An assistant professor in Virginia is in hot water after the Twitter account Libs of Tik Tok posted videos of him advocating for normalizing pedophiles.
Allyn Walker, a non-binary assistant professor at Old Dominion University in the Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, made the controversial comments Monday on the Prostasia Foundation’s YouTube channel discussing his book called “A Long Dark Shadow.”
“They are coming for your kids,” @LibsofTikTok tweeted in a lengthy thread about the transgender educator, who is a biological male, at the public research university in Norfolk.
Walker explains why he uses the term “MAP” instead of “pedophile” when referring to someone who is attracted to children.
“I use the term Minor Attracted Person or MAP in the title and throughout the book for multiple reasons,” said Walker. “First of all because I think it’s important to use terminology for groups that members in that group want others to use for them.”
“They’ve advocated for it primarily because it’s less stigmatizing then other terms like pedophile,” Walker said. “A lot of people- when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions towards minors.”
In another part of the video, Walker said it’s a “problem” that people consider MAPs as evil or corrupt.
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“Stigma against MAPs is a problem in part because it makes MAPs think that they’re monsters,” said Walker. “That’s really problematic in terms of MAP-o-being. It’s really hard to cope when you think you’re a terrible person because you have attractions you can’t change.”
“I want to be extremely clear that child sexual abuse is never, ever okay,” Walker added. “But having an attraction to minors, as long as it isn’t acted on, doesn’t mean the person that has those attractions is doing something wrong.”
On Prostasia’s own website they state that they are a “child protection organization that combines our zero tolerance of child sexual abuse with our commitment to human and civil rights and sex positivity.”
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According to the “About the Book” section, the book is about “Challenging widespread assumptions that persons who are preferentially attracted to minors—often referred to as ‘pedophiles’—are necessarily also predators and sex offenders, this book takes readers into the lives of non-offending minor-attracted persons (MAPs). There is little research into non-offending MAPs, a group whose experiences offer valuable insights into the prevention of child abuse. Navigating guilt, shame, and fear, this universally maligned group demonstrates remarkable resilience and commitment to living without offending and to supporting and educating others. Using data from interview-based research, A Long, Dark Shadow offers a crucial account of the lived experiences of this hidden population.”
Walker was concerned about Twitter’s terms of service: “Yikes – Twitter’s new child sexual exploitation policy sounds like it could result in banning the promotion of my book. Ironically, the aim of my book is to help prevent the sexual exploitation of children.”
As of now, Old Dominion University has not commented.
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