VirPed Panel: 14 October 2024

Our panel is this week answering a selection of the hatemail that we occasionally receive. The hatemail is outlined in bold and italics, and the answer from one of our panellists follows underneath. We do not intend to respond to any future hatemail.

Pedophiles should be put down like sick dogs. Every single one of you should be hung regardless if you’ve actually committed a pedophilic act. I genuinely hope every single one of you sick fucks gets murdered or kills yourself first. Worthless faggots.

I’m worried the monkey’s paw might curl, for this wish to come true.

This would hurt non-paedophiles. It’d hurt the families and friends of paedophiles. If you kill 1%-5% of the population, there’s going to be about half of all people grieving the loss of a loved one. Among these, there would be children. My brother is a kid, not even a teenager yet, and he is my world, and I am his world. We play Mario together, and we get along like a house on fire. Does my brother not deserve his brother? Many people on this forum are parents. Do their children not deserve mothers and fathers? Perhaps you think we’re inadequate as siblings or parents. I feel that we are adequate. Certainly, I’ve never met a group of people who care more about the wellbeing of children. The VirPed forum, more than any other website I’ve been on, frequently discusses keeping children safe and the harm CSA can do to children.

There would be children among the dead. You know, there are teenagers who are attracted to babies. Maybe you’d wait for them to turn 18 before having them executed, though.

A lot of forum members are doing fairly important jobs. There’s doctors and lawyers, as well as members with more common jobs, and there are forum members caring for people who depend entirely on them for support. I’m not one to weigh the worth of a human soul on what they can do for me, but I can’t help but feel like we’re losing a lot of useful people in your vision for the world. We rely on each other. All people rely on hundreds and thousands of other people in big and small ways. I don’t think you should be so remiss in wishing to sacrifice those connections, even for your stated cause. Is there anybody in your life who you would support if they were to come out to you as a paedophile? Is there anybody you would love unconditionally?

I’ve been talking in hypotheticals up to this point, but the truth is it’s already happening, in some regard. Not all of us are dying, but some paedophiles are victims of vigilante justice. Others are being removed from their families by the legal system. Mind you, these are almost exclusively offenders. The organisation Women Against Registry comes to mind. I recommend looking into them. The “purpose” chapter of the Wikipedia page is a good summary. Even people who actually do bad things are loved by good people who deserve a bit more dignity.

Non-offending paedophiles have a rough time of it too, though. The social isolation we experience contributes to mental health issues that can be harmful or even deadly to us. These problems affect paedophiles and their loved ones. No doubt, my parents, who I am out to, feel this. Coming out to them saved my life, but now they have some of those mental health problems too. They’re not suffering because I’m a burden, though. They’re suffering because they love me. They brought me into the world so they could love me unconditionally, and so they could be there for me. They do it for me. I am truly thankful for them.

The paedophiles are losing right now. We’re losing big-time. I have to wonder if people who are opposed to paedophiles feel good about how much they’re winning. I wonder if these anti-paedophiles know that, in a lot of other ways, they’re actually losing. They’re losing the warmth of humanity, and making their lives colder.

You people are absolutely disgusting! The only solution to being a pedophile is suicide. Like most of these vile subhumans have mentioned on here! They should go ahead and do it! The world will be a much better place, you are actually trying to normalise this behaviour as a mental health issue! Absolutely filth I can’t believe there are websites like this that give access to Other pedophiles! This page is actually aimed in a sympathetic way to these vermin! I am sickened by what I’m reading! Clearly a bunch of dirty scum running the site. You all deserve to die.

One of the positives of virped is that it helps people develop a thick skin. So you’re counselling mass suicide? That would have to include millions and millions of people and perhaps your own offspring.

A mental health issue? No, we’re arguing that it’s just an orientation that people have. Are we normalizing it? That depends. What does normalization mean? It just is. And it tends to lead to abstinence for both moral and legal reasons. But, yes, some choose suicide, due to too many people that combine hate and ignorance.

