We need to organize and we need to do it now. Twitter has changed their policy around minor attraction and what can be said. It is now against their policy to be “promoting or normalizing sexual attraction to minors as a form of identity or sexual orientation.”

This is supposed to protect children – but only the children Twitter deems important:

That’s right. Most minor attracted people discover their attraction at age 14, before they have even finished high school or reached the age of majority.

Twitter’s old policy was this:

Yet instead of supporting the numerous scientific sources that assert minor attraction is a sexual orientation, and the daily reality that minor attracted people cannot change this orientation, Twitter has supported the denial of science. Why does this matter? It matters a lot. Here are just a few professional organizations off the top of my head that reach out to us minor attracted people to get our views and ensure we have the support we need.

  • Stop It Now!
  • Stop It Now! UK & Ireland (even if many of us disagree with how they do it in the UK).
  • Prevention Project Dunkelfeld
  • Don’t Offend India
  • The Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse
  • Prostasia Foundation
  • Stop SO UK
  • Safer Living
  • NAPN (National Adolescent Perpetration Network)
  • ATSA (Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers)
  • NSVRC (National Sexual Violence Resource Center)
  • Global Prevention Project
  • Priotab
  • Help Wanted Project

As you can see, that offhand list is already large and has many major players in the war against child sexual abuse and exploitation.

So, if you care about supporting minor attracted people, if you care about preventing sexual abuse, if you care whatsoever about science ruling how we talk about controversial issues, now is the time to organize and speak up. Now is not the time to pretend that Twitter gets to make a rule like this and not see any protest against them. If they want to suspend research, then post the research.

But for any action to work, we need to organize and we need to be able to communicate. That’s where MAP Support Club, a support chat, comes in. If you are a non-map ally, send us an email at msc (at) gmx.us so we can connect and talk. This science denial and the denial of our identities affects us the most, even it affects your work as an expert, researcher, or just as a concerned person who cares about facts.

If you are a MAP, come and join us so we can coordinate and organize. We have a channel specifically for doing just that with the capability of creating more of those spaces. The best chance we have of fighting this denial of our identities is organizing. We cannot choose our attractions and they cannot be changed with currently available science. That makes them a part of our identity, whether we like it or not. We deserve just as much support as anyone else.

We need people capable of talking to lawmakers. We need people capable of compiling resource lists. We need people who are capable of supporting minor attracted people. We need people who can simply empathize with us. We need people who can tell their story here on Pedophiles About Pedophilia. We need people who can edit/proofread those stories. We need people who can work with existing organizations and form network connections. We need researchers who can work with our communities to be sensitive and ethical in how they conduct their research.

In other words, if you care at all about preventing sexual abuse, and you care at all about minor attracted people having support, we need you to stop merely reading our takes and start getting involved.

Don’t throw up your hands and say there’s nothing you can do. There’s plenty you can do. Come talk with us and let’s make a plan.