MAP Forum

Stop using the word "pedophile"; it's not that the word in itself is bad, but rather because of how stigmatized the word has become, and that for the most part it isn't even being used accurately. Hebephiles, ephebophiles, and alike are all inaccurately being lumped in as being "pedophiles." Therefore, the terms MAP or YAP way more accurately describe us, and furthermore, it enrages them that we don't want to take part in their word games

I don't see any sound reason to stop, as MAPs and the like are used as a cover for hostility to pedophilia.

reaver wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 11:48 pm I don't see any sound reason to stop, as MAPs and the like are used as a cover for hostility to pedophilia.

Maybe try reading my statement again and try to think before you reply

I use the term MAP to help destigmatize our attraction. “Pedophile” is too tied to criminality.

I think that some words have negative connotations because they're intended to be a value-laden description of something that can more impartially be described with some formally correct value-neutral term (fat/overweight, fag/homosexual, idiot/less intelligent person, etc.) but when it comes to 'pedophile' I think the term itself has always formally been intended as neutral and the stigma attached to it stems from the stigma of what it outlines. I don't think rebranding will help.

Even though I use the term, I've said this in other places, I don't think 'MAP' is really meaningful because all teleiophiles are attracted to legal minors. If you're attracted to 18-year-olds, you have to be attracted to 17-year-olds, and to some pubescent if not fully mature preteens and teens as well. I'm convinced that all allosexuals are literal MAPS although maybe we can put people who are brutally honest about their attraction in a special social category considering that most 40-year-old men aren't going to admit that they're attracted to some 12-year-olds. I never really thought the 'hebephilia' category made sense either but I guess I can understand it if someone has a very strong preference for preteens/teens who look pubescent without being fully mature, I understand 'ephebephile' even less because I think the concept of adulthood is meaningless if it doesn't include 17-year-old girls (I say 17 because that's the age when, excepting medical abnormalities, the entire female population is post pubescent, but some medically normal 12-year-old girls have completed puberty and the average 15-year-old girl has). Maybe some age-based orientation label, in regards to people who have at least started puberty or even finished it, makes sense if someone has a preference that's so strong they can't veer away from it if they want truly satisfying relationships (it's hard for me to imagine, but maybe someone who's attracted to young teens can't be in a relationship with a woman in her 30s, they have to be with someone in their preteens/early teens in order to have a deeply fulfilling relationship. There might be other men like me who are attracted to women in their twenties and thirties but can still be in deeply satisfying relationships with women 40 and up, not that I'm interested in monogamous or committed relationships to begin with but I couldn't be in one with the majority of 40-something year-old women and I doubt any post-menopausal women. Maybe I should re-word this, there are some 40-something-year-old women I'm attracted to; although there are fewer of them, and I'm not 'disgusted' by them, but my ideal/strong preference is a woman under 40. I associate sex with affection but in terms of infatuation relative youth is very 'important' to me. If there's a 40/50-something-year-old woman I'd feel differently about, she would probably look as though she's in her 30s. I don't want to try to properly articulate this exactly. I'm also not trying to put down older women, I know many women are turned off by older men and I don't fault them for that although I'd hope that they would be somewhat compassionate in how they reject people or state their preferences).

Isn't a pedophile just a type of MAP?

And a MAP is someone who has an evident sexual preference for persons below the age of 18, like a homosexual or heterosexual is widely understood as having a preference, rather than having once felt attracted to a person of the same or opposite sex.

Jim Burton wrote: Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:37 pm Isn't a pedophile just a type of MAP?

And a MAP is someone who has an evident sexual preference for persons below the age of 18, like a homosexual or heterosexual is widely understood as having a preference, rather than having once felt attracted to a person of the same or opposite sex.

You're correct, but ageists don't know that. So what I'm saying is that if the word is being used as a slur against us and simultaneously isn't being used correctly, then by using the word, we would be contributing to this word game used against us

Cunny Defender wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2025 8:00 amYou're correct, but ageists don't know that. So what I'm saying is that if the word is being used as a slur against us and simultaneously isn't being used correctly, then by using the word, we would be contributing to this word game used against us

I'll be honest, this issue with improper usage is exhausting.
I can easily say that half of my comments on social media are me explaining what pedophilia is and its definition, distinguishing it from the crime, sexual/romantic interest, and the disorder.

So much so that whenever I use the term, I even add the definition I’m using next to it. And of course, this is followed by an accusation of pedophilia, especially if the topic is about anime and video games, as it is seen as a form of denial.

Not Forever wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2025 8:09 am

Cunny Defender wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2025 8:00 amYou're correct, but ageists don't know that. So what I'm saying is that if the word is being used as a slur against us and simultaneously isn't being used correctly, then by using the word, we would be contributing to this word game used against us

I'll be honest, this issue with improper usage is exhausting.
I can easily say that half of my comments on social media are me explaining what pedophilia is and its definition, distinguishing it from the crime, sexual/romantic interest, and the disorder.

So much so that whenever I use the term, I even add the definition I’m using next to it. And of course, this is followed by an accusation of pedophilia, especially if the topic is about anime and video games, as it is seen as a form of denial.

It isn't illegal to be a pedophile; it's only illegal to act on it. Also, i don't think it's helpful to call it a disorder. This is just a reflection of the twisted society we live in, where once homosexuality was also seen as a disorder that could be cured, and now they are doing this all over again with pedophilia

Cunny Defender wrote: Thu Nov 06, 2025 8:30 amIt isn't illegal to be a pedophile; it's only illegal to act on it. Also, i don't think it's helpful to call it a disorder. This is just a reflection of the twisted society we live in, where once homosexuality was also seen as a disorder that could be cured, and now they are doing this all over again with pedophilia

Here there might be an issue of terminology based on nationality.
Where I’m from, the term “pedophilia” refers to a whole range of crimes, so there’s always a need to distinguish it from pedophilia as an interest; and when it comes to the disorder, it refers to that obsessive interest. (Which ideally, then, isn’t necessarily exclusive to pedophilia — for consistency, there should also be a “heterosexuality disorder” if the interest is obsessive.)