“Dirty scum running the site” ? Oops. No, I won’t apologize for that. I’d like to think we’ve been successful in preventing suicide and helping to protect vulnerable children.

I have no idea why this website is still up. Its absolutely disgusting. Pedophilia shouldn’t be treated as a normal thing, if you consider yourself a pedo, seek mental help. because clearly a normal person would not have that attraction to children. Pedophiles are nothing but criminals.

Dear Anonymous Commenter,

Thanks for your response. We do understand this is a difficult topic, and we appreciate your willingness to dialog.

I do wish to point out that the accurate diagnosis of pedophilia involves “recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child.” This definition is from the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM 5. Please note that not all pedophiles harm children. All pedophiles have sexual thoughts regarding children, but that does not mean all pedophiles have sexual contact with children. To reiterate, not every pedophile sexually abuses children. Likewise, not everyone who sexually abuses a child is a pedophile. Probably a small majority of people who sexually abuse children are not primarily attracted to them, they tend to abuse whatever person is easily available, either child or adult.

I remind you of this because most of us are not criminals. The whole point of our website is to provide support to our members as we try to manage this difficult condition in an honorable way.

I agree with you that pedophilia is not normal, and many of us would benefit from mental health assistance. The truth is that it is difficult to obtain because of the “disgusting” component of the condition that you note in your comment. Pedophiles worry that a therapist will report them to the police, even if no laws have been broken, and that has happened. One of our goals as MAPs is to advocate for more mental health assistance for people with our condition. We believe that would both help us and help safeguard children.

As a group we are very aware that our condition inspires disgust and hatred. I assure you we did not choose this condition. We are not pedophiles because we are evil, stupid, or masochists. We are pedophiles because we seem to have been born this way or were sexually abused ourselves as children and became prematurely eroticized. We are handling this difficult condition to the best of our abilities.

You do not need to like us, or pretend to understand us, but we are also human beings and have as much right to live as anyone. Our desires do put us at risk for harming children. That is the reality, but our community is an attempt to provide support and empathy to the isolated, scared MAP as he/she tries to live the very best life they can with virtue and connection and end the cycle of child victimization and pedophile stigmatization.

Thank you for reading this. Best wishes

I just saw some of your information on Twitter. This is disgusting. You guys are normalizing pedophilia you are to be ashamed of yourselves. I do not want to see people like Lindsay Doe online. Normalizing the attraction to children it’s not normal it’s not OK. Please find something better to do with your time.

Our world is rife with child, pornography, and organizations like yours are just causing further damage.

I am very concerned, mother,

Hello very concerned Mother,

Many of us are aware of the recent amount of discussion on Twitter and other social media platforms related to VirPed.

While you may not like what someone says online, such as the VirPed team or Lindsay Doe, that doesn’t mean what they say shouldn’t be said, or that what they are saying is wrong.

I somewhat disagree with the idea that VirPed attempts to ’normalize’ any concepts, other than understanding our attractions, I don’t believe it would be a bad thing for pedophilia to be normalized regardless.

It would allow at risk adults and teenagers to receive proper medical help without subjecting themselves to medical and legal abuse.

Destigmatization of these subjects will also benefit victims, as the stigma goes both ways, and many victims of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) often feel silenced by society due to the stigma surrounded by their experience. Many feel the need to hide certain details of their abuse, or don’t feel uncomfortable coming out due to how society might treat their abuser (who is often a trusted and close adult member in the childs life.)

I believe its very much worth our time to give a voice to pedophiles and children a like.

I fail to see how VirPed contributes to the harm of children, it seems much more likely the stigmatization of these subjects would only lead to more children staying silent out of fear, and at risk adults and teens committing offenses since they cannot receive help.

Since you are a mother, I ask you to consider a possibility that your own child could grow up to be a pedophile. If that were to be the case, what world would you want them to live in?

