A licensed sex therapist and counselor sparked backlash on social media after posting a video where she appeared to defend “minor-attracted persons.”
“They are probably the most vilified population of folks in our culture,” Miranda Galbreath says in the video posted on YouTube titled “Let’s talk about minor-attracted persons.”
Galbreath goes on to explain that “most folks” make “incorrect assumptions” about “minor-attracted persons” and those assumptions “create harm for an already marginalized population.”
“The term pedophile has moved from being a diagnostic label to being a judgmental, hurtful insult that we hurl at people in order to harm them or slander them,” Galbreath insists in the video. “I also like to use person-first language that recognizes that any label we apply to a person is only part of who they are and doesn’t represent everything that they are.”
If there is anything we should stop doing, it is trying to align our messages with that of the victim advocates.
If someone identifies as a MAP, then we want to encourage them to deal with those struggles, not act like the heathens act and just tell them to commit suicide or harm themselves. That’s what the victim advocates do!
People already think we’re all pedophiles, and there’s little you can do to change it. Trolls hear only what they want to hear.
I could practically make a game of all this, a “vigilante bingo card” with typical saying like “You just mant to make it legal to molest kids”
Not everyone on the registry is a MAP but some are. And there are MAPs not on the registry because they’ve never crosssed the line.
What I see too much of as of late is people in our movement trying to impress and suck up to the victim advocates and pols that are the very ones who make people thing Registered Person = Pedophile. And there’s nothing we can say or do that will make stubborn folks think differently. They just want us to die.
I think avoiding the subject ourselves is a great disservice to our cause.
As usual, I agree with you. We can’t avoid the subject and it seems to me Galbreath is doing well in tackling it.
Honestly I’m more concerned about this person’s safety. If you look at all the responses on Twitter, it’s really gut wrenching what people are saying. I do think it’s important for people to be educated in this area of psychology and the laws involved in it. I fear that people are too closed minded and desire to remain ignorant about these nuances. And people should keep in perspective the difference between an attraction versus an action. Most attractions aren’t demonized in the way people’s different sexual attractions are demonized. Sexuality in general stirs such gutteral reactions within people that anything that seems outside the “norm” is demonized and weaponized. People keep closing the doors to important and educational conversations we will remain ignorant. Just because something seems strange or odd or even wrong doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t have open dialog about it.
I do agree that discussions on how to deal with inappropriate attractions to minors belong in a therapeutic space, not a public forum. The public debate on labels is meaningless because it is such a caustic topic with little hope of creating positive change regarding this issue.
Those with inappropriate attractions to minors need safe spaces to talk and open up so that underlying issues can be addressed. Public debates may likely just drive these people deeper into the shadows.
While it’s in the public’s interest to encourage people to get help before a child is harmed, most don’t possess the emotional maturity to see it from that perspective.
Agree with Jacob on this: using the term “minor attracted persons” turns off the audience immediately. This is the worst approach because it appears to promote abuse of children.
STOP trying to educate ppl on the diff between abuser and pedophile. Stop it. THIS is what happens.
Say you have 30 seconds to interest someone in the notion that sex offender registries don’t work, don’t protect the public, don’t prevent sex offending. Are you really going to distract them with, “you’re not using the term ‘pedophile’ correctly”?
The fact is that the public has a different definition of ‘pedophile’ than do psychiatric researchers. We need to understand and appreciate what most people mean when they use the term, if we are going to begin engaging and educating them on registries. And as we see here, devising euphemisms such as Minor Attracted Persons only pushes them further away.
Also, if you seek to influence a mass audience, one that already suspects trans and non-binary persons of ‘grooming’ children for something, is it wise to introduce yourself with your pronouns?
Valid point. If others feel the same we will remove the post. Please chime in.