Word games - reader forum

The word ephebophilia is not "newly invented," as Richard Goldstein claims ["The Double Standard," August 20], because nearly a century ago Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld defined it as homosexuals "who are attracted to youths from puberty to the early 20s." Goldstein is right that it is a double standard to diagnose gay ephebophilia, because the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual names only pedophilia as a mental disorder, which is carefully restricted to being a "focus on prepubescent children."

Thomas Kraemer, Corvallis, Ore.

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