When doing research for my recent article on Sly Boy and Katie Cruz, one of the most frequent comments I saw was that MAPs should get help instead of expressing pride over our sexual orientation (or 'illness', as they call it). Let's take a very brief look at why that's such an infuriating retort.

MAPness in itself is not a disorder, and you cannot be 'made unattracted' to children. Pedophilia is technically a disorder if the sexual feelings cause distress or are acted upon. Personally, I disagree with it being labeled a disorder even in these scenarios; distress comes from problematization of the feelings and the criminalization of their expression, while acting upon the feelings is not always inherently harmful. Ultimately, negative outcomes are external to the person, not internal.

For some time, I have personally needed help to deal with trauma, negative thinking, and other issues that are all partly related to being a MAP. However, I am not willing to take the extreme risk of telling a psychiatrist that I'm a MAP. To do so would cause me to lose my job at the very least. Therefore, I have worked through my issues alone, by talking with other MAPs, and by self-medicating with legal substances that can cause other issues (like extreme anger).

The conclusion I've come to is that, to improve my mood and avoid negative thinking, I should spend more time with children. Based on this revelation, I have written an article on why MAPs should spend more time with children, committed myself to laying a groundwork that will make it possible for me to spend time with children outside of work, and offered to help other MAPs with doing so. In the absence of extreme stigma, represented by the hateful words of the 'get help' brigade, this would not have happened. Instead, I'd have gone to a psychiatrist.

Discussions on how to talk to a psychiatrist about mental health issues, many of them likely caused by MAP repression, are frequent in MAP communities. B4U-Act was founded in response to this. Unsurprisingly, B4U-Act is now bombarded with criticism primarily due to the fact that it does not condemn attraction to children as an evil and monstrous affliction.

Do the public really believe the best way to encourage MAPs to go to a psychiatrist is to post slurs and insults alongside messages of needing to 'get help'? I think they know that's not a solution. B4U-Act, in contrast, actually encourages MAPs to seek professional support by making it feel safer and more affirming. Unfortunately, the professionals endorsed are mostly based in North America, which comes with a number of limitations.

Those posting hateful comments are the reason that most MAPs who need help ultimately don't get it. But of course, those people don't really care, nor even think about the issue at all. They are pitiful, low-intelligence, hateful people. And they just can't help but express their caveman-like vitriol, even when it leads to harm.