“But what if your positivity will validate an offender?” This question has a simple answer, yet it's a long answer, and it's worth breaking into parts and spelling out. Our positivity is clearly and unambiguously aimed at maps who want to maintain non-offending life. The neverending theme of it is celebration of a human being as someone who is in charge of their life, isn't defined by birth circumstances, and isn't destined to be a bad person. The most common phrases you can see on positivity blogs are “You don't have to offend”, “Thoughts aren't actions”, “You are not your abuser”.
But even if someone offends and later on decides to blame their actions on map positivity bloggers, I don't think this is a valid reason to get rid of map positivity. It fulfills an important task of lessening stigma of minor attraction, and that stigma has proven risks for CSA prevention (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311545002_Reducing_Stigma_and_Punitive_Attitudes_Toward_Pedophiles_Through_Narrative_Humanization). When it, as I hope, will become mainstream enough, there will be countless people who were pushed away from offending and shown a better example, and this count matters and won't be tainted by slander. An abuser looking for excuses can point towards anything, from “Lolita” to short shorts, and I don't think there is any reason to subject map positivity to more criticism than other things.
There is also another dimension to the idea of validating an offender. What if map positivity will validate an offender to come forward and try to be a better person? Don't tell me it won't happen, because I know it did, I saw it with my own eyes. Map positivity validates map feelings, not actions. It shows the alternative existence, as a beautiful and important human being, not as a nightmare waiting to happen. It is a very important message, and it should never stop.
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