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Easy as PIE – the rebranding of paedophilia

Trauma expert Dr JACQUI DILLON reports how she was intimidated and had her Twitter account suspended for raising questions about ‘minor-attracted persons’ amid a worrying trend of dangerous child abusers becoming organised online

CURRENTLY, there is a growing movement to rebrand paedophilia — a word which in itself is problematic — although it is currently synonymous with people who sexually abuse children. 

As a survivor of organised childhood sexual exploitation (CSE), I can attest that the sexual abuse of children is the antithesis of love, unlike the denotion of the etymology of the word.

Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to legitimise paedophilia. The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), was a British-based pro-paedophile activist group, founded in 1974. 

The group campaigned for the age of consent to be lowered to the age of four, while receiving significant funding from the Home Office and was affiliated with the National Council for Civil Liberties. 

Such groups still exist internationally. In a letter to the Guardian in 1997, Peter Tatchell stated that friends as young as nine had sexual experiences which gave them “great joy.” 

Tatchell inferred that while he was unable to condone paedophilia, he claimed that not all sex involving children was “unwanted, abusive or harmful.”

The current attempts to legitimise paedophilia have become apparent on Twitter, with a growing number of people describing themselves as “Maps,” an acronym for “minor-attracted person,” a term used by individuals who are sexually attracted to those below the age of consent, including: nepiophilia or infantophilia (attraction to babies and toddlers); paedophilia (attraction to pre-pubescent children); hebephilia (attraction to pubescent children/early adolescents); and ephebophilia (attraction to late adolescents).

Twitter currently has a policy which explicitly states that “discussions related to child exploitation as a phenomenon or attraction to minors are permitted, provided they don’t glorify CSE in any way.”

This change in policy was achieved by a renowned expert in the treatment of paedophilia and “Map” advocate lobbying Twitter’s director of trust and safety, stating that it would “help reduce the stigma associated with pedophilia [sic].” 

Anyone who is 13 or older can access Twitter where they are now exposed to content where adults openly discuss their attractions to children with impunity. 

I began disseminating this information on Twitter and questioning the motivations of “Maps” and their advocates. 

I have been trolled on numerous occasions, including a time when Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (also known as Tommy Robinson) and his followers Twitter mobbed me and told me that I deserved to be gang raped because I objected to their cynical hijacking of CSE for their fascist agenda. 

They dismissed the fact that the perpetrators who abused me were all white and British, displayed zero interest in CSE perpetrated by white offenders, who are by far the vast majority of all sexual offenders, or expressed outrage at such offences being committed within their own ranks. 

However, my experiences with the lengths that “Maps” are willing to go to is on another level. 

I have been viciously and relentlessly trolled for weeks, an obsessive and libellous blog, clearly written by a highly disturbed individual, has been circulated about me, attempting to discredit me. 

I have been bombarded with Photoshopped images of my face grafted onto graphic, pornographic images. And other things I will not share due to safety issues. 

I have been advised by those speaking from personal experience that “Maps” have a history of doxxing people and their children. And worse. 

Consequently, a group of “Maps” mass reported me to Twitter for objecting to their attempts to normalise their predilections and their attempts to legitimise sexual attraction to children as being innate and immutable, which based on current research is highly contestable. 

For example, many advocate adding a P to LGBT. Naturally, many of us within the LGBT community find this idea abhorrent. 

“Maps” and their professional allies advocate child sex dolls, arguing that there is no evidence that they increase the likelihood of offending. 

Equally, there is no evidence that they reduce the risk of offending — a child sex doll is just another form of objectifying a child for sexual gratification. 

I was then notified by Twitter that my account had been permanently suspended for “abuse and harassment.” Despite appealing my permanent suspension it was upheld. 

It was only when I and others directly lobbied the vice-president of Twitter Europe, stating that my suspension was a travesty that suddenly, without explanation, my suspension was lifted. 

Clearly Twitter, with its vast profits, needs to employ people to monitor activity on its platform rather than relying on algorithms to maintain safety and integrity. 

Crucially, it urgently needs to review its CSE policy which is currently not fit for purpose. 

As soon as my permanent suspension was lifted, I was flooded with new reports from Twitter. 

Those who had conspired to get my account suspended, openly gloating about it when they thought they had succeeded, were the same people scrutinising my timeline on @jacquidillon @beckrdalliance, an alliance I founded for survivors of CSE, looking for tweets to report. 

Again, they openly discussed their intention to silence me. For the first time ever, I locked both accounts over the summer break.

Professor Jennifer Freyd coined the acronym “Darvo” to describe a set of tactics perpetrators often employ to avoid being held accountable for their actions. 

Perpetrators frequently Deny their behaviour, Attack the individual who is holding them to account and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender, so that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the victim into the alleged perpetrator. 

The behaviour of these “Maps” is entirely consistent with perpetrator behaviour. 

There is a small but significant number of people who want to sexually abuse children. Bearing in mind that one perpetrator can wreak havoc on numerous children’s lives, as a society, we have to address this unpalatable truth in order to stop the epidemic of child abuse and its devastating consequences. 

However, constructing one’s identity around a predilection to sexually abusing children, creating a community with a dubious agenda, rather than seeking help in more appropriate settings, is highly suspect.

The notion of “non-offending” offers little reassurance. Child abusers are notoriously deceitful. Perhaps the opportunity to access a child has not yet arisen or they have simply not been detected. 

Therefore anyone with an unhealthy interest in children must be deemed a risk to children. Additionally, this distinction between contact and non-contact is meaningless in a space where identities and claims cannot be verified. 

I have been sent evidence that some of the most vociferous “Maps” have committed extremely serious crimes against children and are currently grooming children. 

Authorities have been notified. These people are organised, using multiple identities, groups, platforms and are linked internationally. Their methods are insidious yet blatant — hidden in plain sight. 

As a survivor of CSE who is directly challenging “Maps,” I am seen as a real and present threat. 

One of the things that I have learned through surviving the horrors of my childhood is that is essential to defy such intimidation tactics. 

I have always been outspoken. It is an entirely strategic position I take as a working-class woman, survivor and activist. 

As the great Audre Lorde said: “Your silence will not protect you.” I refuse to be silenced by a group of paedophiles ever again. I look forward to making my Twitter account public again today.

For more information about Jacqui Dillon’s work visit jacquidillon.org.

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