The normalization of pedophilia continues.
Academia and the media have softened public consciousness approaching pedophilia with articles redefining pedophilia as a sexual orientation or categorizing pedophiles as ‘virtuous’ for practicing celibacy.
On social media, pedophiles have begun to employ the term MAP (minor-attracted person) and NOMAP (non offending minor-attracted person) as a method to rebrand and circumvent the stigma attached to the label, pedophile.
READ MORE: College Teaches Pedophilia as a Sexual Orientation
60 Minutes, via 9 News, revealed Dr. James Cantor’s groundbreaking study which suggests that pedophiles are born, not made. “All the evidence suggests that pedophilia begins in the womb. “A person does not pick it. And despite every kind of treatment that has been attempted over a century, nothing has been shown to be able to change these people from pedophiles into non-pedophiles. “It’s not that these areas of the brain are different in the pedophiles, it’s that the network that they’re supposed to form isn’t connected properly “It’s accidentally identifying things in the environment that should evoke a parental nurturant instinct, but instead it’s provoking a sexual and erotic instinct.”
The research seems to indicate that most pedophiles examined didn’t wish to act upon their urges.
Apart from the term, “NOMAP,” some pedophiles who outspokenly refrain from acting upon their urges also go by “virtuous” pedophiles.
Having catapulted to infamy in 2015 after Salon published an article interviewing self-styled “virtuous” pedophile, Todd Nickerson, a social backlash ensued despite sustained attempts to normalize pedophilia by the mainstream press.
Salon’s article–which has now been deleted–marked a watershed moment in public discourse on the taboo topic.
Now, TED talks, the New York Times, The Guardian, and a whole range of other illustrious organizations have published content with a normalizing tone.
‘Virtuous pedophiles’ also have a website where they can seek help to cope with their lifestyle according to their homepage:
We do not choose to be attracted to children, and we cannot make that attraction go away. But we can resist the temptation to abuse children sexually, and many of us present no danger to children whatsoever. Yet we are despised for having a sexual attraction that we did not choose, cannot change, and successfully resist.
This hatred has its costs, both to children and to non-offending pedophiles themselves. Many pedophiles don’t seek professional help because of the shame involved in admitting to therapists that they are sexually attracted to children. Think how many cases of abuse would be avoided if pedophiles who were dedicated to resisting their attractions were treated with sympathy and respect, and were therefore more willing to seek professional help in order to remain law-abiding. And think of the cost to non-offending pedophiles themselves. Many are depressed, and even suicidal, because of sexual thoughts that they didn’t choose but are able to successfully resist.
Aside from NOMAPs and ‘virtuous pedophiles,’ there has also been a rise in alternative paraphilias including bestiality and formicophilia making headway on social media.