Laurel Duggan
- Activists are promoting the idea that pedophilia is a sexual identity that should be destigmatized, not an activity.
- Media outlets are amplifying activists’ efforts to redefine and destigmatize pedophilia.
- Some commentators see a relationship between this effort and the push to indoctrinate children about LGBTQ issues.
Media outlets have provided a microphone to activists who want to destigmatize pedophilia and redefine it as a sexual identity separate from any criminal activity.
At the same time that activists push for a respectable place in society for pedophiles — who are called minor attracted people — some conservative commentators and concerned parents are voicing fears about the sexualization of children and their exposure to sexual materials, often in relation to gender and sexual identity programs targeting young people.
The media has played an important role in both mainstreaming the sexualization of children and in promoting the idea that pedophilia is a sexual orientation, not a behavior.
USA Today came under fire for citing “experts” who called pedophilia a “misunderstood” condition and argued that not all pedophiles harm children in a Jan. 10 article and since-deleted Twitter thread.
The article said scientists have found that sexual attraction to prepubescent children is likely biologically determined in the womb and that stigma against pedophiles prevents them from seeking therapy.
“The USA TODAY story published addresses pedophilia research by medical professionals and in no way suggests we condone this disorder,” a USA Today spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Vice ran articles titled “A Pedophile Opens Up About Being Targeted by Vigilantes,” “A Child Rape Victim On Why Society Should Be More Empathetic To Pedophiles,” “I Spent a Year Living with ‘Non-Offending’ Pedophiles” “Meet The Child Stars Of The Controversial New Wave Of Drag,” and “[three fire emojis] Photos Of The Fabulous Kids Of RuPaul’s Drag Convention,” all in the years 2017 and 2018, as initially reported by the Federalist. The outlet also made a video called “This 8-Year-Old Drag Queen Doesn’t Care What The Haters Say.” Vice did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
The Washington Post published an opinion piece June 29 titled “Yes, kink belongs at Pride. And I want my kids to see it.” The Post told the DCNF that the author did not view kink displays at parades as “sexualized,” and sent a quote from the article which read, “Kinksters at Pride are not engaged in sex acts — and we cannot confuse their self-expression with obscenity.”
The spokesperson said the decision to publish the piece was rooted in PostEverything’s aim “to inform readers and provide wide-ranging perspectives on some of the biggest questions and topics people are discussing every day around the world.”
The New York Times described a homeless 13-year-old who resorted to prostitution for survival as “trading sex” and referred to a group of older transgender women who groomed her into selling sex with adults as her “mentors” in a July 24 article laying out the argument for decriminalizing prostitution. The NYT did not respond to DCNF’s requests for comment.
Journalist Flora Gill said someone needed to create “porn for children” where “no one gets choked” in a since-deleted July 29 tweet.
https://twitter.com/VICE/status/996918295105241090
Old Dominion professor Allyn Walker sparked a firestorm in November after advocating for the destigmatization of pedophilia and supporting the use of the euphemism “minor-attracted persons.”
Walker made many of the same arguments referenced in the USA Today piece: that pedophilia is comparable to a sexual orientation, that not all pedophiles abuse children and not all who sexually abuse children have a sexual preference for them.
Walker’s book, “A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity,” attempted to define pedophilia as a sexual identity rather than an activity.
He promoted his book in an interview with Prostasia, a small nonprofit that hosts a support club for “minor-attracted persons” as part of its mission to prevent child sex abuse by counseling pedophiles.
Commentator Ian Oxnevad noted the Left’s “long history of redefining words to shatter traditional beliefs,” in the New York Post and argued that destigmatizing pedophilia and tying it to a group identity would lead to acceptance of pedophilic activities.
I stand strong on the low but solid ground of liberal modernity. Yes the low is very low — newspapers are defending pedophilia, 9 of 10 teenage girls think they’re boys, men dominate women’s sports — but the ground is SOLID.
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) January 12, 2022
Efforts to destigmatize pedophilia draw public outcry particularly in light of concern for a generation of children growing up in a sex-saturated society. The majority of children are exposed to pornography by age 13, and some children are exposed at as young as seven, according to a 2020 study.
Pornhub, the world’s largest pornography site, took down more than 13 million videos in December 2020 after a NYT investigation reported the company was allegedly profiting off videos of child rape and numerous other forms of child sexual exploitation.
In addition to widespread availability of child pornography and easy access to graphic porn for young children, young people are exposed to sexual content through initiatives aimed at changing public opinion on gender and sexuality issues.
At least three drag queen story hour programs — in which men dress in hypersexual drag costumes and read stories to children at schools and libraries — have allegedly been caught hiring convicted sexual criminals to entertain children, the Federalist reported.
The Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) organization says the events exist to give kids “queer role models” and to defy “rigid gender restrictions.” DQSH events are targeted towards children ages three to eight. The organization has 39 chapters in the U.S.
One London library hosted a performer by the name of Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey, whose costume included a visible fake penis, to entertain children. The event was not affiliated with the DQSH group.
The fight is also being played out in public school systems across the country, as school boards including Fairfax County in the Washington, D.C., suburbs choose to keep sexually explicit content in school libraries, such as the book “Gender Queer,” which features graphic illustrations of masturbation and oral sex, and “Lawn Boy,” which describes a sexual encounter between fourth graders.
Numerous school boards have an official policy of keeping students’ gender identity a secret from their parents, habituating children to having secrets of a private and sexual nature with adults besides their parents.
“You are all child abusers. You prey upon impressionable children and indoctrinate them into your insane ideological cult,” commentator Matt Walsh told the Loudoun County school board after it implemented the same policy in its schools. “You deprive these kids of safety … you are predators,” he added.
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