Pedophile, Child Lover, or Minor-Attracted Person? Attitudes Toward Labels Among People Who are Sexually Attracted to Children

• Published in: Archives of sexual behavior Vol. 51; no. 8; pp. 4125 - 4139
• Main Authors: Jahnke, Sara, Blagden, Nicholas, Hill, Laura
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Attitude; Attitudes; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Gender Identity; Humans; Identity; Language; Mixed methods research; Original Paper; Pedophilia; Psychology; Public Health; Qualitative research; Self image; Sex Offenses; Sexual Behavior; Social Sciences; Stigma; Hebephilia; DSM-5; Labeling; Identity; Pedophilia; Mixed-method
• ISSN: 0004-0002; 1573-2800; 1573-2800
• DOI: 10.1007/s10508-022-02331-6

The primary label for people who are sexually attracted to children (“pedophile”) is conflated with sexual offending behavior and tainted with stigma. In the present pre-registered mixed-method study, we therefore investigated attitudes and preferences regarding "pedophile/hebephile" and other labels among 286 people who report a stronger or equally strong sexual attraction to prepubescent and pubescent children than to adults. Overall, quantitative data showed acceptance of “pedophile/hebephile” as well as a range of alternative labels in a personal (
Labeling Oneself
) and a professional context (
Being Labeled by Others
). “Minor-attracted person” and “pedophile/hebephile” received generally higher support than other terms and appeared to be least divisive across three major online fora. Qualitative data revealed four themes: “Contested self-labels,” “Person-first language and pathologizing sexuality/identity,” “Stigma and shame,” and “Reclaiming the pedophile label.” Our results allow deeper insight into reasons for adopting certain labels over others, as well as difficulties of finding a non-stigmatizing label. We discuss limitations of the study and practical implications for clinical and research contexts.