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General

Pedophilia is one of the most stigmatized mental disorders. 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. 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 Le Monde before 1996, with zero mentions in 1991.

Social attitudes towards child sexual abuse are extremely negative, with some surveys ranking it as morally worse than murder. 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.