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Has there been a sharp increase in the incidence, or at least the reported incidence, of sexually abused children? The JAMA Special Communication about pedophilia, which is currently used as a source on five different places in the article states the following:

“	The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3), which addressed only those cases involving parents, parent substitutes, adults, or nonparental teenagers in a caretaking relationship with the child, estimated that the number of sexually abused children rose 125% from 133 600 reported cases in 1986 to 300 200 in 1993.	”
— Sedlak AJ, Broadhurst DD., Executive Summary of the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. Washington, DC: US Dept of Health and Human Services; Administration for Children and Families; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect; 1996.

Yet, in the section on Prevalence and child molestation there's no mention of this development? Is this information not corroborated, or is there some other reason why this development isn't mentioned in the present article? (Or is it mentioned somewhere else in the article and I have simply missed it?)

I also find this section commingling the two quite disparate topics of prevalence of pedophilia on the one hand and child molestation on the other to be an odd mixture. Shouldn't they be separate? Perhaps the title should be "Prevalence of pedophilia and child molestation"?

If the intended focus of this section is prevalence, then discussing numbers for both pedophilia and child sexual abuse would be relevant. In this context the correlation between the two should be discussed. Then specifically discussing the prevalence of pedophilia over time could be discussed with reference to the quote above. __meco (talk) 10:56, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

They should not be separate. Not only is not much known about the prevalence of pedophilia, and therefore a section on it would be very small, unless, like some sources say, the majority of child molesters are pedophiles (which could tell us the prevalence of pedophilia), the section is discussing the link between pedophilia and child molestation, and how one may be independent of the other. It's not confusing the two; it's noting the confusion between the two and how there is sometimes a link and a lack of one other times. This is best covered in one section. As for the title, it's clear to me that the "prevalence" part is referring to pedophilia since it is followed by "and child molestation." But I see that you are saying that this section is also discussing the prevalence of child molestation and that this should also be represented in the heading. Well, like I stated, the prevalence of child molestation is sometimes equated with the prevalence of pedophilia because so many child molesters do have a sexual preference for prepubescent children, but I suppose this is one of those times where Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Section headings allows the article title in a section heading.

As for the information you feel should be in this article: Well, there isn't a lot of things being added to this article these days because everything readers need (note: I stated "need") to know about pedophilia is already in the article. It could actually be WP:GA already, with some copyediting and the removal of the bullet-point, trivial In culture section. The article is more about pedophilia (the mental disorder) than it is about the act of child sexual abuse, and we leave most of the information about child sexual abuse to the Child sexual abuse article. But I don't mind the piece of information you cite being in this article. Flyer22 (talk) 19:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I see a problem with adding it. Then we would have to make a choice between simply adding it, without commenting on how these figures relate to pedophilia, or we add it and make a commentary, except that would be original synthesis unless we can pin that discussion down to one of the existing or new sources. __meco (talk) 20:21, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you find a place where it fits in the above discussed section, I don't view it as problematic to include it there without discussing how it may or may not relate to pedophilia. But, yes, it is best that it go in the Child sexual abuse article if we're not going to tie it to pedophilia in some way. Flyer22 (talk) 21:01, 15 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Because somebody decided to name this article using the American spelling, the definition given on this article is technically incorrect, as 'pedophilia' translates literally as sexual attraction to FEET', NOT children. As a result of this, frankly idiotic americanisation, I believe that this article MUST be renamed.