To whom it may concern,

We humans don’t like you subhuman filth trying to inject yourselves into our civilization. Do us all a favor: leave our children the fuck alone and get the fuck out of society! KILL YOURSELVES!! Jump off the Golden Gate Bridge and end it all. I genuinely mean that. All pedophiles are worthless creatures that deserve to be treated like the trash they are. I mean this 10000%. Kill yourselves.

Hello. I am curious what you would do if someone you love, maybe even your child, confided in you that they have attractions to children. Would you say the same hateful things to them?

Most of us realize our attractions in our teenage years and hide them, hoping they will go away. But this pattern of attraction is not something we can will away or push down forever. Finding a good therapist and a supportive group like Virped is life-changing. Coming to terms with our attractions improves our lives. Most of us never sexually offend, but having support drops that rate down even further. If you do care about the well-being of minors, including those who are pedophiles, you would do well to support Virped, or at the very least, leave us alone.

Most sexual abuse of minors isn’t even done by pedophiles. If you’re interested, read about situational offenders.

If you managed to convince all pedophiles to kill themselves, you would be quite surprised at the loss of life, the tearing apart of families, the loss of people you care about and family members of people you care about. And even then, children would still be sexually abused by situational offenders.

We are not worthless creatures, nor trash. We are your friends, your family members, and even your children.

Dear Virtuous Pedophiles Team,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the very existence of your organization, as well as the harmful messages you are promoting. The notion of “virtuous pedophilia” is profoundly disturbing, and I find it deeply concerning that you attempt to separate pedophilia from child abuse as if it could be normalized or rehabilitated.

The problem is not just with abusive actions but also with the dangerous attitudes you harbor. Pedophilic attraction is not a benign sexuality that should be discussed in the same manner as other attractions; it is an inherently harmful orientation that leads to the victimization of children.

No matter how you frame it, you cannot detach pedophilia from the real risk of harm to vulnerable individuals—children—who cannot consent and must be protected from such predatory inclinations.

Normalizing pedophilic attraction, even under the guise of self-restraint, starts with incremental steps. These steps risk minimizing the severity of the problem and creating a pathway toward potential acceptance in society. This cannot and should not happen. The psychological damage caused by even the hint of sexual objectification of children is irreversible, and allowing any space for this mindset to be rationalized only furthers the problem.

I firmly believe that pedophilic tendencies should be treated in ways that prioritize public safety and the protection of children, not through acceptance of “virtuous” behavior that sanitizes what is inherently destructive. It is dangerous to seek validation for such a mindset in any capacity, and I urge you to reconsider the implications of the mission you’re advocating.

Be assured that we are fully aware of who you are and the nature of your activities. Rest assured, you will not have the opportunity to harm any children.

Consider yourself fortunate that your protection under the Bill of Rights is the only safeguard from more severe consequences.

I will respond to each paragraph in turn. Pedophilia is the attraction to prepubescent children, it describes unchosen feelings that we can’t change. It does not describe actions. We focus on distinguishing pedophilia from child abuse because they ARE distinct, as having these unchosen feelings does not mean we will abuse children. It doesn’t make any sense to rehabilitate pedophiles as it’s not a crime to have unchosen feelings, so it’s not something that can be rehabilitated. And what do you think “normalize” means? Pedophilia itself can’t be made any more frequent than it already is, and we are against sexual behaviour with real children, so “normalize” is nothing more than a useless buzzword. It means nothing.

How are our attitudes dangerous, if we are against all forms of sexual contact with children? Many of us don’t even come close to abusing a child, as pedophilia is not a compulsion, nor is it correlated with impulse control. Are teleiophies an inherent danger to adults because they are attracted to adults? Of course not, we understand that the majority of people are capable of controlling themselves around those who they are attracted to, and the same is true for us. We experience our feelings in very much the same way as you (presumably) experience your feelings for other adults: we fall in love, our feelings do not make us an inherent rape threat etc. The only difference is that we can’t ethically act on our attractions, but if we’re talking purely about the unchosen feelings, why can’t it be discussed in the same manner as other attractions?

