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A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity

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Challenging widespread assumptions that persons who are preferentially attracted to minors—often referred to as "pedophiles"—are necessarily also predators and sex offenders, this book takes readers into the lives of non-offending minor-attracted persons (MAPs). There is little research into non-offending MAPs, a group whose experiences offer valuable insights into the prevention of child abuse. Navigating guilt, shame, and fear, this universally maligned group demonstrates remarkable resilience and commitment to living without offending and to supporting and educating others. Using data from interview-based research, A Long, Dark Shadow offers a crucial account of the lived experiences of this hidden population. 

319 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 22, 2021

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Allyn Walker

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
Profile Image for Cinny.
50 reviews5 followers
April 23, 2022
I don’t think I’ve ever read something more disturbing or disgusting. Perhaps it’s a sign of the times, but I truly believe this goes far deeper than anyone can even imagine. The author, Allyn Walker, attempts to make a compelling case against the “stigmatization” of pedophiles, yet at the same time offers an awfully naive and extremely dangerous premise as to WHY. Why is this necessary? Why is this good? Why must society destigmatize a group of people who sexualize children, whether or not they choose to? Why must parents, siblings, friends accept pedophilia as nothing more than a sexuality? The explanation this WACKJOB gives can briefly be summarized as: "pedophiles' feelings are hurt, and they actually want to help children, so we should really just refer to them as MAPs instead :(".

My response, as I'm sure is the same for normal human beings in our society, is the following: I don't give a flying F*CK if pedophilia is or isn't a choice - I will NOT destigmatize pedophilia or pedophiles, and I will ALWAYS fight against any sexualization of children and minors.

Walker claims she is not facilitating the sexualization of children - in fact, she is finding ways of keeping children safe by going right to the source. This would only be true if she did not want to destigmatize pedophilia. Whether she admits it or not, whether she is aware or not, what she is doing is creating a path for pedophiles to be accepted in society, which will lead to an increase in child abuse. Criticize the slippery slope fallacy all you want - if you can't see what's been happening in the past 10-20 years and how it led to academics publishing literature like this, you are in denial.

My issue with academics like Walker is their attitude toward the general public. That is to say, people like Walker think that we are just so much dumber than her useless cesspool of sociology/gender studies/ABCD humanities colleagues. This goes for all of the professors at ODU who defended this as "academic freedom". You know who else used "academic freedom" as a way to justify defending pedophilia? John Money. John Money was a pedophile who encourage a young man's parents to raise their son as a girl due to a botched circumcision. He had this young man and his brother perform sexual acts in front of him as children. Both boys committed suicide before the age of 40. This young man and his brother were called David and Brian Reimer.

What I find so alarming are the parallels between John Money and Allyn Walker's premise. John Money argued there are different "types" of pedophilia: the first is "love"-based attraction to children and the second is "sadistic" pedophilia. Do you see how sneaky this is? Money was essentially trying to humanize pedophiles who just simply love children; these pedophiles aren't sadistic like the others. Allyn Walker attempts a similar tactic: the pedophiles in this book claim they just want to help authorities catch offending pedophiles. They care about children. That's why they, and Walker, want to destigmatize pedophilia, convince the public that it is nothing more than a sexuality, and change the identifying phrase to Minor Attracted Person. That makes sense, right?

So, if we just come back to reality for a second, I just want to clarify that the general public is not stupid the way Walker and her colleagues think that we are. We know that the state of being a pedophile doesn't mean they've abused a child or accessed/consumed child pornography. We know that pedophiles are not legally considered sexual predators until they are convicted. Not every pedophile may hurt a child in their lifetime. At the same time, most of the people who are convicted of committing these crimes are usually pedophiles, or at the very least, extremely mentally ill.

Creeps like Walker are the reason why certain academic fields are poisoned. History repeats itself. We've come full circle, haven't we? This stretches long before John Money, but if we use him as an example, there is an obvious bread trail leading to people like Walker, who think they are doing something monumental, going against the grain, by trying to "unpack" pedophilia into being nothing but a sexuality. How fucking stunning and brave of this absolute hack.

The “dismantling” of the “stigma” of pedophilia ONLY helps pedophiles, who would probably hurt children if there weren’t laws in place against it. It does not help any other community, including the LGBT community, nor does it help the one group of people most vulnerable and important to the discussion — children. And as a side note, I hope Walker NEVER has any access to children. She is absolutely a danger to them.

*edited lol*
1 review
November 25, 2021
As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse the fact that this book was even allowed to be published is like a punch in the guts. Be in no doubt - this is part of an ongoing agenda to normalise paedophilia. Look back to PIE in the UK and NAMBLA in the US, recent TED talks on why we should support paedophiles and have sympathy for them, and recent hate crime legislation that criminalises saying something that might hurt someone's feelings. The author made a video specifically saying that he thinks we shouldn't hurt the feelings of paedophiles, so how long is it before they and their crimes are placed under the protection of the law? Did you know that in Scotland paedophiles were one of the groups suggested for inclusion under the recent hate crime act? Look back to their consultation paper, from 2018. What about the feelings of the children they abuse? I cannot believe I am living in a world where this book is actually garnering praise.

