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The distinction being made is the pedophiles which do not seek out those materials or participate at all in their distribution, not committing crimes.

It's an overgeneralization, it's like conflating straight males with people that watch a male raping a female.

I's say it would be more like comparing a male who rapes a female with a male who watches that rape.

Regardless, though, the term "pedophile" by definition is someone who is sexually attracted to children. There is no distinction about whether or not they actually committed a sexual act with a child. A person who commits a sexual act with a child is by definition a pedophile and a rapist, since children cannot legally give sexual consent.

A pedophile emotionally identifies with children. A perfect example of this was the guy in the movie Con-Air who sought out the little girl in the trailer park and sat with her to play at tea-time.