An outraged university professor claimed that adults can be sexually attracted by children, and said that pedophiles should not be considered’minor-attracted persons’.
Allyn Walk, an Old Dominion University professor in Virginia criminal justice and sociology, wrote controversially titled A Long Dark Shadow, Minor-Attracted Persons and Their Pursuit Of Dignity.
A petition online calling for Walker’s firing has attracted almost 3,000 signatures. Current students at the college label their comments ‘gross and weird’.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz also waded into the debate, saying: ‘Holy c***. ODU: What is the problem?
But Old Dominion has so far rejected the clamor to remove the professor, only distancing itself from the comments and saying it ‘does not endorse or promote crimes against children’.
Walker is transgender. Walker said that he uses the pronouns “they/them” in an online interview.
It leads to misconceptions concerning minor attraction.
Allyn Walker has sparked outrage after claiming it is not immoral for adults to be sexually attracted to children (pictured during an interview with the Prostasia Foundation, a child protection organization)
Texas Senator Ted Cruz waded into the debate, saying: ‘Holy c***. ODU is what’s the matter?
“From my point of view, attraction is not moral or immoral. No one can stop someone from being attracted.”
“In other terms, it’s not what we’re attracted that is OK or unacceptable. Or, it’s how we respond to this attraction.
Walker said that while child sex abuse was ‘never ever okay’, but that sexual urges to minors is not always immoral so long as they’re not ignored.
Walker wrote A Long Dark Shadow, Minor Attracted People and their Pursuit of Dignity, a book that aims to stigmatize pedophilia
The term “minor attracted persons” or MAPs was suggested by the researchers to help de-stigmatize those who don’t act on their impulses.
Then they continued, “We have a tendency want to classify people with such attractions as morally corrupt or evil.”
“But when we are talking about non-offending MAPs. These people have an attraction that they didn’t ask for.
Their actions are considered moral. However, they still have to be subjected the idea of being bad people. They’ve also often internalized this belief for themselves.
Walker’s remarks were met with huge backlash when they were shared via social media.
In an attempt to clear up the controversy, the professor and the Old Dominion University issued a joint statement on Saturday.
Walker said, “I want to make it clear that child sexual abuse of children is an inexcusable offense.”
“As an assistant professor, I am responsible for sociology as well as criminal justice research. My goal is to reduce crime.
“I set out to understand a population that had not previously been investigated in an effort to discover ways to help children.
Walker said that while child sex is not ‘ever, ever OK’ for children to abuse but added that minors’ sexual impulses do not have to be considered immoral.
Since then, the college has distanced itself form these comments and stated that it “doesn’t endorse or encourage crimes against children.”
Professor said that they have counseled victims of sexual abuse, which helped to form their opinions.
However, college officials disassociated themselves from these comments.
According to them, “Following recent social-media activity and direct outreach towards the institution, we are reminded that Old Dominion as a caring community does not encourage or support crimes against children or other criminal activity.”
Walker has been teaching at the college from 2019 onwards, and many students found the comments disturbing.
Jaelan Jackson told WTKR: ‘Honestly it just sounds gross. Just because you’re not acting on it, to acknowledge it is weird and not okay at all. It feels uncomfortable to know that someone’s like that on campus.’
Jonathan Mukmuye added: ‘I don’t think that it reflects poorly on the school, but I do think it’s weird that we have a professor that would think that.’