“How can you, a CSA victim, have any sympathy for pedophiles?”
This is a question people often asked me. Sometimes it is also followed by “unless you're one yourself”. This is also one of the most difficult question I've ever had to answer, because from here you can go in so many ways. So let's get started, because I never had a chance to give a detailed and profound answer before.
First of all, I know that a pedophile and a child molester are different things. I know that I cannot subject all pedophiles in the world to collective responsibility over deeds of the minority of offenders. They can't control what others are doing, it's not their fault, and I won't ever make a person answer for something done by others. There is no hate for innocent people in me.
Second, I have a strong feeling that this right here is where I'm meant to be. The stigma against maps is horrifying. They need help and support, and all sympathy I can give. I wouldn't be so concerned and so invested, I wouldn't have followed maps from Tumblr to Twitter, if not the amount of hate they get from the cruel and the ignorant. Seeing some of these things is like seeing hell. I saw a 14 year old boy driven to a suicide attempt by people telling him how they'll rape him, I saw leaked selfies of 15 and 16 year olds spread on Facebook, with death threats and doxxing attempts in the comments, I saw even adults crush and break under the immense pressure of online hate. There is something very wrong with people who identify as anti map. And I believe my support and sympathy can bring at least a little bit of balance.
And third, I have sympathy for those who wronged others too. I do not support or justify offending behavior, but I will support recovery and progress on one's self, I will support an offender who wants to get better and never hurt anyone again. I know that I'm still a very naive person, but I believe in giving people a second chance. Nobody in this life is a monster.
I can never give it all at once as one single answer, because it's very difficult to explain that my main motivation to support maps is the fact that most of them are forever non-offending, while I don't want offenders to suffer either. I don't want to look like I condone abuse or like I want offenders to be treated inhumanely. So I make this post. And next time someone asks me how I can have sympathy for pedophiles, I'll just link it and ask “How could I not?”
