Part of the problem, it would appear, is the stark division in many people’s minds between what they understand as “paedophilia” and child sexual abuse committed by highly functioning, respectable family members or guardians. Men who sexually abuse children in the home are not usually labelled “paedophiles”: this word is reserved for people like Sidney Cooke, currently serving a life sentence for multiple convicitons of sex abuse against boys — evil-looking men who prey upon children previously unknown to them. And yet far more children are abused by someone they know.

Some experts, who try to unravel the phenomenon of paedophilia, in particular sexual libertarians, give the impression that being “attracted” to children is a sexual orientation rather than a choice to harm them. They suggest that these people are not “ordinary men” but part of a weird sub-group; that there is a medical explanation, rather than a social one, for their behaviour. That they are different from fathers or stepfathers, who abuse children in the home; or that they are inevitably victims of abuse themselves.

The dangerous implications of a resurgence of the “paedophile” label was evident in an article in the Guardian on January 17, 1996. It was a small piece noting a problem delaying the publication of the first British commentary on Catholic canon law due to a mistake in relation to papal infallibility. Within this document are two pages on how to respond to priests who “are paedophiles”. The Church’s position is that paedophiles have diminished responsibility because their sexual urges are “in effect beyond their control”.

In 2013, at the height of the revelations concerning Savile and other well-known men exposed as child abusers, Guardian feature writer Jon Henley wrote an article headlined “Paedophilia: bringing dark desires to light.” The standfirst read: “The Jimmy Savile scandal caused public revulsion, but experts disagree about what causes paedophilia — and even how much harm it causes.” The article caused some intense anger, but also drew support from others, including — unsurprisingly — some self-identified paedophiles, including O’Carroll.

In the article, Henley went to great pains to make a distinction between a medical diagnosis of paedophilia, and the act of child sexual abuse. “But not all paedophiles are child molesters, and vice versa: by no means every paedophile acts on his impulses, and many people who sexually abuse children are not exclusively or primarily sexually attracted to them.

“In fact, ‘true’ paedophiles are estimated by some experts to account for only 20 per cent of sexual abusers,” he continued. “Nor are paedophiles necessarily violent: no firm links have so far been established between paedophilia and aggressive or psychotic symptoms. Psychologist Glenn Wilson, co-author of The Child-Lovers: A Study of Paedophiles in Society, argues that ‘the majority of paedophiles, however socially inappropriate, seem to be gentle and rational’.”