It seems there are still those who would like to say we are pushing a ‘pro-pedophile’ agenda and advocate for child sexual abuse (CSA). Not only is this appalling, but is libelous. Our ‘agenda' is to prevent CSA by treating and supporting minor-attracted people (MAPs) and other individuals who engage in or are at risk of engaging in risky sexual behaviors. MAPs are a small fraction of the clientele we serve.
AGAIN, MAP is not a term used to ‘rebrand’ pedophiles. It's a common term in the global Sex Offender Treatment and Research community used to describe three different ages of attractions. These words are not used in order to gain “praise” or “acceptance.”
Using the term MAP is about separating not conflating an ‘attraction’ and a ‘behavior.’ Its about de-stigmatizing a group of people who do not want to harm a child and are asking for help because of an attraction they neither asked for nor desire. Please do not also conflate us with NAMBLA. We are in no way similar. NAMBLA advocates for the abolishment of age of consent laws and believes intimate adult-child relationships that involve adult-child sex, should be widely accepted. This is not something we have ever advocated for and advocate for the literal antithesis. Adult-child sex in and of itself is CSA.
Imagine a part of yourself that pre-determined your emotional and mental well being. Imagine that this part of you was innate and virtually unchangeable. Imagine this part of you was seen by society as something worth denigrating, stigmatizing, and condemning. Imagine living in a world where a part of you was conflated with a child molester but you had never sexually abused a child. Can you? Maybe you think this is a ludicrous assumption. But this population exists, and it’s not in a vacuum.
While statistics vary, the prevalence of pedophilia (having a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children) is estimated to be around 5% (Seto, 2009), and a large portion (50-70%) of sex offenders with child victims are not pedophiles (Marshall, Barbaree, & Eccles, 1991; Seto, 2009; Schmidt, Mokros, & Banse, 2013).
Assuming all pedophiles are child sexual abusers and vice versa is like assuming all teleiophiles (an individual sexually attracted to adults) are adult rapists. Read that statement again. We realize you may have a strong visceral reaction to this statement, but we hope you’re able to set aside your emotions, reactions, and for some of you, hate, and think about this rationally. Again, we are not saying, promoting, or advocating for the abuse of children. That is never ok! What we are saying and will continue to say is that an attraction is very different from sexually abusing anyone.