There is no place in society for this. Monsters like this took my childhood and led to an adulthood wracked with depression, and god knows how many lost years due to the mental health impact of being raped by adults before I had any understanding of what sex was. It will never be acceptable, and it will never be tagged on to the LGBTQ line as a sexual 'preference'. It is an abomination, and I will fight this until my last breath.
1 review
November 13, 2021
This is a book adamantly trying to normalise pedophilia, it’s trying to humanise and distinguish that there’s a difference between a map and a pedophile, trying to insinuate its a sexual attraction instead of a severe mental illness. I would not recommend it’s garbage
1 review
November 16, 2021
A good book with a solid focus on the human experience of people living with a terrible condition, without laboring the point of condemning them or indulging in moralistic grandstanding by the author. I work in the mental health space, and feel I now have a solid understanding of the challenges a potential client may face, which can inform treatment. This is helped tremendously by the writers continued returns to relating the experience of their subjects with their own experience as an LGBT person, making an otherwise alien concept more accessible to the average reader by framing it in a more socially accessible context.

Moreover, I write my own review for the first time as the reviews here (which I expect where written by people who have never read more than the available sample at best) highlight the need for more discourse on this matter and the general ignorance toward this condition in society at large which, I would argue, places both children and innocent adults at great risk of harm as public hatred and vitriol drives the vulnerable into the shadows where help cannot reach them

I feel like there are a lot of MAP's who will likely be seeking out books like these, to learn about themselves as much as others seek to learn about them. If you are one of those people, this message is for you;

You are valued and you are loved.
You can find help, and you can find peace.
Even if it doesn't seem like it right now, reach out.
Someone will take you hand.
Have faith.

1 review
November 14, 2021
Save our children from Allyn Walker
This book is WRONG on every level.
4 reviews
November 14, 2021
This author should be in prison should even suggesting to normalise pedophilia. Pedophilia is wrong and is a crime against the most innocent. This book is horrible, nasty, gross, disturbing and criminal in itself for its existence.
1 review
January 23, 2022
This book takes a rational, evidence-based review of an emotive subject. It is well researched and written.

99% of those who are leaving negative reviews have never read the book, this is blatantly clear from the negative reviews themselves which show a gross misunderstanding of the basic points that the author addresses in their work.

The author's research and publication is a tremendous effort towards reducing the cases of child sexual abuse, something that the author is vehemently opposed to.

The unfortunate thing is that the senseless, emotive and ignorant comments left in the negative reviews highlight a common narrative that is not conducive to reducing the rates of child sexual abuse, and unfortunately promotes stigma, shame and secrecy, all of which contribute to creating an environment where abuse occurs.
2 reviews
November 14, 2021
Grotesque. This book is a crime in itself. Child abuse is wrong. Allyn Walker is a pedophile/pedophile supporter and teaches st a university. Needs to be fired and kept away from children.
1 review
June 20, 2021
As a Jewish reader, I found this book most intriguing. For centuries our idea of pedophiles has been skewed by the horrible atrocities they have committed, and permanent long term damage it has done of millions of children world wide. Fortunately now we have new and modern perspectives, straight from the smartest minds in California. At last, the Monsters can come out of the closet.
Definitely a must read along with classics such as, “ Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis.”.
9 reviews
November 14, 2021
Disgusting book. Written by a disgusting person who supports pedophiles and is trying to normalise is so it becomes legal for these sick psychos to hurt children. This book should be illegal!.
2 reviews
November 16, 2021
Worst book ever. The author should be in prison for writing such a grotesque book. Allyn Walkers next book will likely be normalising the murder of children.
Child abuse is criminal.
Profile Image for The Headless Horror.
358 reviews30 followers
May 16, 2022
Very disturbing yet interesting research here. Something I think most people with an academic psychology background would be curious about. There’s just always going to be a huge stigma around this subject, but I appreciated the author’s candor and admittance of various pitfalls and obstacles to even writing about something like this.
1 review
November 14, 2021
One of the worst books ever written. Save our children from monsters like Allyn Walker and the rest of the pedophiles roaming around.
Profile Image for Alita Schratwieser.
7 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2022
A really good and well conducted study.

The author is truly doing this because they want to find a real way for less children to be harmed.

It's a shame so many are unwilling to face the uncomfortable reality that sometimes things exist that aren't good but that can be prevented from turning truly horrible.

