Pedophilia

===General===
Pedophilia is one of the most stigmatized mental disorders.<ref name="jahnkeblind">{{cite journal | first1 = Sara | last1 = Jahnke | first2 = Juergen | last2 = Hoyer | year = 2013 | title = Stigma against people with pedophilia: A blind spot in stigma research? | journal = International Journal of Sexual Health | volume = 25 | issue = 3 | pages = 169–184 | doi=10.1080/19317611.2013.795921 | s2cid = 145656359 }}</ref><ref name="Jahnke2018">{{cite journal | last =Jahnke|first=S.|title=The stigma of pedophilia: Clinical and forensic implications|url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1027%2F1016-9040%2Fa000325|year=2018| journal = European Psychologist|pages=144–153| volume =23| issue = 2|doi=10.1027/1016-9040/a000325}}</ref> Among the public, common feelings include anger, fear and social rejection of pedophiles who have not committed a crime. Such attitudes could negatively impact child sexual abuse prevention by reducing pedophiles' mental stability and discouraging them from seeking help.<ref name="Jahnke2018"/> According to sociologists Melanie-Angela Neuilly and Kristen Zgoba, social concern over pedophilia intensified greatly in the 1990s, coinciding with several sensational sex crimes (but a general decline in child sexual abuse rates). They found that ''pedophile'' appeared only rarely in ''[[The New York Times]]'' and {{Lang|fr|[[Le Monde]]}} before 1996, with zero mentions in 1991.<ref>{{cite journal | author1 = Neuillya, M. | author2 = Zgobab, K. | year = 2006 | title = Assessing the Possibility of a Pedophilia Panic and Contagion Effect Between France and the United States | journal = Victims & Offenders | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 225–254 | doi=10.1080/15564880600626122 | s2cid = 144284647 }}</ref>

Social attitudes towards child sexual abuse are extremely negative, with some surveys ranking it as morally worse than murder.{{r|seto|p=viii}} Early research showed that there was a great deal of misunderstanding and unrealistic perceptions in the general public about child sexual abuse and pedophiles. A 2004 study concluded that the public was well-informed on some aspects of these subjects.<ref>{{cite journal | author = McCartan, K. | title = 'Here There Be Monsters': the public's perception of paedophiles with particular reference to Belfast and Leicester | journal = [[Medicine, Science and the Law]] | volume = 44 | issue = 4 | pages = 327–42 | year = 2004 | pmid = 15573972 | doi = 10.1258/rsmmsl.44.4.327 | s2cid = 21085787 | url = http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/13606/ | access-date = 2019-09-27 | archive-date = 2015-10-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151025123823/http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/13606/ | url-status = live }}</ref>