No, foot fetishism is podophilia. This confusion results from mixing up the Greek and Latin word roots. The word pedophilia is rooted entirely in Greek, not Latin. "Ped-" (or "Paed-") in Greek is "child" (Pediatrician) but in Latin "Ped-" means "foot" (Pedestrian). "Pod-" is the correct Greek root meaning foot (arthropod, podiatrist). "Philia" is also Greek, so if one were used Ped to mean Foot, you would have a Latin prefix on a Greek suffix. If you're going to come in here with an attitude like that, at least try to be informed instead of opinionated.Legitimus (talk) 12:17, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Section "Psychopathology and personality traits" describes mainly Child Molesters in the research. The majority of research is solely on Child Sex Offenders, which are discussed in the section "Prevalence and child molestation" as often not meeting the diagnosis of Pedophilia or having a true sexual attraction to children, which is the intention of the article. In addition, Given the study review cited questioning the findings of any personality connections and questions of methodology, I wonder if it is needed for the page as the findings are mainly in reference to Child Molesters, and I feel would be more appropriate in the article on Child Sexual Abuse. I understand it's difficult with current research, but the page feels muddled between the attraction (Pedophilia) and the offense (Child Sexual Abuse). 143.229.183.32 (talk) 01:23, 18 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a section in both articles discussing the problems of inferring knowledge about one from the other and vice versa? __meco (talk) 07:03, 18 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to have state what I stated above in the #Sharp increase in number of sexually abused children section: Not only is not much known about the prevalence of pedophilia, and therefore a section on it would be very small, unless, like some sources say, the majority of child molesters are pedophiles (which could tell us the prevalence of pedophilia), the [Prevalence and child molestation section] is discussing the link between pedophilia and child molestation, and how one may be independent of the other. It's not confusing the two; it's noting the confusion between the two and how there is sometimes a link and a lack of one other times. This is best covered in one section.

It seems that the Psychopathology and personality traits section is going on the fact that a lot of pedophiles do sexually abuse children and that a lot of child sexual abusers are pedophiles, which makes that section relevant to this article. Flyer22 (talk) 22:12, 18 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is there an article on the History of Pedophilia? Portillo (talk) 08:02, 29 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I take it you mean historical information on it. Either way, the answer is no. And I don't see how there could be an article on that. The history of pedophilia is in this article (the Disease models section, with regard to what you're referring to) and there isn't much more to state on it than what we've included. What you are probably thinking of is the history of child sexual abuse. But as the article makes clear, pedophilia and child sexual abuse do not always equate to the same thing. One is the mental disorder. The other is the act, which may or may not encompass the mental disorder. Flyer22 (talk) 08:12, 29 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your reply. What I was refering to by History, was pedophilia throughout ancient and modern civilisations. How did ancient civilisations treat pedophilia and was there ever a civilisation where it wasnt considered immoral? Portillo (talk) 00:48, 30 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The problem with studying that area is not only was the term coined in the late 19th century, but that was also when the very concept of mental illness was first starting to get going. Before a certain time everyone "knew" epilepsy was caused by demons. Pedophilia is certain to have existed, but it wouldn't have been cataloged properly, and just like today, it is often very hard to detect.

According to my own research, there has never been a culture in history that openly and fully sanctioned sex with prepubescents. Some cultures like the Greeks were accepting of activity with adolescents, but not really little children. It is worth noting that some tribal cultures were reported to have been accepting of this in the 18th and 19th century, but this was later discredited as proganda intended to paint certain tribal cultures as "Godless heathens" who needed to be converted to "save the children."Legitimus (talk) 01:34, 30 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I stated something similar in this link, Legitimus. I did mention Semen#Cultural practices. But like I stated, "[I]t's not about sexual activity with the children in those cultures, but rather about the supposed power of semen." Flyer22 (talk) 01:44, 30 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Portillo, there is of course an expansive academic literature on the history of pedophilia, more than enough for a standalone article, but the editors who control this article/topic actively censor any information that does not conform to their worldview. Ning de Coninck-Smith has a good overview in the Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. Michel Foucault is the most expansive in terms of contextualizing the eugenic ideology and moral panics reflected in the current article - see History of Sexuality. Steven Angelides wrote a nice piece on the discourse of child sexuality in the Journal of Homosexuality about 10 years ago, also nicely summarizing the "child-saving" movement. I'd also recommend Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern About Child-Victims by Joel Best and Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America by Philip Jenkins, which are more about contemporary Western history. You won't find any of that here, though. The handful of people camped out here won't allow anything but their narrowly-construed disease model materials. Unless you are a highly experienced editor, I would not try to insert any of that, either. You will be suspected or even accused of having utterly outrageous motivations, and they will try to have you sanctioned. You'll have a better sense of what's going on here after you read those books. Jokestress (talk) 02:31, 30 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]