cw: hot take, pedo/zoo

I'm just gonna go ahead and say what I've been wanting to say.

Attacking, threatening, and stigmatizing a group with a mental illness until they feel they can't even get help for their mental illness is counter productive, and honestly disgraceful. (1)

Yes, this is about MAPs, zoophiles, people with other dangerous paraphilias, etc. I have been where a lot of the ppl who are adamant on running these harrassment campaigns are. To a degree, I understand the anger and hate, and I agree it's justified. (2)

However, I also believe in the importance of reason and doing research. Research has shown that not all people with dangerous paraphilias are "doomed to offend". Many of them have literally no desire to act on them, while others do. (3)

I see people here using the word "sick" and "mentally ill" over and over, but do you really believe it's a mental illness? would you treat any other mental illness this way? as a conscious choice people should be murdered for? (4)

do you really want people to "get help"? because a large part of therapy and treatment for dangerous paraphilias, such as pedophilia, is self acceptance, and often seeking community for support. (5)

should child rape be "okay" and "normalized"? very obviously not. but will it be? how can it be? the number of child-attracted people is not as big as I feel some people here think it is. (6)

Obviously, dangerous people should be kept away from children/animals/etc. Obviously, pedophilia and other dangerous paraphilias are not "okay" or "healthy". But people do not choose them. They are mental illnesses. And harrassing and attacking people does not heal them. (7)

I'm not going to be arguing with people on this post. If you choose to cherrypick what I wrote and turn it into something it's not, I can't stop you. I do not believe that presenting facts is "apologism" or "advocating for child rape", as I've been told it is in past. Sorry. (8)

as an addendum, some further info and sources. I am not a MAP, and it isn't my place to speak for people on their experiences.

These are the sources of some of the info. I did not write them.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/pedophilia

https://thriveboston.com/counseling/overcoming-pedophilia-facts-research-and-counseling-treatment-strategies/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/what-can-be-done-about-pedophilia/279024/