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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAllyn Walker, a former professor at Old Dominion University who identifies as non-binary, resigned<\/a> last month following criticism stemming from Walker\u2019s views on pedophilia. Walker argued<\/a> that pedophiles should be destigmatized by identifying them as \u201cminor-attracted persons\u201d (\u201cMAPs\u201d) rather than the pejorative term \u201cpedophile,\u201d because attraction to children is a sexual orientation and not immoral<\/a>.<\/p>\n The pretense is that pedophiles are more likely to seek treatment if their sexual proclivities are destigmatized. Instead of relying on empirical evidence to determine the reasons for those proclivities or strategies that will keep children safe, Walker relies on queer theoretical tools to argue that pedophiles are wrongly oppressed by society\u2019s power structures as a group of the most \u201chated folk devils of our time<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker is a queer sociologist and criminologist<\/a> who uses the lens of queer theory to explain human society and crime.\u00a0Like other critical theories, queer theory seeks a collective critical consciousness that will identify and dismantle identity power structures and dynamics.<\/p>\n Queer theory seeks to unite oppressed groups<\/a> that fall outside the privileged normative language categories of sex (male or female) and sexuality (straight, gay, bisexual) into a single, oppressed banner of queer. To do this, it relies on the postmodern knowledge principle, which rejects objective knowledge and favors \u201cknowledges\u201d that arise from the lived experiences of individuals of certain identity groups.<\/p>\n Walker uses theoretical tools<\/a> to problematize the treatment of pedophilia as a sexual perversion to achieve her agenda. She uses the power of language to advocate for the new acronym \u201cMAP\u201d and blurs boundaries of sexuality. The focus is on the collective oppression of pedophiles.<\/p>\n Using a \u201cdeconstructionist\u201d perspective, Walker argues that pedophilia is a \u201csocial construct.\u201d She boldly concludes that sexual attraction to minors is not morally offensive and claims that the vilification of pedophilia is more about control of sexual minorities than it is about the health or safety of children.<\/p>\n Shockingly, this normalization of pedophilia is not unique to Walker. Another professor at ODU, Vanessa Panfil, has worked extensively with Walker on at least one scholarly article<\/a> advocating for the destigmatization of pedophilia. Panfil appears to still be gainfully employed at ODU. In addition, Michel Foucault (whom Walker cites extensively) petitioned<\/a> for the removal of sexual consent laws in France. Similarly, Gayle Rubin defended pedophilia in her 1984 essay<\/a> \u201cThinking Sex.\u201d<\/p>\n Missing from Walker\u2019s analysis, and the analyses of many who think similarly, are the true victims of pedophilia: children. Walker advocates for the use of \u201cengrossing and high quality<\/a>\u201d pornography for pedophiles to resist their sexual attraction to children. Unfortunately, Walker seems to assume that the only victims of child pornography are the people who are prosecuted for it and does not consider the trauma inflicted on children who are trafficked and used in the creation of this \u201chigh-quality porn.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker uses the theoretical tools of queer theory to justify a personal view that adults should be free to fantasize and sexualize children \u2014 so long as they do not touch them. She has seized on queer theory\u2019s position in the social justice movement to justify what appears to be the next logical step for queer theory\u2019s dismantling of sexual norms. This must be dismissed outright.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, queer theory\u2019s rejection of \u201csocial constructs\u201d designed to protect the most innocent \u2014 even the outright rejection of \u201cchildhood innocence<\/a>\u201d \u2014 has spread as far as grade school pedagogy<\/a>. The \u201cgender unicorn<\/a>\u201d is taught to small children<\/a> in schools and books like \u201cGender Queer,\u201d which contains<\/a> pornographic comics, are in public school libraries<\/a>. Social-emotional learning surveys<\/a> from vendors like Panorama Education ask children in detail about their sexual preferences.<\/p>\n In the name of \u201cdismantling power structures and dynamics\u201d around sexuality, queer theorists must make things that were once taboo (like sexualizing children) no longer taboo. Queer theorists excuse the immorality of pedophilia away because it helps them achieve their own agenda.<\/p>\n For example, they would claim that queer pedagogy prevents queer children from being \u201cothered\u201d at school. Yet, that conclusion assumes that children should be sexualized in the first place. Furthermore, to reach that conclusion, the benefits of queer children not being \u201cothered\u201d must outweigh the risks of sexualizing children and of exposing them to books and information that would \u2014 at least in some states \u2014 run afoul of obscenity laws.<\/p>\n That conclusion is far from settled. In fact, given the obscenity laws currently in place in certain states, it would seem that our society has determined that sexualizing children remains off-limits to private individuals \u2014 and so it should remain with schools.<\/p>\n Before we allow ourselves to be swayed by any theoretical excuses to change the societal norms that protect children, we must all decide how far our collective moral consciousness will allow the social justice movement to go in its exploitation of our boundaries. I suggest that we have allowed it to go quite far enough. The sexualization of children has no place in schools or in our society. It is simply one boundary that should not be exploited.<\/p>\n \n Jennifer Rawls is a practicing attorney and single mother. In her free time, she has spent the past year trying to understand why children are being sexualized and indoctrinated with political agendas in school.<\/p>\nWhat Is Queer Theory?<\/h2>\n
Queer Theory\u2019s Application to Pedophilia<\/h2>\n
Queer Theory in Schools<\/h2>\n
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