"As far as everything else goes, I'm not sure if I'm actually a pedo."

I'm not gay myself. But a good film about gay romance will get me empathizing anyway.

"Outside of actually interaction, I constantly find myself rereading online stories, not for any sexual pleasure, but for the butterflies they give me. Grown women don't give me that feeling at all."

Then maybe you haven't met the right woman.

* ducks *

But seriously, as someone who appreciates women and LGs, I recognize something different about the pleasure I gain in the company of an LG.

They are closer to the "source." They have a youthfulness and vitality that stems from being, well, young. Many have an unselfconsciousness which comes from not having learned all the "political" games which are required to gain social advantage by being someone you are not. Physically they are all feminine with none of the decay spoiling their beauty. ( IIRC my first trace of wrinkles showed up around 13 or so. Not much, but indicating that the babyfat and "elasticity" of childhood was fading. )

Older females can't help that last part. But even then, if the first two are present, I can get butterflies in their presence.

Just the other day a woman in her 20s passed me on the street. Her hair swayed as she turned her head. But what caught me was the grace of her movement and the supernal poise. There were only two thoughts ( and neither were carnal; ) a "WOW" followed by a "she has GOT to be a ballet dancer."

As for other women, the butterflies are less aesthetic and come from a meeting of the souls when I encounter a playful spirit that the world hasn't crushed. This can trump aesthetics. But on the whole, we will SEE more females than we will ever KNOW. So how can the unpreposing youthful and beautiful child not move us?

Dante