I absolutely agree that children can’t consent and should be protected from abuse, but there is no evidence that pedophilia, on its own, constitutes that significant of a risk. It’s an attraction, it’s not a compulsion. Many of us pose zero risk to children.

Look, I understand why you think this. Everyone wants to protect children, and when you’ve only heard about pedophiles in the news, the context being they were caught with child abuse, it’s understandable why you might think that all pedophiles are an inherent threat. But that’s simply not true. We support self-acceptance, but that won’t lead to more sexual objectification of children, it will lead to more pedophiles realising that they’re not an inherent threat to children, that they can live non-offending lives, and not only does that decrease the chances of CSA from the minority of pedophiles who might genuinely be a threat without that help, it also helps our own mental health and well-being. Why is that important?

Because we’re human beings. We’re your friends and family. We’re your teenage children who are going through puberty and discovering this about ourselves for the very first time. If you’re a parent, and your fifteen or sixteen year old child tells you they have an attraction to prepubescent children, they fully understand that children can’t consent and are terrified at what their family and friends would think if the knew the truth, what is your response? Would you send your child away, report them to the police for the “greater good” of public safety and protecting children? Would you forbid your child from seeing younger relatives or even going out in public, because they “might” abuse a child? Acceptance is important because, whether you like it or not, we’re in society, we’re around kids, some of us even work with kids, or are parents. Would you support a dystopian world where we’re automatically cut off from society and not allowed basic human rights for the “greater good” of public safety? It’s easy to argue that point when you’re not a pedophile and don’t know any pedophiles, but if your teenager came out as a pedophile, or if you were one yourself and had your own life to live, then perhaps you’d think differently.

Acceptable is the only humane option. Treating us like people, with the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. This does not include the “right” to have sexual contact with children because nobody has that right and any sexual contact with a child risks seriously damaging the child. We aren’t looking for opportunities to harm children (regardless of what you think the nature of our activities are), we are only looking to be treated like human beings rather than monstrous predators.

Yes, protections from consequences of having these unchosen feelings are important, because everyone deserves protections if they have done nothing wrong.

Why would you even have a site like this that condones such absolute unacceptable behavior! You should be ashamed of yourself there’s nothing good about a pedophile they’re never will be and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind! As being a victim of one they do it because they want to do it not because they don’t have a choice they know right from wrong they know what they’re doing is wrong but yet you’re going to try to give them some platform to explain themselves and their stupid fucking condition You guys are absolutely absurd and this is absolutely appalling!

Hi there, I hope you’re having a lovely day.

First of all, I’m very sorry that you were sexually abused. That is truly awful, and I really hope that you have healed from this traumatic experience. While I don’t expect you to believe me, I haven’t sexually abused a child. I do agree with you that to act upon one’s sexual desire toward a child is a terrible thing. Life-lasting damage can occur as a result, but I’m afraid you may have misconstrued the purpose of our site. Our purpose here is to try to prevent child sexual abuse in a way that is admittedly unorthodox and controversial. Collectively as a society, we have understood very little about pedophilia in general. I think this is largely due to the fact that it’s something that’s difficult for people to want to objectively analyze because it very understandably evokes such a strong visceral reaction and much disgust. Recently, there has been a lot more study in to this topic. Leading scientific experts do support our unconventional approach at reducing child sexual abuse rates, though I can imagine the fact that we merely exist is very unsettling to many people. It’s truly not my intent to make anyone uncomfortable by discussing this issue with my peers, but I do truly believe that I am helping people to manage their attractions in a way that will ultimately reduce child abuse.

