Researchers recommend that these imprecise uses be avoided, because although some people who commit child sexual abuse are pedophiles, child sexual abuse offenders are not pedophiles unless they have a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children, and some pedophiles do not molest children.Pedophilia was first formally recognized and named in the late 19th century. A significant amount of research in the area has taken place since the 1980s. Although mostly documented in men, there are also women who exhibit the disorder, and researchers assume available estimates underrepresent the true number of female pedophiles. No cure for pedophilia has been developed, but there are therapies that can reduce the incidence of a person committing child sexual abuse. The exact causes of pedophilia have not been conclusively established. Some studies of pedophilia in child sex offenders have correlated it with various neurological abnormalities and psychological pathologies. In the United States, following Kansas v. Hendricks in 1997, sex offenders who are diagnosed with certain mental disorders, particularly pedophilia, can be subject to indefinite involuntary commitment. Definitions
The word pedophilia comes from the Greek παῖς, παιδός (paîs, paidós), meaning "child", and φιλία (philía), "friendly love" or "friendship". Pedophilia is used for individuals with a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children aged 13 or younger. Infantophilia is a sub-type of pedophilia; it is used to refer to a sexual preference for children under the age of 5 (especially infants and toddlers).
We cannot tell whether paedophiles gravitate towards children because, being highly introverted, they find the company of children less threatening than that of adults, or whether the social withdrawal implied by their introversion is a result of the isolation engendered by their preference i.e., awareness of the social [dis]approbation and hostility that it evokes" (p. 324). In a non-clinical survey, 46% of pedophiles reported that they had seriously considered suicide for reasons related to their sexual interest, 32% planned to carry it out, and 13% had already attempted it.A review of qualitative research studies published between 1982 and 2001 concluded that child sexual abusers use cognitive distortions to meet personal needs, justifying abuse by making excuses, redefining their actions as love and mutuality, and exploiting the power imbalance inherent in all adult–child relationships. Other cognitive distortions include the idea of "children as sexual beings", uncontrollability of sexual behavior, and "sexual entitlement-bias". Child pornography
Consumption of child pornography is a more reliable indicator of pedophilia than molesting a child, although some non-pedophiles also view child pornography. Child pornography may be used for a variety of purposes, ranging from private sexual gratification or trading with other collectors, to preparing children for sexual abuse as part of the child grooming process.Pedophilic viewers of child pornography are often obsessive about collecting, organizing, categorizing, and labeling their child pornography collection according to age, gender, sex act and fantasy.