TRANSCRIPT:
WALKER: “Thanks so much for that question. I used the term minor-attracted person or MAP in the title and throughout the book for multiple reasons. First of all, because I think it’s important to use terminology for groups that members of that group want others to use for them. And MAP advocacy groups like Before You Act have advocated for use of the term MAP. They’ve advocated for it primarily because it’s less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile. A lot of people, when they hear the term ‘pedophile,’ they automatically assume that it means a sex offender, and that isn’t true and it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors. I’ve definitely heard the idea that you brought up, though, that the use of the term ‘minor-attracted person’ suggests that it’s okay to be attracted to children, but using a term that communicates who someone is attracted to doesn’t indicate anything about the morality of that attraction.”