I don’t want to see a child sexually abused any more than you do. Some of us, like the rest of the general population, were abused as children as well and know how horribly damaging it can be. Though we’re not trained therapists, I do actually go to therapy. It doesn’t work if my therapist shames my attractions so that I feel isolated and unable to trust anyone to talk about things that are very difficult to broach. It only helps if there is a mutual trust established. This is what we try to foster for our members here. Everyone has their own set of boundaries around children, some things are more potentially dangerous than others. We try to sit and listen, and gently remind others of these boundaries when needed. For some, a need to talk about something that they can’t with anyone else in their world can be enough to help immensely.

If I didn’t believe I was making a difference in the world to help reduce child sexual abuse, I would not be here, plain and simple.

Regardless, have a great rest of your week!

this sickens me. you’re fucking disgusting people and deserve to rot. i was sexually abused as a child and it ruined me. it destroyed my fucking life. yes, you may not being actually harming kids but what if there comes a day when the urges just overwhelm you. YOUR’E FUCKING DISGUSTING. stop justifying your fucked up brains by saying “we don’t act on it”. you shouldn’t be proud of who you are and your “sexuality” and FOR YOUR INFORMATION fuckwit. PAEDOPHILIA ISN’T A SEXUALITY and just think about this do you honestly think it’s ok to justify having an attraction to often prepubescent children. CHILDREN. little defenceless people. you’re weak and you’re disgusting!

Hi there, firstly, I want to say that I’m very sorry for your experiences as a child. It’s stories like yours that contribute to my belief that sexual contact with children is wrong due to the the risk of incalculable harm. I know that I’m not alone in that, so thank you for being brave enough to share that. As to the rest of it, I don’t dwell on “what-ifs.” Often people who visit high places experience “the call of the void” which beckons them to jump, but we don’t generally say to people that they ought not visit, say, the Eiffel Tower on the chance that their momentary thought to jump should overwhelm their reason and self control not to. People may find themselves attracted to all sorts of people who would be inappropriate sexual partners. A friend’s significant other, a distant relative, someone who just isn’t interested in them…but we don’t shame people for having these attractions as long as they keep them to themselves. We have no expectation that someone’s sexual fantasies will jump out of their head and assault another person. We are well aware that the people we find attractive are small and defenseless, and that’s why we take our commitment never to act on our attractions very seriously. Whether we are proud of our sexuality is a matter of some debate, what we are proud of is that we have these attractions that we did not and would not have chosen for ourselves, and we have not harmed a child despite them.

This is the most grotesque website I have ever come across. There is no room for your kind anywhere on this world! God save our children! This “organizations” day of reckoning will come soon enough! Count on it!

The implication is that we deserve to die. It’s a satisfying way to verbalize anger. But I like to think that anyone looking down the gunsight at some trembling 14-year-old boy who has committed no crime wouldn’t actually pull the trigger. I like to think not many would support even confining him to a mental hospital for life. And we’re not talking one person here or there. The US prison population would at the least double if pedophiles were confined.

Boys typically recognize their attraction to children around age 14 or so, and are horrified and terrified. Much of the public thinks that if they do not have to hear about us then we don’t exist – we still do. No person reads about the existence of pedophilies online and thinks, “Gee, I never really felt that way about kids myself but society is terrible and to sock it to them I’ll see if I can get into it and I’ll molest some kids.” Pedophilic attraction is something that comes from within, unbidden. In that one respect it is like being gay or lesbian. No one can control what gets said on the dark web. But when we talk among ourselves in a public group committed to never abusing kids, it helps us live the best lives we can while at the same time protecting children.

Pedophiles are monsters and should be treated as such. The idea of a virtuous Pedophile is an oxymoron. You will never be accepted into society. You will always be closely monitored and hunted. You deserve nothing but the worst. Essentially what I am trying to say is go fuck yourself. I hope you get cancer or a massive heart attack. Your pathetic attempt to normalize being sexualy attracted to children is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. Eat shit and die.

