Reading through relevant discourse online, I've noticed a lot of MAPs and tangential allies blame MAP hysteria on just one issue. Sometimes it will come as an imagined 'aha!' moment, where they feel they've finally cracked the puzzle. Other times, a person will ramble on for months or years about how one or two issues are the sole cause of our oppression. We see this with a certain lovable poster on BoyChat whose entire posting history is about the suppression of boys' sexuality, and with a rather less lovable individual on the pediverse who goes on and on about capitalism and 'the patriarchy', as if everyone lives in exactly the same culture as him.

Hysteria over AMSC was first whipped up in the UK and US in the late 19th century, by the burgeoning tabloid media, feminist movement, and Christian reformists. There's little doubt that they are the root cause of it all, and I'm hardly a fan of their modern day representatives. However, we're no longer in the late 19th century. Hysteria is now deeply entrenched, with bullshit 'science' replacing the scorn of Jesus.

In this article, I'm going to discuss various issues related to MAP oppression, without pointing my finger at any one group of people. The list is not exhaustive; it's simply what came to mind while writing an article on a quiet Saturday.

Discussion

The tabloid media continues to incite panic over MAPs via its unhinged reporting and use of terms like 'CSAM' for pictures of kids posing in swimwear. Even The Guardian, a supposedly high-quality liberal publication, is guilty of using such terminology, and of reporting that is very heavily biased against MAPs. Still, the terms and press releases typically come from 'charities' that are constantly trying to outdo each other with increasingly dramatic reports and media appearances, all with the goal of justifying funding to ensure their continued existence. Many are corrupt; some of them are even fronts for businesses. Indeed, the monetization of child sex hysteria is a driving force for many entities that contribute to the madness.

Feminism continues to portray women and children, including boys, as facing a constant risk of violence at the hands of monstrous men. I do have some sympathy for certain aspects of feminism; the way women are treated in Islamic countries, for example, is truly disgusting. I also accept that many women and girls have genuinely experienced harassment or abuse, which is never acceptable. Still, the way they have painted all men as evil rapists has a large role to play in how MAPs are perceived, even though our orientation is pretty much the opposite of sex-obsessed. The existence of men who are this way, MAPs or otherwise, can never justify tarring with such a broad brush. Having said that, it would be remiss not to mention that a significant number of men probably do objectify women to an extent that concerns them. When they then project this onto MAPs, it looks truly terrifying to them. They believe that MAPs will rape children because that's what they fear they'd do if they were MAPs. And that's food for thought, even for those who rightfully do not buy into the modern feminist mantra.

Abrahamic religion had a major role to play in fomenting discrimination against sexual minorities. It is something I hate immensely, and I would support pretty much any measure to eradicate it. Alas, that's unlikely to happen any time soon, though China seems to be doing a good job of keeping a lid on things within its own borders. Furthermore, religion is dying out in many places, while the panic over MAPs intensifies. I don't think we can blame Abrahamic religion for the continuation of MAP hysteria, only for sowing its seeds. It needs to die for the many other reasons that it is a scourge upon the world.

Research on the alleged effects of 'CSA' has had a major impact by providing apparent justification for disgust over AMSC. Even researchers like Rind fail to neatly separate wanted versus unwanted contact. This started back in the 1980s, when psychologists decided that all AMSC was harmful and sampled in a manner that treated this theory as an indisputable fact, then unsurprisingly found evidence of harm among a sample that had literal rape victims mixed in. This never proved that "children can't consent", and yet that concept has been adopted by virtually everyone 'based on the scientific evidence'. Finkelhor and his cronies deserve the electric chair for all the secondary harm they've caused with their shoddy work.

However, the junk research was likely only accepted because humans need someone to hate, but with the excuse that it's not only a matter of disgust. That disgust comes from sex-negativity which spans a wide range of cultures. Personally, I see no real difference between an adult having consensual sex with a kid and an adult playing soccer with a kid, as if sex belongs to some special category. I wouldn't care if someone generated an image of me being brutally raped with a baseball bat and then masturbated to it in public. Actually, I'd probably find that rather funny. There's a burning question as to why humans get so worked up over other people's sexual behavior, when other mammals do not.

Of course, the LGBT community has managed to get Karens out of their bedrooms, only to throw boylovers under the bus in the process. It's harder for MAPs to do this, as the subjugation of youth means young voices supporting our movement would be shut down, labeled a result of poor understanding among victims of grooming by evil MAPs. But while youth voices do need to be taken more seriously in general, I just can't get behind the hardcore youth liberationists. As a teacher, I've seen what happens to other teachers who are weak in enforcing rules. I've seen similar issues among BLs who do not enforce boundaries with YFs. And I've seen how appallingly impoverished children with no proper education or parenting behave. Kids absolutely need strict rules and consequences, otherwise they will act feral. Anyway, even with the support of youths who are actually listened to, I suspect a lot of MAPs would not come out due to the intense stigma, the readiness of the world to slaughter anyone who sticks their neck out and the criminalization of child pornography, which many possibly view even if they are not committing hands-on offenses. The latter is something that gays didn't have to worry about, as yesteryear statutes against adult pornography were vaguely enforced, unlike the child pornography laws of today.

Social media is a major modern concern. It censors MAP voices while funneling people with particularly hateful views into echo chambers that make them ever more extreme. It also globalizes anglo hysteria, leading to the adoption of stupid western concepts in locales where they truly don't belong. As another MAP pointed out (I've forgotten where exactly), those reading discourse on social media will feel even more hated and alone than is the reality, with anti voices amplified and MAPs unable to speak or form communities.

The painting of physical resistance as terrorism and mass surveillance have made it impossible for MAPs to fight back forcefully without being imprisoned for decades. Civil rights activists of the past would commit targeted murders against their greatest oppressors, and would not necessarily be caught. While you may decry this as wrong, there's little doubt that it was effective. Of course, doing this today would lead to rapid capture and severe punishment in virtually any country.

I don't blame the genuinely monstrous MAPs for our oppression. There are monstrous straight and gay people, but nobody blames their entire cohort for the behavior of a small minority. I also don't believe the political right are responsible, as those on the left are just as bad when it comes to hating on MAPs. I'd even go so far as to argue that the left are a greater enemy than the right, for they have offered a leg-up for all minorities other than us, leaving only MAPs as an acceptable target for hate and abuse.

And so...

There isn't one singular group of people to blame for MAP hysteria. It is something that has become deeply entrenched due to a diverse range of bad actors, and which cannot easily be challenged for a variety of reasons. I don't propose a solution here, but I do ask that people not oversimplify their analyses when writing about such issues. One man might blame only the feminists, another 'the patriarchy'. Social issues are never that simple.