gerontophilia
{{Short description|Sexual attraction toward the elderly}}
{{About||the film|Gerontophilia (film)}}
Gerontophilia or gerontosexuality is the primary sexual attraction to older people. Gerontophilia is poorly defined in academia, leading to skewed statistics and lack of understanding. For instance, whether or not someone who is sexually attracted to individuals of any age older than their own could be diagnosed or whether the attraction is solely for elderly individuals, remains undecided.{{Citation |last=Ball |first=Hadrian |title=Gerontophilia |date=2015 |work=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |pages=427–500 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs183 |access-date=2025-04-24 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs183 |isbn=978-1-118-89687-7|url-access=subscription }} A person with such a sexual preference is a gerontophile or gerontosexual.{{Cite web |title=Gerontosexual |url=http://www.mogaipedia.org/wiki:gerontosexual |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=MOGAIpedia}}
Etymology
The word gerontophilia was coined in 1901 by psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing.{{cite journal | last = Janssen | first = D.F. | year = 2014 | title = "Gerontophilia": A Forensic Archaism | journal = Sexual Offender Treatment | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | issn = 1862-2941 | url = http://www.sexual-offender-treatment.org/130.html}}{{cite journal | last = Janssen | first = D.F. | year = 2015 | title = "Chronophilia": Entries of Erotic Age Preference into Descriptive Psychopathology | journal = Medical History | volume = 59 | issue = 4 | pages = 575–598 | issn = 0025-7273 | doi=10.1017/mdh.2015.47 | pmid=26352305 | pmc=4595948}} It derives from Greek: geron, meaning "old person" and philia, meaning "friendship".{{Cite web |title=Strong's Greek: 5373. φιλία (philia) |url=https://biblehub.com/greek/5373.htm |access-date=2025-05-13 |website=biblehub.com}}{{Cite journal |last1=Kaul |first1=A. |last2=Duffy |first2=S. |year=1991 |title=A case report |url=https://www.maturedating.com/dating-blog/gerontophilia-vs-age-gap-dating.html |journal=Medicine, Science and the Law |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=110–114 |doi=10.1177/002580249103100204 |pmid=2062191 |s2cid=6455643|url-access=subscription }} Gerontophilia is classified as a paraphilia, but is not mentioned in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or International Classification of Diseases.
History
The prevalence of gerontophilia is unknown. A study of pornographic search terms on a peer-to-peer network reported that 0.15% had gerontophilic themes.{{cite conference | last1 = Hammond | first1 = S. | last2 = Quayle | first2 = E. | last3 = Kirakowski | first3 = J. | last4 = O'Halloran | first4 = E. | last5 = Wynne | first5 = F. | year = 2009 | title = An examination of problematic paraphilic use of peer to peer facilities | conference = Conference proceedings: Advances in the analysis of online paedophile activity | location = Paris, France | citeseerx=10.1.1.167.8208 | page = 65}} Sex offenders with elderly victims do not necessarily have gerontophilia. There are other possible motivations for these offenses, such as rage or sadism, or the increased vulnerability of elderly as a social group,{{Cite web|url=http://www.stopvaw.org/sexual_assault_and_vulnerable_populations|title=Sexual Assault and Vulnerable Populations|website=www.stopvaw.org|access-date=2017-11-26}} which are factors that may not involve a sexual preference for the elderly. There are no studies showing that most such offenders are gerontophiles. In one small study, two of six sex offenders against the elderly showed gerontophilic tendencies.{{cite journal | last = Ball | first = H. N. | year = 2005 | title = Sexual offending on elderly women: A review | journal = Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology | volume = 16 | issue = 1 | pages = 127–138 | doi=10.1080/14789940412331290076| s2cid = 143910365 }} Gerontophilia can also be expressed with consenting elderly partners in a legal context.{{cite book | last1 = Milner | first1 = Joel S. | last2 = Dopke | first2 = Cynthia A. | last3 = Crouch | first3 = Julie L. | date= 2008 | title = Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment, 2nd edition | publisher = The Guilford Press | page = 388 | chapter = Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified: Psychopathology and Theory | editor1-last = Laws | editor1-first = D. Richard}}
Research on gerontophilia is limited to a small number of case studies,{{Cite journal |last=Almond |first=Louise |date=2022-04-01 |title=Sex Offenses Perpetrated Against Older Adults: A Multivariate Analysis of Crime Scene Behaviors |journal=Journal of Interpersonal Violence |language=EN |volume=37 |issue=7-8 |pages=NP4815–NP4839 |doi=10.1177/0886260520928639 |issn=0886-2605 |pmc=8980447 |pmid=32539485}} beginning with a paper by French physician Charles Féré in 1905. Féré described a 27-year-old man who rejected an arranged marriage with a 20-year-old "beauty" in favor of a 62-year-old woman. Such studies commonly report that the subject had an early sexual experience with a much older woman.
A figurative gerontophilia was a characteristic of Algernon Charles Swinburne's passion for antiquated poets.{{cite book | last=Robb | first=G. | title=Victor Hugo | publisher=W.W. Norton & Company | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-393-04578-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CMDXFOefmgC&pg=PA496 | language=lt | access-date=2023-06-18 | page=496}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{wiktionary|gerontophilia}}
{{paraphilia}}