Old Dominion professor Allyn Walker — who wrote a book, titled, A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity — has been put on leave after a recent video interview of the professor defending pedophiles went viral on social media.
In the video, Walker explained that he uses the term “Minor-Attracted Person” or “MAP” when referring to pedophiles in the title and throughout his book, “because I think it’s important to use terminology for groups that members of that group want others to use for them.”
The professor added that “MAP advocacy groups” have advocated for use of the term “primarily because it’s less stigmatizing than other terms like, ‘pedophile.'”
“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 toward minors,” Walker added.
The professor also addressed those who say using a term like “Minor-Attracted Person” suggests that “it’s okay to be attracted to children,” by arguing that “using a term that communicates who someone is attracted to doesn’t indicate anything about the morality of that attraction.”
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