Sincerely yours,

All of society

You know, “All of society”, I really did used to believe that the views you shared represent all of society, but as I’ve lived my life as a pedophile, I’ve begun to realise that there are a lot of more reasonable people out there who don’t make a public show of their views but are fair-minded and have realised a few things about what monsters are.

Some of them have realised they know or are related to a pedophile who doesn’t abuse. They won’t be able to share this information with their friends on facebook, but they start to notice how other people talk about it and quietly shake their heads: “No, no, that isn’t actually how it is."

Some of them have seen articles about virtuous pedophiles in the media, and, not having thought about it before, have realised, “yes, of course there must be some that don’t actually act out in real life, just as with any other sexual attraction”. They won’t stand up on public transport and announce that insight, but they’ve had it for sure.

Some of them have had cancer, or a massive heart attack, and it’s made them realise what a precious thing life is. One day, when they go on social media and see someone wishing death on others, even if those others are pedophiles, they quietly shake their heads and think, “no, I wouldn’t wish death on anyone.” They won’t share this with their kids, but they might think it for a moment.

Some of them have actually done so-called pedophile-hunting, and as a result begun to realise that even for the non-virtuous pedophiles who are trying to meet up with minors, even in their case it would make far more sense to offer support much earlier before things reach a point of danger. And they realise that all the yelling and fury in the world won’t achieve that. They won’t write an email to their fellow “hunters” about this, but they might start engaging with preventionists instead.

Some of them were uneasy about normalizing the conversation about pedophilia, then realised that creating shame around the whole topic creates a deep and frightening silence, one which affects victims of child sexual abuse too. They’re unlikely to attend a public meeting about child sexual abuse and share this insight, but they might one day meet someone who quitely tells them that they feel the same about the issue.

Hate mails and social media posts are very loud to us. Their loudness sets the tone and they dominate the public conversation. But now that I have had the chance to explain who I am to some friends, family, professionals and others, I’ve realised that most people aren’t yelling about this; they’re quietly thinking about it. When you think quietly, without the pressure of what other people might think of your thoughts, you’re able to start applying fairness to the things and people you realise aren’t present in the public conversation.

I have a lot of faith that quiet insights will in the end speak louder than the hate.

You people disgust me I understand your emotions but you are taking a right from somebody else to make their own choices they are young children who don’t even know what’s happening yet and you’re sick selfish ways wants to take that away from them I really hope you have no rights no choices people like you disgust me.

I understand your disgust, honestly, I was disgusted with myself when I started to discover I had these feelings. I’ve since learned that that disgust is instilled in us by the media and the society we live in, who have grossly misunderstood what ‘pedophilia’ means.

It means an attraction to children. It DOESN’T mean a person who sexually abuses children. That’s an abuser, or an offender. A pedophile is just a person who has the attraction. Most people only ever see the word pedophile incorrectly used by the media or word of mouth in the context of abuse or an offense being committed, so naturally you think it means something evil.

That misunderstanding is dangerous because it makes even some pedophiles ourselves believe that we are bad, and that one day we will do something to a child. It takes a community (virped) to help us realize and learn that actually that’s not true. We can live with the attraction without ever acting on it, without ever “taking anything away from a child”, and we can help each other learn to lead better, healthier, happier lives in a world that grossly misunderstands us.

I completely believe that children deserve dignity, safety, and happiness, and to be shielded from knowledge that some adults desire them sexually. I also believe that those adults who possess that desire (which, remember: they didn’t choose) and don’t act on it deserve rights to be understood, left alone, not hated, not made to feel like outcasts, but helped.

In a just universe you and all of your members would be fed feet first into a wood chipper.

Pedophiles should be ostracized and or killed. This is not something we need in the human gene pool.

This is disgusting and you should be embarrassed.

