MAP Forum

If there is one change you would like to see in the world for MAPs, what would it be?

What would you propose as alternatives to incarceration?

I think I agreed with Fragment.

The end of people claiming that we have no right to a public identity. Or, in other words, being treated like everybody else, in the public square.

I'll aim low:

I have a dream, that one day I can hold a fucking support group meeting in my living room, in person, without fear for my safety.

Lots of good answers already. One thing that I'd like to see is pedophiles being allowed to meaningfully enter conversations about our sexuality. Most of the time we're relegated to the sidelines or seen as confirmers of bias; people think they know us and our view betters than we do. Because of what science says, it's assumed that I have uncontrollable urges, that I suffer from "cognitive distortions," that I delude myself regarding the true nature of my attraction - and this, in turn, renders all of my words worthless in the eyes of others because they think I'm just trying to excuse my deviancy.

Fragment wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2024 4:00 pm It isn't something that you just stumble into, after all.

Yes, this is what frustrates me with conversations about pedophilia. People talk to us like we don't know anything, like we've somehow stumbled across their conversation without ever having heard of well-known stats, stories, or "pedophile experts." We're not engaged with good faith, people assuming that we haven't taken the time to reflect on our sexuality and introspect on our place in society. Like yes, I am indeed biased to the idea that my life has worth even though I am a dirty pedo.

This reflects the larger issue of what information about pedophilia is out there and how it's spread, which is a whole thing unto itself.

It would have to be societal acceptance that sex and a relationship between an adult an minor is 'normal'.

Not sure why you would settle for "wrong but not unacceptable". Why not just "Acceptable"???