Is Vic University trying to destigmatise paedophilia

"The compulsion to abuse children is not a morally neutral one, and it should be stigmatised"

We were alerted to the poster (below) that has appeared around Victoria University Wellington - seeking people to enroll in a study to "𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒎𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏".

This is called 𝐩𝐚𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚, by the way.

[There is an effort to normalise sexual attraction to children. As you can imagine, this is a recipe for disaster. The movement is even going so far as to claim that pedophilia should be understood as a sexual orientation. Their goal is to remove the stigma from “non-offending” pedophiles.

One of the leaders of this movement is an organisation called Prostasia Foundation that advocates for replacing the word “pedophile” with “minor attracted person,” or “MAP.” Prostasia - based in San Francisco – no surprises there - who label themselves as “a new kind of child protection organisation,” state that they aim to reduce child sexual abuse by taking away the shame of being attracted to a minor, thereby reducing the likelihood of someone acting out on their desires.

But this organisation’s true colors are revealed by what they actually support: the use and sale of sex dolls that look like children, porn that simulates sex with a minor, and funding research into “fantasy sexual outlets” for pedophiles. The argument that normalising it reduces the crime – just doesn’t quite ring true does it.]

We wanted to check more behind the motives of this Vic University 'study'.

This is what we found....

The cover page says -

"𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧."

More disturbingly, the overall description of the study says this:

"𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. 𝐸𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑠 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 "𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞" 𝐢𝐭 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬. 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠' 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 (𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 1) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 (𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 2) 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 )aka (indoctrination") 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎 10-𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑...

𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐚 (𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ, 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝-𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 (𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑒𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝-𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔)."

They also include the following modules:

𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒 3 - 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑚𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 (ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑚𝑎 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚);

𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒 4 - 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑜 𝑊𝑒 𝐺𝑜 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒? (ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑡, 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑜𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑠).

Read more: https://osf.io/qpa2d

Still want your children anywhere near Victoria University?

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

Exodus Cry – an organisation that opposes sex trafficking and sexual exploitation sums it up well -

"While we absolutely believe that there should be appropriate and improved avenues for pedophiles to seek help and therapy, the approach of normalising and destigmatising sexual attraction to children is severely misguided. In what world does normalising the idea of a criminal act prevent that act from happening?”

Associate Professor of Criminology at the UNSW, Michael Salter, recently took to Twitter to address the issue, tweeting,

“Sometimes stigma is good. Some things should be stigmatised.” He followed up by saying, “…𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 – 𝒊.𝒆. 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒍.”

Exactly.

Don’t allow the culture to play linguistic gymnastics with the term “pedophile”. The stigma is there for a good reason. It’s a very healthy stigma which hopefully redirects the offender.

But more importantly, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞.