue and I think such a movement should put as much emphasis on a childs right to say no, it should be framed entirely as youth rights while not shying away from the fact that we are people who feel attraction and would enjoy a world where loving and physical relationships would exist.
In ancient cultures such as Greek, Roman and Abrahamic societies there was no word that specifically described relationships between adult's and young girls. Such relationships certainly happened and were quite common but they were generally managed through marriage rules. In Ancient Greece and Rome, adult men frequently married girls as young as 12 to 16 and the unions were legally and socially accepted as marriage. In Southern Africa, Basotho women in Lesotho took other women and young girls as "special friends", a term called Motsoalle, a long term and socially celebrated relationship. In some cultures, betrohals could happen as young as 7 years of age.
For boys it was similar except since marriage rules could not be applied then separate terminology was created to describe such relationships. There was the term paidika in Ancient Greece for "things having to do with children" or youths which primarily was used in the context of pederasty which was the socially accepted romantic relationship between an adult male and a young male, usually teens but could be younger. Similar relationships have existed across many cultures. In the Congo warriors would take boy-wives, in Tanzania tradition approved of pederastic relationships. In Australia before colonialisation, the Warlpiri people initiated boys as the boy-wife of the future father-in-law, and the various aboriginal tribes permitted sexual experimentation between children before marriage. In Central Asia, Bacha bāzī (boy play) was the practice of men buying and keeping adolescent boys for entertainment while in East Asia, Pederasty was socially accepted in China for much longer than in existed in Europe. Classical novels such as The Carnal Prayer Mat discuss relationships between adult men and young boys and scholars often engaged in pederastic relationships with boy actors. In Japan it existed in similar forms, there is plenty of history in Buddhist monasteries and samurai circles of such relationships. In Europe there are ancient cultures such as the Greeks and Roman's but even in the Victorian era there was a deep admiration of ancient Greek cultures including relationships between young men and adults, modern classics such as The Picture of Dorian Gray being written. I read that book, it's pretty boring, but it struck me when I read it that the story is built around a young man who appears to be a teenager that men just adore and lust after, and he uses is sex appeal skillfully. There's a history in the old boarding schools such as Eton and Harrow of pederasty between the older boys and young boys, not officially sanctioned but permitted and well documented. That's quite similar to similar practices in the British Navy in the 17th to 19th century.
In the Islamic World, pederasty was common especially in the upper classes. In Oceania, in New Guinea the Simbari people traditionally incorporated pederasty as part of the ritual initiation into manhood, Keraki people had similar customs as did other cultures. In the Solomon Islands, particularly the Nggela Islands, most men traditionally partook in sexual intercourse with multiple boys from the ages of seven to eleven years old. In Malakula, men men took boy-wives.
It isn't just old cultures, relationships between adult men and young boys was known during WW2 with local boys and young men and it certainly persists around the world even if it's forced to be less public.
So from this it can be viewed that such relationships have always existed and have been much more accepted. For young females, it was mostly treated the same as for adult females using marriage rules. You mostly stayed pure until marriage which was usually permitted from around 12. It's reasonably accepted that sexual relationships did happen sooner but wasn't encouraged in polite society since virginity for the husband was something treasured. That doesn't mean everyone was polite and stayed pure, there would have been sexual relationships that happened as has been the case throughout history, it just wasn't something usually public for young women being kept for marriage. For young males it was as common but since it wasn't for marriage purposes there were more often different terms used to describe these types of coupling.
Today the argument is made that sexual experiences at a young age can be traumatic and so while it's something that has happened naturally as long as humans have existed, it for some reason is traumatic. This seems odd to me, that something that we as a species have done forever would be traumatic. young girls and women forced into sex would I'm sure find it traumatic, rape isn't something women report positively, but mutual sexual play is reported positively in most cases. Why would this be different just because one person is under 18? WHy do so many people seek out and engage in underage sex? Keeping oneself pure until 18 is something many do, but many don't and the act of staying pure is a choice. Some people choose to wait until they are married or are in a long term relationship, many others don't. As soon as they are in university and away from their restrictive parents then many engage in drinking and sex and parties, all the things they've been repressed from and that all floods out when they gain that freedom.
So this raises some questions for me.
One, we shouldn't just accept the argument that sex at a young age is traumatic. There is a lot of evidence that it isn't. I myself was engaged sexually from a young age which I enjoyed so I know personally that sex isn't always traumatic. Considering the amount of underage sex, that many young people pursue older people and the way people embrace their sexual nature so much as soon as they are free to do so should make people question this argument. Also, the fact that we have throughout history engaged in sexual relationships from earlier ages would suggest that we are evolved for that and that the actual unnatural state is the current forced state of making what we have done naturally for so long, taboo.
Two, as I stated above, don't like the term MAP because it's it's focused on a one way attraction. Minor Attracted Adult, rather than a term expressing something more mutual. Pedophilia is quite a recent term that used Greek terms but not Greek language. Pedophilia wasn't a term in ancient Greece, you were a paidika for boys or just something attracted to females that often included young females, but it wasn't a separate term. I'm thinking more of a Motsoalle style dynamic where there's a special mutual attraction and relationship. Maybe a modern definition of pedophile is correct, a child lover in a romantic sense, but even then it's quite one way. I suppose I'm seeking a term that describes someone seeking a respectful, mutual relationship with someone who could be a child. Yes there would likely be a sexual dynamic to such a relationship but it's much more about a mutual attraction and respect just as it would be between an adult heterosexual couples. I don't have to define myself as someone seeking a loving relationship with an adult woman, the term heterosexual is sufficient. I am heterosexual but it just happens that for it to be a relationship then the female partner would be young. To be clear, I'm married to an adult lady around my own age so I'm talking hypothetically. We met when quite young and she is the only adult woman I feel such attraction towards. Ever since I was young myself I've only really felt attraction to young girls, that is still the case except with my wife who I formed a close bond to when younger and that love endured. That isn't the case for many.
Three, related to two, I feel there should be a movement that focuses on mutual respect and care between adults and children to break down the barriers that exist today in society. MAPs advocating for child protection from abuse, youth rights, the empowerment of youth. Youth rights means the right to say no, but it also means the right to say yes. Forcing a young person into a sexual relationship is abuse, but I would argue that denying a child the right to a sexual relationship is also abuse. They are equivalent extremes. Forcing someone to say no is an abuse as much as it is forcing someone to say yes. A basic human right is to choose. That shouldn't be a right reserved for the intellectual or any group, it should be a basic right such like access to food, water and shelter. Today, society is carrying out a terrible abuse against children by forcing a choice on them, a choice that is mainly for the benefit of parents. I understand that, I'm a protective parent to and would not consider anyone worthy to be with them, I doubt I would even when they reach 18. But that's my hangup, is it right that I should be putting my interest ahead of theirs? It is an important issue and I think such a movement should put as much emphasis on a childs right to say no, it should be framed entirely as youth rights while not shying away from the fact that we are people who feel attraction and would enjoy a world where loving and physical relationships would exist.