can sexual repression cause paraphilia?

I've been doing a lot of thinking trying to figure myself out.

Im 22, and have 'pedo' or 'hebephilia'.. I think. Still waiting to see a therapist about it, since I'm not completely sure.

I spent the ages of 113/14 to 18/20 thinking sex and masturbation were evil and bad because of religious OCD, which wasn't fun. I finally came out as lesbian, and deconverted fully, over a year ago and revelled in the freedom of being me. It was heaven, and apart from OCD related issues, I slowly started to see a future.

But now, the normal things that arouse me don't seem to be doing the trick any more. I'm confused about being a pedo because I understood it was something people knew from being young. I'm 22, and apart from the odd OCT related thoughts that I brushed off pretty easily in the past, I've never thought of children in a sexual way at all. Now I'm worried that I can't be aroused by adults.

Can repressing sexuality for so long cause this?
Any thoughts would help.

I think you could be onto something. I believe paraphilias are an evolutionary 'plan B' or 'wild cards'. Most of the time, I think people are just naturally wired with these orientations, but it would make sense for there to be a natural mechanism for sexuality to deviate, or find another way, as a reaction to the repression and/or suppression of 'normal' sexuality.

In such cases, it's conceivable that paraphilias could actually be 'cured' by a really good psychotherapist. I don't think I'd recommend that sort of tinkering with your head though. I think the 'normal' side of my sexuality suffers enough from the repression and self imposed suppression of the 'abnormal' side.

Human sexuality is so incredibly complex that it's hard to say that anything can cause anything else. Our sexuality comes about due to an intricate interplay of genetics, chemistry, and various kinds of life experiences. My personal experience was the opposite of repression. I had a close childhood friend that was the same age as me and we regularly experimented sexually. These experiences began occurring innocently enough around the age of five and ended around the age of fourteen. I really enjoyed these experiences and I look back on them with fondness, but I often blame them for my pedophilia. Ultimately, who knows. I'd rather define myself in the present instead of the past anyway

With what goes on with the catholic church, no offense to anyone, I suppose you might be onto something.