mesophilia

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English

Etymology

From meso- +‎ -philia. In the paraphilia sense, coined by psychologist Michael Seto in 2016.

Noun

mesophilia (uncountable)

  1. (biology) A preference for moderate temperatures.
    Coordinate terms: cryophilia, psychrophilia, thermophilia
  2. A paraphilic sexual preference for middle-aged people.
    Hypernym: chronophilia
    • 2019, William T. O'Donohue, Daniel S. Bromberg, Sexually Violent Predators: A Clinical Science Handbook, page 41:
      Michael Seto's (2016) "chronophilia" system is a series of paraphilias [] from infancy (nepiophilia) and pedophilia (prepubescent children) to [] mesophilia (middle-aged adults, typically in their 40s or 50s), and gerontophilia (elderly adults, typically 60s or older).
    • 2021, Leam A. Craig, Ross M. Bartels, Sexual Deviance, page 47:
      If sexual interest in mature women (mesophilia) can be understood by a dysfunctional youthfulness module (and hence a lack of a force pulling in the opposite direction of maturity), only the first two factors should play a role (H3).