I’m an ephebophile and I deserve to die

If I’m not mistaken, ephebophilia is the primary attraction to people in their late teens. (i read up in this years ago, but don’t quite remember which term belongs to which meaning...) While I do think acting on such urges would indeed make you a predator(hell I think dudes in their mid 20s hitting on 18-19 year old girls are kinda creeper-ish because of brain development and life experiences/stages), finding people in that age range attractive doesn’t make you some monster. Calm down. Pedophilia - of course, it is disgusting beyond any justification. Hebophilia? Also disgusting ... but finding people ages 15-19 attractive, I think is more common than some might think. But some see them as children, and I think this might be where you are beating yourself up. Most agree that adults should not touch people who are minors. At 27, though, I would be lying through my teeth if I said I have never once in my life found boys in their late teens attractive, and even hot. But, what would make someone a predator is acting upon such urges. Even if a teenager is making an active decision to have sex with an adult. A lot of creepy people(mostly men, but sometimes women) use the justification that teens are well past puberty, are generally horny,and thus, hooking up with them is ok. Wrong What makes it such a predatory act is that the human brain doesn’t even stop growing until we are in our mid 20s, around that age. Before our brain is fully developed, we are inclined to make impulsive decisions, do things that aren’t right for us, and even downright harmful for us. We are impressionable. We are more easily coerced and manipulated. So, the crime is not within thinking people in their late teens are attractive. It is acting upon such urges, knowing full well that they are young, often fickle, and impulsive.

/r/SuicideWatch Thread