On March 10, 2016, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired a documentary titled “I, Pedophile” (by Matthew Campea and Cogent Benger Productions, Inc.) that makes a false and damaging claim about B4U-ACT, which advocates for ethical and compassionate mental health services for minor-attracted people. The documentary, in reference to B4U-ACT, shows the following text on the screen: “Many of its members have been known to pursue sexual contact with children.” This statement is completely false. B4U-ACT does not endorse or support any activity with children that is illegal or harmful to them in any way.

B4U-ACT has been advocating for access to mental health support services for minor-attracted individuals since 2003. The charity has done this through providing educational workshops, facilitating support groups, and by building relationships with therapists, social workers, academics, researchers, journalists, and members of the general community. B4U-ACT is proud to have received funding from both the state of Maryland and private donors in order to carry out the charity’s important work of helping the extremely under-served population of individuals who identify as having a primary attraction to children and/or adolescents.

B4U-ACT will continue to work toward the goal of ensuring that there are accessible mental health services for minor-attracted persons, and will endeavor to thrive in spite of any misinformation or attacks made against it, as these mental health services are so desperately needed in Maryland and around the world.

MAPs are invited to take part in an online research study which consists of answering an anonymous survey. This study, which is part of a doctoral dissertation, is being conducted by Marc-André Goudreault, postgraduate student in the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal. The researchers are interested in examining the psychological and physiological traits of adult males (18 years old and older) depending on their sexual orientation.

As researchers, they acknowledge the necessity of studying MAPs from the community in order to gain accurate results. By gaining accurate results, they then hope to develop a better and more accurate understanding of MAPs.

If you are an adult male and you agree to participate in this study, you will complete a questionnaire evaluating sexual orientation as well as psychological and physiological traits. You will not be asked questions regarding your sexual fantasies or sexual behaviors specifically. This survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

Once the study is completed, the researchers will send a summary of their results and conclusions to B4U-ACT to be made publicly available. This should occur by the end of September 2017.

Click here to participate.

Allyson Franklin, a doctoral student at John Jay College in New York City, is conducting a study investigating issues related to mental health, stigma, abstinence, and resilience among minor-attracted individuals who have abstained from sexual contact with minors since adulthood. The goal is to understand the opinions and experiences of minor-attracted people directly through interviews. Participants will be interviewed up to three times for 60-90 minutes each, and interviews can be conducted in person, over Skype, over the phone, or through web chat; whichever format is most comfortable for the participant. No identifying information will be requested. If you are interested in participating, click here for more information about the study and how to contact the researcher.