I am a 15 year old guy and I think I may be a phedophile.

I tend to stare at boys who are of the ages 12-18. Sometimes younger

I think though that I just want to be hugged and loved. My parents were killed so I never have had any attention and I have never felt love.

Could it be that I just see myself in these younger boys because they are happy and such. Could it be that I just want there life?

Let me know if you need more info.

I have never acted on anything.

I also do not have much friends because of my shyness so I am lonely a lot.

Can it just be a phase?

Sounds as though you need professional help. Before you end up being on law and order svu. I don't mean this mean, just get some help.

Also at 15 you are a child yourself, so looking at 14 to 18 year olds is being gay not being a pedophile. And of course since having sex at 15 is not legal, there is the issue that it is a sex crime of having sex with anyone at this point and time.

If you were 25 or 44 and wanting to have sex with 14 or 15 year olds, then that this different.

If you are looking at 8 or 10 year old then there is a problem.

I don't believe you are pedophile. Maybe, you are just lonely, or attracted to same sex.

I don't think you are a phedophile. Maybe in a few years if you are still attracted to 12 year olds you should then seek help.

Spot-on all the above posts. You are confronting your sexuality-I don't think you are gay or a pedophile-just don't act on anything until you have consent and are of (and your partner) is of legal age.

I would highly recommend some professional counseling...
NOT because you are a pedophile, but because you seem lost and ungrounded
Without parents right now...

A general practitioner family doctor can provide you with some good names - if your guardians can afford it great... if not, talk to a social worker or other adult you can trust...

I'm so glad that you feel comfortable confronting the possibility of your being a pedophile. That must be horrible for you thinking that there may be this possibility. Good to confront it while you are young so that if you need help you may get it before you hurt someone else and yourself. Get help right away.. to find out for sure if you actually do have these tendencies towards children. It is never too early to get the help for this affliction. These feelings must be addressed! If you don't know then find out where your sexuality lies. I don't think you should wait. It will put your mind at peace and then you'll know which way to go even if you are a gay boy/man. That is fine... but pedephilia is not and it will never be. So please find out for sure NOW and save yourself from finding out after it's too late.

Good luck to you and if you feel the urge to go for a child, please call someone... anyone... before you act upon it. You will be doing yourself and others a great service if you do. Don't mess up your life.. GET HELP!

Sounds like normal pre-teenage/teenage sexual curiosity to me. It doesn't mean you are gay, it doesn't mean you are a pedophile. Pedophilia has to do with much older people acting on attractions to young children. I think you are lonely and sad, and may need some counseling to deal with that, but the feelings seem normal for teenagers to me... boy or girl.

A pedophile is an adult who is attracted to PRE-PUBESCENT children. With you being so young, I would think it's normal to have sexual feelings towards people who are a little younger. As fr_chuck so preachily put it: at 15 sex with anyone is a crime (why, I don't know). Depending on the state you live in, it can be especially risky to be a sexually active gay teenager (many southern states have on the books that underage gay sex is worthy of more punishment than underage straight sex). As you grow older, the people you want to have sex with will grow older. When I was in high school, I wanted to and did have sex with people who were in high school and now I'm turned off by 20 year olds.

Just to clarify: pedophilia is not the same as statutory rape. As I stated before, pedophilia is an attraction to pre-pubescent children. Humans don't magically become adults the day they turn 18. I agree that there is something odd about a large age difference between sexual partners, but I don't understand the arbitrary age restrictions. A sexually developed person is an adult in many cultures, so I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with being attracted to someone who is fully developed.

Is it possible to think you are gay and then start to do gay things, and start to have a gay train of thought and still be straight? I don't want to be gay, and I know gay people and I'm nothing like them. The reason I think I'm gay is because I'm not turned on by girls like my friends are. This all started along time ago and I am just really confused. Since I wasn't into girls like my friends were, they always think about having sex with girls and I never did, and I never have been in love with a girl and I have never felt anything for one. It was the same for boys too though, I never felt any affection towards any until I started to think I was gay and I think in a way I manipulated myself into think I was gay when I wasn't. Is that possible? I hope so

Try not to pigeon hole yourself especially young. There will be enough people in the world who will feel the need to label you so don't do it to yourself.

Keep an open mind and remember you will change so much in the next five years. Fifteen is a stupid age! You begin to realise and notice things about yourself and others but you don't always have the tools at hand to understand and interprete what you do notice.

I cringe thinking about the stuff I thought at that age. I'm pretty sure my thirty year old self will want to hit my current self around the head so don't think I'm preaching.

Just be nice to yourself, explore feelings but be careful. You may be gay, you might not be but it doesn't really matter either way. As long as you are true to what makes you happy and try not to hurt yourself or others along the way.

I have the same problem.