Why most 'pedophiles' aren't really pedophiles, technically speaking

Men who find themselves primarily attracted to young or middle-aged adolescents are clearly disadvantaged in today's society, but historically (and evolutionarily) this almost certainly wasn't the case. In fact, hebephiles - or at least ephebephiles - would have had a leg up over their competition. Evolutionary psychologists have found repeatedly that markers of youth correlate highly with perceptions of beauty and attractiveness. For straight men, this makes sense, since a woman's reproductive value declines steadily after the age of about twenty. Obviously having sex with a prepubescent child would be fruitless - literally. But, whether we like it or not, this isn't so for a teenage girl who has just come of age, who is reproductively viable and whose brand-new state of fertility can more or less ensure paternity for the male.

source: Article 'Pedophiles, Hebephiles and Ephebophiles, Oh My: Erotic Age Orientation - Why most "pedophiles" aren't really pedophiles, technically speaking' by Jesse Bering; www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=pedophiles-erotic-age-orientation; Scientific American; 1 July 2009