Sadly, I'm not astounded at all. What really astounds me is how many people deny the abuse, blame the victims, or believe this is a new development (the old "things were better when I was a kid" trope). It's made it very difficult to attain comprehensive data.

They have always existed, they just never got exposed because their victims didn’t have forums that would listen to them. The abusers used threats and intimidation to control their victims, just as they still do in many closed religious societies. Pedophiles exist in all societies and all religions, believers and non believers, it is a disease that knows no bounds.

I recently started following somebody on Tik Tok who posts things that he finds on the dark web. Pedophiles are the least of our concerns. Even if everything that he finds is bullshit, somebody out there is coming up with that crap. Two things I remember are human skin handbags and Underground cannibals.

Paedophiles will always be attracted to were ever
Children are.

I think their attitude is we are not going to educate them, so fuck'em.

From research and documentaries, pedophiles seek out jobs/professions that give them access to children(especially if they have a preference in age or sex of the child). Becoming a priest, etc, does not lead to pedophelia. FBI research shows that there are offenders who will abuse children as targets of opportunity, but are not usually pedophiles by sexual preference. Also, choosing same sex victims is not homosexual, which is one myth that drives me nuts. I see it most often from the religious, and I try to define the difference: that homosexuality is attraction between same sex ADULTS.