Review of Are All Men Pedophiles? (2013) by Alexander Z — 24 Jul 2014

Predictably, reviews of this documentary are riddled with people thinking it is trying to justify child abuse. If they took the time to watch the whole thing, it is neither endorsing nor condemning it; it is simply giving every viewpoint a fair amount of coverage.

That being said, the provocative title is completely idiotic and serves to start the documentary out on the wrong foot. It is an inflammatory statement that doesn't actually relate to the point of the documentary. The filmmaker further does a disservice to himself by being too disjointed and objective about the topic in the first 30 minutes. It is not clear whether he is condemning pedophilia or approving of it, especially with his overused cliche of a final statement, "Age is just a number." He interviews both people harmed by child abuse and who consider it a positive experience, as well as self-proclaimed pedophiles. Yet, when it comes to the idea of hebephilia (which he consistently pronounces as hebophilia), he completely mischaracterizes it, claiming it's an attraction to pubuscent and post-pubescent children under the age of 18, so depending on when a child matures, anywhere from say, 10-18. This is stupid for two reasons. One, hebephilia is an attraction to pubescent children aged 11 to 14. What he is actually trying to focus on is ephebophilia, which is a sexual attraction for children aged 15 to 19, usually post-pubescent. Since he completely messes up this information, he's already lost whatever point he's trying to make.

Should ephebophilia be discussed? Absolutely. At that point, a significant amount of children have developed the bodies of adults. If we consider only physical attraction, it becomes clear that at that age, many men and women will indeed be attracted to that age group and above. However, this guy mucks his analysis up so much that he just appears to be endorsing sexual activity with any child over the age of 10. What a waste, and sadly ironic as this guy is attempting to clarify some misconceptions about pedophilia.