http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2007/06/26/sexually-assaulting-a-child-is-not-pedophilia/ UrGently Fierce Feminism In Perilous Times Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:13:43 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2007/06/26/sexually-assaulting-a-child-is-not-pedophilia/comment-page-1/#comment-27278 Anne Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:03:13 +0000 http://www.feministpeacenetwork.org/2007/06/26/sexually-assaulting-a-child-is-not-pedophilia/#comment-27278 I'm not in any way defending pedophilia, but -philia is also used in the word necrophilia, which has a very negative connotation and is not used to soften the concept, as far as I can tell. I understand using language to show problems like disrespect for children, but I don't think the word pedophilia is a real case of that. I don't think people consider pedophilia less horrible because of the etymology. Also, since pederasty was acceptable in ancient Greece, I wonder if paedophilios really did mean what we now call pedophilia. I’m not in any way defending pedophilia, but -philia is also used in the word necrophilia, which has a very negative connotation and is not used to soften the concept, as far as I can tell. I understand using language to show problems like disrespect for children, but I don’t think the word pedophilia is a real case of that. I don’t think people consider pedophilia less horrible because of the etymology. Also, since pederasty was acceptable in ancient Greece, I wonder if paedophilios really did mean what we now call pedophilia.

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