MAP Forum

Dear everyone,

My name is Tina, I am a sexuality educator based in Zurich, and most importantly, a new member of this group – so hello to you all

A few weeks ago, I completed my diploma thesis on the topic “When adolescents are attracted to children.” However, this topic is far from finished for me. On the contrary, I remain deeply committed to educational and awareness work in this field.

In this context, I have developed the idea for a book project. What I have in mind is a series of portraits of (ideally younger) individuals who would be willing to share their personal stories and experiences of living with a paedophilic sexual preference. Participation would, of course, be completely anonymous and without any identifying images.

I strongly believe that such a book could contribute, at least in a small way, to reducing stigma and fostering a more nuanced understanding of this subject.

To make this project possible, I am looking for people who would be willing to take part. As you can imagine, reaching potential participants is not easy, which is why I am reaching out here and hoping for your support.

If you are a young person yourself and would be open to sharing your experiences, or if you are able to connect me with someone who might be interested, I would be very grateful.

If there is interest in my diploma thesis, I would also be happy to share it here.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,
Tina

Hi Tina, and welcome.

Sounds like an interesting project. Where can we find your diploma thesis?

tinatina wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2026 12:36 pm [...] What I have in mind is a series of portraits of (ideally younger) individuals who would be willing to share their personal stories and experiences of living with a paedophilic sexual preference. [...]

Is there any methodological reason why participants could not include older individuals with a clear recollection of their paedophilic preference in their youth? As you are probably aware, there are many child lovers whose paedophilic orientation emerges in youth/adolescence, but it often takes many years to process and understand this orientation, especially given the lack of freely available info and support material around this orientation. The early stages of this orientation are often muddled with a confusing mix of repression, self-denial, fear, and anxiety that may be hard to express if it's all a person has ever known. So for that reason, I wonder if it would be an advantage to specifically include some older individuals who have a clear recollection of their paedophilic preference from youth, but who have also had the time to process it, to better understand and express what they were going through at the time.