Inspired by my comment to PrincesTale.

While you would think that this should be a no brainer, this is actually a pretty hot topic on tumblr. There are a bunch of people who are trying to normalize pedophilia and make it a 'love is love' issue. They are trying to wedge themselves in with the LGBT among other things.

While most people have argued that calling pedophiles MAPs is a bad thing I have also seen people defending pedophilia at worst. And at best I've seen people say that MAP is just a term and it doesn't really matter if it's used in place of pedophilia.

In my opinion it does matter. Why? It sugar coats the truth. It makes pedophilia seem more fluffy. It's like saying, "I would like to make Jessica unalive." The term MAP dances around what it really is and has opened the door to some people trying to justify pedophilia. Opens the door to stuff like this; link :S

I feel like the term was just created for trying to normalize sick people. You can put a hat on a turd, but it's still a freaking turd. You can call a pedo a MAP, but it's still a freaking pedo.

Unfortunately, though I know Tumblr is ripe for these types of people I have seen a couple on Twitter. And it doesn't help that some "news" sites are also trying to normalize this behavior by having these people write columns for them defending themselves.

Not sure. Would need to see stats on whether discussing their problem with others like themselves, in an unprejudiced manner, increases or decreases likelihood of offending. Because that's basically the end-goal here. And this could go either way.

I've said it many times, and I'll it again, If you are an adult that wants to date/have sex with minors, you are fuckin disgusting. As an adult, you should be responsible enough to know the consequences with being with a minor. It doesn't matter how "mature" they seem to be. They still have not fully developed mentally and can easily be manipulated. What's your problem, that you can't date other adults. I can't believe that in some countries, the age of consent is when someone hits puberty (including kids to hit as early as 8 or so).That's sick if you ask me.

@Princes I'd actually be curious about that too. However it's one thing to normalize pedophilia as a new sexuality and another to class it as a mental illness as some are advocating for. Erasing the stigma that all pedophiles are shameless and unapologetic can be helpful. I've read an article about a pedophile who knows that he's wrong and want to change. This man advocates for getting help and intervention instead of waiting to punish. And I can see the logic in that. Instead of condemning there may be benefits to treating pedophilia like bi polar. Bi polar isn't good and no one is trying to make it out to be, but bi polar is recognized as something that can be treated.
Idk if that made any sense.

@jlh "you can put a hat on a turd" 10/10 solid analogy.

@uploaded Yeah that's what I'm saying, kids CANNOT consent. And I agree that it's sick and people shouldn't be trying to normalize pedophilia.

The links below will probably only be available for you to view in full if you have access through a university or other institution. I hate that! But hopefully there is enough available for people to get the gist.

"Would need to see stats on whether discussing their problem with others like themselves, in an unprejudiced manner, increases or decreases likelihood of offending."
- This is a really fucking good question. And one that would be extremely hard to answer!
We know that online support groups, generally, can foster link behaviours. There is link that online support can help sex offenders change their behaviours when guided, by rehabilitated peers, towards changing behaviour. link and link is some research about how pedophiles talk in online groups.
I would suspect that discussing pedophilia as sexuality, rather than pathology, would have benefits for some people (like seeking help, reducing anxiety/depression that leads to certain behaviours), but fostering such ideas with other like minded people offers opportunities to sharing fantasies, which leads to sharing stories/photos/videos, which leads to sharing advice, which leads to support for certain choices and behaviours... What we know for sure from research is that pedophiles tend to blame their victims for the offending (there are plenty of examples in the above links, y'all probably don't need any more in your lives...)... so this idea that pedophilia is a sexuality and therefore something that is innate, unchanging and that all are entitled to express, plays right into that go-to pedophilia justification. So this is really just the continuation of normal pedophile pathology, but the internet lets more people see it more often, and enables like-minded people to find each other and support each other's beliefs.

link found that 7% of a non-forensic set of 193 participants (ie undergrad students... I hate this kind of research, but it still illustrates a point) would have sex with a child if they could do so unpunished. So I worry that constructing pedophilia (acted on or otherwise) as sexuality, rather than pathology, further opens a door that is technically already open. A really big part of the pathology of pedophilia is to justify it as ok, normal and consensual. Intervention, help and support managing or changing the thoughts and behaviours is really important. But that needs to focus on those thoughts and behaviours as dysfunctional and harmful to the person having/doing them, as well those they victimise (directly or indirectly), not legitimizing the pathology.

The sexual interest lies in children who cannot consent or fully understand what sex is. That is not sexuality; that is pathology. I'm not saying we don't help pedophiles in whatever ways we can (through therapeutic systems). But we can't equate sexual attraction to people who cannot consent with consensual sexualities.

That ended up a bigger comment than intended, but I got my nerd on.

Sorry, haven’t been on fanpop for a few days

Yay, statistics! Thank you for doing the research I was too lazy to do and summarising it nicely xD Very interesting articles - I also ‘got my nerd on’ and had a read. The Holt, Blevis & Burkert one was particularly informative (though like you said, also contained some incredibly disturbing samples of comments).
It does seem pretty clear-cut in the research that a term like ‘MAP’ would be used by paedophiles to frame their problem more as a sexuality than a pathology. There’s precedent with other terms:

“Online communities often use the term ‘child love’ to refer to their attractions rather than the term paedophile, which they perceive to be a derogatory and stigmatising clinical term that does not adequately account for their behaviours”

“[Paedophilia] was viewed by posters as a negative and pejorative term that unfairly tainted their behaviours. Instead, the forum posters separated themselves from those they perceived as dangerous harmful predators through the use of terms like ‘boy love’”(Holt, Blevis & Burkert)

I can see ‘MAP’ potentially serving a similar function. As you said, it plays into the justification that they are entitled to express such tendencies as an innate part of themselves... It’s a trend very noticeable in the sample of comments. It’s also something that the Kernsmith article labels a “cognitive distortion”: the idea that paedophilia is a sexuality that cannot be controlled, and that they are entitled to have sexual relationships they desire. These notions neutralise social and emotional barriers to offending.

So I was wrong about that in my first comment and I’m changing my answer to this poll. Like you also pointed out though, there is some value to online discussion between these people, as long as it’s done in a controlled and guided manner. In the forum with non-professional rehabilitated peers and moderated comments, cognitive distortions and obsessive thoughts were found to decrease while accountability increased (A ‘safe space’ helping?? Well I never!). This is what I was getting at when I referred to unprejudiced dialogue, but it’s pretty clear now that terms like MAP would do more harm than good in this.

Thanks for the top-notch articles!

Funny how whoever picked Good isn't speaking up

^ Yeah, I'd actually be very interested in seeing what this person would have to say on the matter.

"While you would think that this should be a no brainer, this is actually a pretty hot topic on tumblr. There are a bunch of people who are trying to normalize pedophilia and make it a 'love is love' issue. They are trying to wedge themselves in with the LGBT among other things." Agree so much!

Actually by normalizing pedophilia we are making homophobes a gift, we are giving homophobes a huge reason to celebrate. Pedophilia apologists, who try to equalize pedophiles and LGBT, discredit LGBT movement. They are exactly what homophobes want to paint us all as.