A Virginia university is taking heat after one of their professors said it isn’t immoral for adults to be sexually attracted to children — prompting college officials to put out a statement "clarifying" the claim.
Allyn Walker, who teaches sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University, made the comments while discussing “minor-attracted persons” and pedophiles during a Nov. 8 interview with the Prostasia Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization.
Walker was discussing their book, “
A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity,” when he insisted it’s important to use that terminology instead of “pedophile” because "it’s less stigmatizing".
“A lot of people, when they hear the term ‘pedophile,’ they automatically assume that it means a sex offender, and that isn’t true,” Walker said during the 28-minute interview. “And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions towards minors.”
Walker's preferred term “minor-attracted persons” — or MAPs — suggests that it’s OK to be attracted to children, but he said labeling anyone wholly by their sexual desires "doesn’t indicate anything about their morality".
“From my perspective, there is no morality or immorality attached to attraction to anyone because no one can control who they’re attracted to at all,” Walker said. “In other words, it’s not who we’re attracted to that’s either OK or not OK. "
Walker said that having sexual urges toward children isn’t necessarily wrong.
But ODU officials distanced themselves from Walker.
“Following recent social media activity and direct outreach to the institution, it is important to share that Old Dominion, as a caring and inclusive community, does not endorse or promote crimes against children or any form of criminal activity,” ODU’s statement read.
Some students at the public university in Norfolk, meanwhile, said they were disturbed by Walker’s comments.
“Honestly, it just sounds gross,” student Jaelan Jackson told WTKR. “It feels uncomfortable to know that someone’s like that on campus.”
https://nypost.com/2021/11/15/allyn-walker-says-attraction-to-children-isnt-immoral/