Gynephilia (or gynophilia) (From Greek gunē, "women," + -philia, "love") is the romantic and/or sexual attraction to adult females, and its counterpart Androphilia (from Greek andro-, "male," + -philia, "love") is attraction to adult males. Suffixes with the common part -phil- (-phile, -philia, -philic) are used to specify some kind of attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something. ...

There are two main reasons why these terms have been used: to describe either the age or the sex/gender of the object of an individual's sexual orientation. AGE may refer to: advanced glycation endproduct A.G. Edwards, brokerage firm. ... Look up Sex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word gender describes the state of being male, female, or neither. ... Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ...

Sex and/or gender

The terms gynephilia and androphilia are occasionally (but increasingly) used when referring to the sexual orientation of transgender and intersex people, since the terms homosexual (same-sex) and heterosexual (different-sex) can be unclear. In describing an individual's sexual orientation as homosexual or heterosexual, we are not only saying something about the sex/gender of their object choice, but also something about their own sex/gender — specifically, that their sex and/or gender is the same as, or different from, that of those they desire. Difficulties in making these judgements can be seen, for example, in debates about whether female-attracted transmen are a part of the lesbian community. Androphilia and gynephilia are often preferred, because rather than focusing on the sex or gender of the subject, they only describe that of the object of their attraction. Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ... Transgender (IPA: , from trans (Latin) and gender (English) ) is an overarching term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at birth, as well as the role traditionally held by society. ... An intersexual is a person (or individual of any unisexual species) who is born with genitalia and/or secondary sexual characteristics of indeterminate sex, or which combine features of both sexes. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ... Sexual orientation describes the direction of an individuals sexuality, often in relation to their own sex or gender. ... Look up Sex in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The word gender describes the state of being male, female, or neither. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Transsexuality. ...

The third common term that describes sexual orientation, bisexuality, makes no claim about the subject's sex or gender identity. Bisexual redirects here. ...

Age

The terms can also be used to distinguish attractions to adults from pederasty and pedophilia. In the field of sex offender rehabilitation, the term gynophilia is used to mean "attraction to adult women", in contrast with pedophilia, with the aim of therapy usually being to replace pedophilic desires with gynophilic ones. The term pederasty or paederasty embraces a wide range of erotic practices between adult males and adolescent boys. ... Pedophilia or paedophilia (see spelling differences) is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent or peripubescent children. ... Penology (from the Latin poena, punishment) comprises penitentiary science: that concerned with the processes devised and adopted for the punishment, repression, and prevention of crime, and the treatment of prisoners. ... Pedophilia or paedophilia (see spelling differences) is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent or peripubescent children. ...

Magnus Hirschfeld, writing in the early 20th century, offered a three-fold age classification system for homosexual males: ^{[citation needed]} Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (Kolberg, May 14, 1868 - Nice, May 14, 1935) was a prominent German physician, sexologist, and gay rights advocate. ...

• Ephebophiles, "who are attracted to youths from puberty to the early 20s."
• Androphiles, who prefer men from age 20 to 50s
• Gerontophiles, who prefer old men.

The term androphilia has been useful in describing societies where pederasty was the norm, but where homosexual attraction to adult men was frowned upon. An Ephebe Kisses A Man Tondo from an Attic kylix, 5th c. ... Chronophilia is a rarely used term coined by John Money. ... The term pederasty or paederasty embraces a wide range of erotic practices between adult males and adolescent boys. ...

See also

• Homosexuality and transgender
• Sexual orientation of transwomen
• Autogynephilia

Homosexuality and transgender are two separate concepts. ... Research on the sexual orientation of transwomen (male-to-female transsexuals) is sparse. ... Look up autogynephilia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Autogynephilia (from Greek auto (self), gyno (woman) and philia (love) — love of oneself as a woman) is a behavioral model proposed in 1989 by Ray Blanchard, who defines it as a mans paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought...

References

• Dynes, Wayne Androphilia. Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.), Garland Publishing, 1990. p. 58.

Interlanguage links

• Gynephilia: cs:Gynekofilie, bg:Гинофилия, br:Ginofiliezh
• Androphilia: cs:Androfilie, bg:Андрофилия, br:Androfiliezh