Dear you,

I sincerely hope you don’t actually realize that if your first statement were to come true, you are more than likely sending one or more person you personally know into a wood chipper. This could be anyone, because you don’t actually know if anyone around you is attracted to minors. Those of us who have decided to come out to people we know have almost exclusively been met with “I had no idea."

Ostracism will often lead to only one of two things. A pedophile offending, or killing themselves. It seems that you are certain that you would love for the second one to happen, but do you really want to risk the first? Research talks about giving us easier access to help reducing the chance of both. That’s a win-win for me.

You know, there is a lot of things we don’t NEED in the human gene pool at all, that still happen.

Cancer. Do we need it? No, not at all. Does it happen? Yes, a lot. Was it a choice to get it? Nope. How do we deal with it? Medical and psychological help, support and guidance, and public awareness.

Obesity. Do we need it? No, not at all. Does it happen? Yes, a lot. Was it a choice to get it? Nope. How do we deal with it? Medical and psychological help, support and guidance, and public awareness.

Depression. Do we need it? No, not at all. Does it happen? Yes, a lot. Was it a choice to get it? Nope. How do we deal with it? Medical and psychological help, support and guidance, and public awareness.

Okay, so pedophilia then. Do we need it? No, not at all. Does it happen? Yes, a lot. Was it a choice to get it? Nope. How do we deal with it? Ostracism, hatred, stigma and deathwishes. Hmmmmmmmm….

I think there is something wrong with that picture.

I sold like to know why your community has an issue with therapists reporting you as a potential threat to children? I thought all of you were determined to avoid harming children? Therapists resorting you is a precaution. It’s a deterrent. If you really want to protect children, why is this a problem?!?! I don’t believe that this site does anything other than connect pedophiles and create an echo chamber of how hard it is to not be an absolute garbage human by not attacking children. Chemical and physical castration would get rid of your urges. Do that if you’re so concerned about children.

Hi, thanks for your question.

Mandatory reporting is important in healthcare not just for protecting children, but many vulnerable populations. If an individual in a helping profession has evidence or has been told by a client that a child is actively being abused, they are legally and ethically required to report the situation. Same goes for anyone who admits they are going to harm someone else or themselves. This is standard healthcare practice which society at large, including the anti-contact MAP community, deems appropriate.

Now, consider this absurd hypothetical scenario; you have been experiencing stress at work and as a consequence are experiencing burnout and fatigue. The situation causes you to become depressed and frustrated so you decide to talk to a professional about finding ways of developing a better work life balance. During your first appointment you admit to the stress and depression you’ve recently been experiencing and are told a mandatory report must be submitted as your depression is a risk factor for you committing suicide. Consequently, you are subject to an involuntary hold at a psychiatric facility which causes you to miss work and lose your career. Furthermore, the situation has tarnished your reputation with friends, family and colleagues due to the intense stigma attached to mental health. You are estranged from your family and peers and lose any prospects of future employment and housing opportunities.

As outlandish as such a situation sounds, dedicated anti-contact MAPs who’ve never acted inappropriately nor ever plan to, face the risk of having their lives destroyed for simply admitting to an attraction which they’ve never acted upon. Unfortunately, getting help for the depressed pedophile living with this attraction has been complicated into a risky gamble due to the stigma surrounding it. More often than not, pedophilic clients are immediately reported for just having the attraction while seeking help managing their depression. While unjustified, The practitioners who submit these unwarranted reports are legally protected from disciplinary action as they can stand behind the claim that their decision was fitting due to their reluctant feelings about their clients potential future outcome.

Dismal as this systemically flawed approach is, this is the world we live in due to the instinctive laws and regulations passed by policy makers pushed by public temperament. Even if you’re against the concept of judging one’s character based on their actions rather than their identity, the preemptive action of reporting individuals for their thoughts still surprisingly achieves the exact opposite of the desired outcome which is protecting children. The fact of the matter is, discouraging MAPs from seeking therapy by threatening their livelihoods only results in less MAPs showing up to get treatment.