It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan. In most countries today, the local age of consent determines whether a person is considered legally competent to consent to sexual acts, and whether such contact is child sexual abuse or statutory rape. An adult engaging in sexual activity with a minor is considered abusive by authorities for a variety of reasons, including the age of the minor and the psychological and physical harm they may endure.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "Homosexual relations between a man and a boy; homosexual anal intercourse, usually with a boy or younger man as the passive partner". Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male the erastes and a younger male the eromenos , usually in his teens.
In the writings of Xenophon , Socrates says, "A man who sells his favours for a price to anyone who wants them is called a catamite ; but if anyone forms a love-attachment with someone whom he knows to be truly good, we regard him as perfectly respectable.
Each author may have used Socrates as a spokesman for their own viewpoints. The Socratic writings of the two authors were one of the main texts that led to Kenneth Dover 's and Michel Foucault 's understanding of pederasty as a matter of debate in Ancient Greece. Some scholars locate its origin in initiation ritual , particularly rites of passage on Crete , where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion of Zeus.
Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination. Enid Bloch argues that many Greek boys in these relationships may have been traumatized by knowing that they were violating social customs, since the "most shameful thing that could happen to any Greek male was penetration by another male. In Latin , mos Graeciae or mos Graecorum "Greek custom" or "the way of the Greeks" refers to a variety of behaviors the ancient Romans regarded as Greek, including but not confined to sexual practice.
