Glossary

Throughout your use of this site you may come across some words that are new and unique to you. This page will contain definitions for those words. Make sure you have a read if you're unsure on what something means.

Each definition can be referenced on other sites by right clicking the term and copying the link.

A

Age of Attraction: The age or range of ages in which a person is attracted towards. These are generally assumed to be in reference to sexual attraction. Emotional Age of Attraction, the ages which a person is attracted to emotionally or romantically, may be defined by adding "emotional". The abbreviation of this term is AoA, and emotional AoA's are sometimes represented shorthand with EAoA.

Age of Consent: The minimum legal age in any given jurisdiction where a person's consent is legally recognised, usually in regards to sexual conduct. In most jurisdictions this is between 16 and 18, though some have lower or higher ages. In a small number of jurisdictions, marriage is the only requirement for consent.

B

Boy Moment: A moment of value to a boylover involving a boy in some form, whether by observance or interaction.

Boylove: A personal identity defined by an attraction, emotional and/or physical, to male youth.

Boylover: A person attracted to male children and/or teens.

C

Child: A person between the ages of 0 and 18 years.

Childlove: A personal identity defined by attraction, emotional and/or physical, to youth of both sexes.

Childlover: A person attracted to children and/or teens of both sexes.

Chronophilia: A chronophilia is an age-specific sexual attraction. Chronophilias are not necessarily disorders, as a large portion of the global population consists of teleiophiles or mesophiles. There are seven recognised chronophilias. Some chronophilias have overlapping age ranges as some people develop faster or slower than others or because the additional specificity is clinically important to note.

Consent: A legally recognised agreement between two or more parties to permit something to happen.

E

Ephebophilia: The sexual attraction to persons in late adolescence (between 15 and 19 years). A person with ephebophilia is an ephebophile, which is sometimes shortened to ephebo.

G

Gerontophilia: The sexual attraction to elder persons typically older than 60, as defined by Michael Seto in The Puzzle of Male Chronophilias (Arch Sex Behav (2017) 46:3–22).

Girllove: A personal identity defined by attraction, emotional and/or physical, to female youth.

Girllover: A person attracted to female children and/or teens.

H

Hebephilia: The sexual attraction to pubescent children (persons aged 11 and 15 years). A person with hebephilia is a hebephile.

I

International Boylove Day: A bi-annual observation and celebration of boys held by boylovers. International Boylove Day may be written shorthand as IBLD. Read more here [ext].

L

Little Boylover: A boylover with an age of attraction that focuses on younger boys, averaging below the age of 9.

M

Mesophilia: The sexual attraction to middle-aged adults (persons between 40 and 60 years), as defined by Michael Seto in The Puzzle of Male Chronophilias (Arch Sex Behav (2017) 46:3–22). A person with mesophilia would be a mesophile.

Minor: A person who has not yet reached an age where they have full legal responsibilities within the jurisdiction of their country. Typically, a person is a minor until they reach around 16 to 18 years of age.

Minor-Attracted Adult: A Minor-Attracted Adult, or MAA, is an person above the age of 18 who is attracted to children. Beyond this, its definition is identical to Minor-Attracted Person.

Minor-Attracted Person: A Minor-Attracted Person, or MAP, is a person who is attracted to children. It is similar to childlover, but does not signify any specific orientation. The term has been slowly gaining traction since the mid 2000s due to its value to researchers wishing to conduct non-biased studies surrounding the subjects of sexual attraction to minors and its lack of negative connotations or associations.

N

NAMBLA: An abbreviation for the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

Nepiophilia: The sexual attraction to babies, toddlers, and very young children (persons aged 0 to 5 years). A person with nepiophilia is a nepiophile, which is sometimes shortened to nepi. A person with nepiophilia is additionally a paedophile by definition. Nepiophilia is synonymous with infantophilia.

P

Paedophilia: The sexual attraction to and prepubescent child (persons aged 0 to 12 years). A person with paedophilia is a paedophile, which is sometimes shortened to paedo. The term paedophilia may alternately be spelled as pedophilia in some countries, with its associated shortened form modified to pedo. Nepiophiles are all automatically paedophiles due to overlap in age range, however not all paedophiles are nepiophiles.

Pedohebe-ephebophilia: A term introduced in 2018 to denote sexual attraction towards prepubescent, pubescent, and adolescent children (ages 0 to 18). A person with pedohebe-ephebophilia is a pedohebe-ephebophile.

Pedohebephilia: A term sometimes used to describe the sexual attraction towards prepubescent and pubescent children (ages 0 to 15). A person with pedohebephilia is a pedohebephile.

T

Teen Boylover: A boylover with an age of attraction that focuses on teenage boys, averaging between the ages of 13 and 19.

Teleiophilia: The sexual attraction to young sexually-mature adults (persons between 18 and 40 years), as defined by Michael Seto in The Puzzle of Male Chronophilias (Arch Sex Behav (2017) 46:3–22). A person with teleiophilia would be a teleiophile.

Tween Boylover: A boylover with an age of attraction that focuses on boys averaging between the ages of 8 and 14.

Y

Young Friend: A child which a childlover has a particular closeness with. There is often a romantic attraction from a childlover towards their young friend, or YF, but this is not strictly necessary