A bit too medical journal at times but that's to be expected in this type of dissertation.
Profile Image for Kazuzu.
13 reviews
November 20, 2021
Stop trying to legalize raping CHILDREN!!! You dumb broad
2 reviews1 follower
March 1, 2023
Walker is a bit before her time. There's a great deal of people screaming in the reviews about normalizing pedophilia. That's a bit funny to me, since for most of human history, pedophilia has been normal. We fought long and hard for eighteen to be our age of consent; and in fact, it's still sixteen in more than half of the states, and younger, if the girl is getting married with parental consent. No one can convince me that pedophilia was less common than it is now in earlier ages, such as 1800s France, when the age of consent was twelve, and Degas spent his time painting the ballet, also known as a child brothel for rich patrons. The entire concept of childhood as an ideal age of innocence, instead of children being miniature adults, only got invented in the nineteenth century. If anything, the problem of child sexual abuse is most visible at our current time in human history. The first big CSA scandals appeared in American news only around the nineties; CSA as a front for activism emerged after feminism. This is the information age, and everyone has access to information about pedophilia. That doesn't mean we like to talk about it. So kudos to Walker for taking on a brave topic.

Being young, I grew up in this digital age. I know just how widespread pedophilia is in our culture. Everyone wants to be young, and everyone wants young girls. It's important to address this problem in our society, and in order to do so, of course we have to look at the psychology of the offenders. Of course we have to realize that they are human beings; child molesters are human, as are rapists and murderers and everyone else we dehumanize, and of course the pedophiles Walker talks about are human. I always thought it was a noble struggle they carried on, in fact—holding back their desires.

I don't think the offended folks actually want to work towards a better society. They seem to want to stick to the status quo. Or rather, they want to stick pedophiles into a nice black area in the heart of evil, where they're well cut-off from the rest of society, and no one has to think much about them, much less empathize with them.

All in all, the book didn't contain too much information I didn't already know, though there was some interesting rationale behind viewing child pornography. You really see how the mind twists itself around. But it's a good foray into one of the new frontiers we must tackle as a society.
39 reviews8 followers
June 24, 2023
Contrary to what many other reviews here are saying, this book does not promote sexual abuse of children. It actually does the opposite: it takes a critical look at how our society treats pedophiles (and in particular non-offending pedophiles, i.e. people with an attraction to minors who do not act on these attractions) and asks the question whether it achieves its intended goals. It does so through interviews with minor-attracted people, investigating what they struggle with and how they manage to avoid acting on their feelings. I found the book gives a surprisingly level-headed view on a very touchy topic and manages to show empathy for a much maligned group of people without attempting to justify actual abuse. If you can put aside your prejudices, this book is very much worth reading in full.
2 reviews
November 16, 2021
Pedophile author trying to get everyone to believe that being a child abuser is okay.. it is not and should be in prison for writing such a thing. Pedophilia is not okay Allyn Walker. Leave the children alone.
2 reviews
November 16, 2021
Only people who would like this book or rate it higher than 1star are pedophiles. Good way for everyone know that you sexually abuse children.
2 reviews
November 16, 2021
Only people who would like this book or rate it higher than 1 star are pedophiles. Good way to let everyone know you sexually abuse children!. This book is the worst thing I have ever seen. Period.
Profile Image for Lily_Gl.
8 reviews1 follower
August 20, 2022
I don't think many of these people reviewing actually read the book; guess I won't either. 5 stars :)
1 review
November 29, 2021
DESTIGMATIZATION LEADS TO NORMALIZATION. This is something that has happened time and time again - removing stigma from something will inevitably lead to it becoming normalized. That’s how humans are, how humans will always be, and there are many humans who love taking advantage of that fact.

Walker naively believes that removing stigma from pedophiles will result in pedophiles seeking help more often, but that is NOT what will happen. We all know this. That’s why so many of us are speaking out against it. There are times when some things are better left untouched and stigma is necessary and good, and this is one of them. This has nothing to do with the author’s claims of research - it has to do, for example, with her/him/whatever calling pedophiles MAPs, or Minor Attracted Person. Because feelings, right? It has to do with her wanting to rewrite the way society views these people, as people who don’t “choose” to be attracted to children. And yknow what we, as a society, need to say? WHO. CARES. No one CARES about people who sexualize children, and our priority should be to continue stigmatizing pedophilia to the Nth degree.

If laws were not in place to protect children from pedophiles, they would be at risk for being sexually abused EVERY DAY. None of the pedophiles in this research would even consider giving advice on how to “protect” kids because they would be able to do what they want without any repercussions. If they want to get help, they can, but that does NOT mean society needs to accept them or coddle their perversion.

We’ve seen little kids and teenagers be sexualized progressively over the past few decades. Teen stars in music groups and children’s TV channels have been sexually abused for years, we have insanely powerful people like Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sexually traffic underage girls to high profile celebrities and politicians and even royalty, and even Netflix has allowed little girls to be sexualized in disgusting documentaries like the program Cuties.

THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. ITS NOT AN ACCIDENT. It is happening for a reason. Academics such as Walker are only adding fuel to the fire. There are MANY institutions that have been pushing for normalization of pedophilia and adults sexually abusing teenagers for YEARS. We cannot like academia take shelter under the guise of “research”. They know it as much as we do - destigmatizing pedophiles and pedophilia will lead to the normalization of pedophilia which will lead to more children being abused and in this process, laws will most likely be put in place to lower the age of consent and society as a whole may start to adopt a supportive attitude toward this. We need to spread the word that people like Walker, as well as different institutions, are a danger to children that will not be met without a fight.
7 reviews1 follower
September 10, 2023
The subject matter is extremely uncomfortable. But Walker's treatment is respectful and maintains the dignity of those who are definitely the most hated demographic in history. Christians, you would call them "the least of these." Seeking to understand minor-attracted people in no way undermines those who suffer abuse as children. Brave book on a critically needed topic.
Profile Image for Amira.
227 reviews
March 5, 2023
A very thorough, compassionate book about non-offending minor attracted people from the perspective of a professional researcher and human being trying to give dignity to an underrepresented population of other human beings. It is very well written, researched, and carefully considered.
2 reviews
November 16, 2021
A pedophile trying to make everyone think it's okay to abuse children. Pathetic and sick. Should be in prison for writing this.
Profile Image for Ewa.
336 reviews13 followers
June 17, 2023
Chciałam przeczytać tę książkę żeby zobaczyć czy na serio jest tak źle jak tiktok mi powiedział i tak, jest tak źle.

TW: PEDOFILIA

Autor próbuje znormalizować pedofilię i nazywa ich tutaj MAPS - osoby, którym podobają się dzieci (na prośbę pedofilów) i jeszcze ma czelność uważać, że to źle, że pedofile są najbardziej stygmatyzowaną grupą w społeczeństwie.

Jestem w stanie zgodzić się z tym, że pedofilom trzeba pomagać i zachęcać ich stale do terapii (oglądałam kiedyś dokument, który pokazał historię takiego pedofila, który stale ze sobą walczył i nie uległ pokusie), ale zaakceptowanie w rangi LGBT+ pedofilii i próby zmniejszenia stygmatyzacji to nie jest dobry sposób na załatwienie tego problemu.

Rozpoczynając od najważniejszego problemu - dzieci nie mogą dać consentu (a ja kłóciłabym się nawet, że 16 lat to dalej nie jest odpowiedni wiek na kontakty seksualne, a co dopiero jeszcze niżej).

Jestem absolutnie zdegustowana, że coś takiego w ogóle powstało i, że autor oraz jego koledzy po fachu bronili ich i krzyczeli o AKADEMICKIEJ WOLNOŚCI (autor ma doktorat)
Profile Image for anna renee.
94 reviews2 followers
March 11, 2025
Scared to write this & I think that’s important to say. A bit ago, I would’ve been one of the reviewers saying that this excused pedophilic sexual assault. But that’s not what’s happening here to a verbally-said degree? Walker’s questioning a distinction between people that are pedophiles & people who move forward in ACTING on pedophilic attraction, which is an important investigation to preventative action &, as Walker prioritizes, no more offenses. Haven’t you ever wanted to know what pedophiles think about themselves, even if it grosses you out? Especially if it could keep children safe?

I think sometimes research will make you deeply uncomfortable & yet that is how we learn things. That being said, there are many things here I want to contest, like use of “Minor-Attracted Persons,” use of “stigmatization” when talking about pedophiles, & so on. Glad I read it, even when it made me uncomfortable or I disagreed.
1 review
March 25, 2022
This is not about rape or force. In the comments you make are redundant redone done and most of you look at children as your property as your slaves built around this capitalist Fascism


What we do is secret

Hail to TEENBOY LOVE

As ever, Master magus head of


ORDER OV THEE MASTER YOUTH
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36 reviews7 followers
April 27, 2023
this book is interesting but not like a thorough contemplation of the dynamics of All Of This Shit so i originally wasn't going to buy it but the reviews here made go snag a copy so i can scare hoes that are looking at my shelf

worth noting that the tone of this book is written as if the author is in the fetal position, effectively pleading with the reader to not conclude that he is in favor of what all of the other reviews assert he is in favor of. food for thought!! if you're gonna wade into this topic just go full tony duvert with it, ppl are always-already mad at you for thinking about it at all. compare what this says + how morally outraged these reviewers are vs, like, "good sex illustrated" or "when jonathan died"

ive also come to the conclusion that if/when free speech finally shatters its gonna be this that goes first because people flip out about this way more than nazis or murderers or anything, so get a second copy for the safety deposit box!! thats your nest egg now babey
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