The term “minor-attracted people” refers to adults who experience feelings of preferential attraction to children or adolescents under the age of consent, as well as adolescents who have such feelings for younger children. This term is sometimes abbreviated to “MAPs”.
In understanding minor-attracted people, it is important to realize that these sexual feelings are usually accompanied by feelings of emotional attraction, similar to the romantic feelings most adults have for other adults. It is also vitally important to note that the presence of such feelings do not imply anything about behavior; researchers note that many minor-attracted people live within the law (see our Summary of MAP Research).
Most minor-attracted people rarely let anyone know about their sexual or romantic feelings. Many fear rejection and retaliation from family, friends, employers, and their community. They also rarely come forward to mental health professionals, because they are not sure if they can trust them to maintain confidence, focus on their mental health needs, or treat them with respect, compassion, and understanding. Usually, only those who violate the law come to the attention of law enforcement authorities and therefore mental health professionals and the public.
Many minor-attracted people would like to receive mental health services but are afraid to seek them due to severe stigma and lack of trust. An accurate understanding of the attraction to minors is essential for professionals to meet the mental health needs of minor attracted people compassionately, ethically, and effectively.
In addition, mental health professionals frequently make statements that influence public perceptions and policies regarding minor-attracted people. These statements need to be informed by accurate, first-hand knowledge about minor-attracted people, especially about those who do not violate the law or otherwise come to the attention of professionals and the public.
Like any population, minor-attracted people may seek mental health services for a wide variety of reasons. These may be related to their sexuality, or if these issues are unrelated, they may still feel the need to discuss them in the context of their sexuality without being judged or rejected. Some minor-attracted people deal with depression, anxiety or other conditions that are found among all populations. Some seek services to help them deal with issues resulting from society’s negative reactions to their sexual or romantic feelings. Others seek support in developing fulfilling lives and relationships while living within the law.
Some minor-attracted people have had negative experiences with therapists who did not understand them, or who saw them only as potential criminals and did not value their mental health needs. Others who have not interacted with mental health professionals may suspect that professionals share in negative public attitudes or assumptions about people who are attracted to children or adolescents. Others may be discouraged from seeking care by public statements some professionals and professional organizations have made which have perpetuated stigma and stereotypes.
Minor-attracted people may also fear that a therapist will report them to authorities simply because of thoughts and feelings of attraction to minors. Some therapists who do not understand reporting laws over-report (e.g., report a person who has thoughts, feelings, and fantasies about minors) due to fear of the loss of their license due to failure to report.
For these reasons, minor-attracted people often fear that therapists will not understand them, will ignore their mental health needs, or will not treat them with respect and compassion, and avoid seeking mental health services as a result.
Many popular beliefs about minor-attracted people are not supported by evidence. Research shows that they are not more violent or aggressive than the general population, and disputes the widespread belief that they inevitably or near-universally engage in criminal behaviors. Other research shows that they do not disproportionately suffer from psychopathology or personality disorders. As a group, they do not share any particular characteristics or behaviors other than their feelings of attraction. For more information, see our Summary of MAP Research.
The first documented usage of the term is by Heather Elizabeth Peterson, a free-lance journalist who used the term “minor-attracted adults” (later abbreviated as “MAAs”) in a 1998 online article in Greenbelt Interfaith News. This term caught on in other contexts, and was used preferentially by B4U-ACT from its founding in 2003. Around 2007, we transitioned to using the term “minor-attracted people,” recognizing that these people usually realized they were attracted to children or younger adolescents before they were adults themselves.
We did not invent the “minor-attracted person” terminology, but to our knowledge, B4U-ACT was the first to use it in a professional context, in a 2007 report to Baltimore Mental Health Systems. Since this time, it has gradually become more common in academic and professional settings, as researchers and practitioners have sought to use language that minority populations self-identify with, and avoid the imprecision and criminal or pejorative associations with other labels such as “pedophile”.
Forcing minor-attracted people to remain secretive and reducing their access to mental health care does not protect children. Perpetuating secrecy, stigma, fear, and feelings of hopelessness is known to increase risk of self-destructive or abusive behavior. Minor-attracted people are not likely to seek support when needed if the services offered to them are not in line with principles of ethical and effective treatment, or are not offered out of genuine care for their well-being. A growing body of research suggests that we can make children more safe by making minor-attracted people more able to seek services when they want them, and mental health professionals more able to effectively reach out to them.
It is also important to recognize in this conversation that most minor-attracted people first realize that they are attracted to younger children when they are still in late childhood or early adolescence themselves. We believe the well-being and health of all children and adolescents is valuable and deserving of protection, and this includes those who are subjected to stigma, harmful stereotypes, and fear of social rejection at an impressionable time in their lives, due to an attraction they did not choose to develop.
People do not choose who to feel attraction to, including whether they are attracted to adults or children. The evidence does not support claims that attraction to children or adolescents can be changed or reduced, and we do not advocate any treatment attempting to change sexual feelings.
No single therapeutic approach will be universally applicable across a whole population, and more research is required to develop evidence-based practice for treating minor-attracted people. We generally recommend that therapists work with minor-attracted people to set goals, select methods, and develop a treatment plan in the same way they do with other clients who may be dealing with less stigmatized issues.
We do not recommend those components of sex offender treatment that are based on an adversarial, law enforcement perspective or that seek to induce shame in MAPs for their thoughts and feelings for minors. Instead we recommend approaches that are therapeutic and build trust. We see minor-attracted people as whole human beings whose mental health is of primary importance, not merely as a perceived risk to others. See our brief guide on Psychotherapy for MAPs for more information on this.
We are a collaborative effort of mental health professionals and minor-attracted people. Our board of directors and volunteer staff consist of members of both groups as well as researchers and laypeople.
B4U-ACT provides resources to researchers aiming to develop understanding of MAPs and promote their mental health, including research consultation, assistance with recruitment, and the B4U-ACT Quarterly Review Journal. We also publish our guidelines for therapy and maintain a list of mental health professionals who become signatories to those guidelines, in order to connect MAPs searching for therapy with compassionate, effective care.
Beyond that, B4U-ACT’s activities include running peer support groups for MAPs and for their family members and friends, speaking at conferences and in class settings to professionals and university students in psychology, social work, and human sexuality, and organizing conferences and other events aimed at professionals, researchers, educators, university students, and minor-attracted people.
We are always looking for volunteers with skills related to the work we do. You can also support us financially, or by sharing information about our activities and perspectives with others.
If you are interested in supporting us in our mission, please contact us so we can learn more about you and your interest in our work.