when is a pedophile not a pedophile

[sakapoopoo]

The age at which a woman/girl in Japan may have sex is 13.
In some other southeast asian countrys the age is 14 or 15 and in some countrys there is no age limit as long as the girl is married and in some countrys that can be as young as 8
If a man in England has sex with a 13 yr old he will be regarded as a pedo,but if he goes to Japan where it is legal should he be classed as a pedo? Or not because he is not breaking the law

When its a paedophile?

welcome to Mumsnet!

happy you got in first with the pedantry..

It depends on the spelling you use.
I have seen it spelt both ways,like a lot of words in our language

I think its a very good question.

As in some men feel an attraction to children as they grow older but in some cultures its not an attraction to children perse, its more that girls marry young, so thats the age that is 'normal' for that culture.

I think any man from a soceity where a legal age restriction is in place (such as UK/USA) who travels to a forgein country with a lower/no legal threshold is definatly a paedophile and should be arrested on return for making such a visit.

I think ALL countries need to look at having age restrictions in place and also making them higher too in some countries.

A man who has sex with a 13 year old is not a paedophile, it's illegal as it is sex with an underaged girl, but paedophilia is defined as an attraction to pre pubescent children.

Pedophile is only OK if you are American.

colditz has saved me the bother. It's pre-pubescent children.

and it's 'countries' not countrys. Just so you know.

I suppose it depends on what age you are legally classed as an adult. A paedophile is someone who is attracted to children so if they are still legally classed as a child then you could still be called as a paedophile regardless of the age of consent. Bit of a grey area...

sakapoopoo, do you think it is ok for men from all over the world to go to japan to shag young girls just because the law is different?

Personally, I think the man who marries a 13 year old because it is in their culture to do this, and live together as husband and wife, can not be classified as a paedophile the same way as a man who travels across the planet to simply fuck a young girl because the law of that country says she is at the age of sexual consent, is more than likely a paedophile. I dont think the laws were written to protect girls/women of foreign predators.

umm
pedophile is also ok in other countries

no need to get sniffy about variant spellings

the actual definition aside that is (related to prepubescent )

2rebecca
How do you know I am not American?

That's why I said what I said.

I agree with colditz.

I think a true paedophile is attracted to pre pubescent children who wouldn't be considered sexually attractive in general as they don't have secondary sexual characteristics.

I think a man who has sex with a 13,14,15 yo is a slimeball who wants a nubile young woman ie a sexually developed girl but with a young face and is more physically prefect than a middle aged woman.

i thought this was going to be a joke, like you know, when is a door not a door, when its ajar!

Pedophile is the American spelling. They can't spell colour either.

Or say Aluminium.

"I think any man from a soceity where a legal age restriction is in place (such as UK/USA) who travels to a forgein country with a lower/no legal threshold is definatly a paedophile and should be arrested on return for making such a visit."

Does that go for everything then? If a man goes to Germany to drive fast on the autobahn or to Amsterdam to enjoy relaxed drug laws and prostitution which would be criminalised in his home country should he be prosecuted?

It's an interesting question and one which I've discussed a few times. I remember someone once using the analogy (might have been on here) of how would we describe the restrictions we place on sexuality to an alien or other animals if we could converse with them. AFAIK every other animal on the planet begins reproduction almost as soon as they are capable of it (more discussing sex with 12-15 year olds than paedophiles abusing young children), so that kind of eliminates the argument those who would say "it's not natural", when clearly nature has intended people of this age (men and women) to be capable of reproduction.
So it is most definitely a societal thing which has changed over the years and across borders. What is culturally acceptable in one area or period of time is lambasted as disgusting and barbaric in others.But I'm yet to understand how they evolved to what they are now. Obviously I agree with them by and large but I can recognise that I agree with them because I am in this respect a product of my environment. Is it due to the prolonging of youth which has become more and more prevelant (people in their mid-20's still have behaviour excused as just being young and stupid etc. )

I think the word 'pererast' should make a comeback. Just to add some variety.

So a man who is on a trip to Japan and wants sex and happens to get a 13yr old knowing she is 13 should not be classed as a pedo even though he is not not sexually attracted to children back home and is doing it because he finds it exciting and knows it is against the law in his own country

What colditz said. Paedophiles (spelled 'ped' in America) would not be interested in a 13 year old. That's not what it means.

Actually, Aluminum is correct, its English that changed it to AlumiNIum. Same as Autumn used to be Fall and we changed that too...

Though surely a "ped"ophile likes feet???