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Call for “Stories of Hope”

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Submissions have re-opened for our “Stories of Hope” section on b4uact.org. If you’re someone who is attracted to children or adolescents and wish to share your story on our site, now is your opportunity.

In early 2012, B4U-ACT put out our first call for “Stories of Hope”: personal anecdotes from minor-attracted people about their lives and reasons for hope towards the future. Four stories were posted to the website, from MAPs with various ages, life circumstances, and genders and ages of attraction. The stories reflected varying life experiences, ranging from different hobbies, interests, and relationship statuses, to more difficult to discuss details such as mental health struggles and past criminal convictions.

Now, 12 years later, we’d like to update this section with new stories. The lived experiences of MAPs have changed along with other changes in society, and new resources and reasons for hope have emerged in this time.

If you’d like to submit your own story, please read the following guidelines, and submit using the Google form below, or by email to b4uact-stories-of-hope@protonmail.com.

If you submit via email, please include a first name you’d like associated with the story, and include the statement “I consent to B4U-ACT’s use of my story and pseudonym on its website.” Do not include any information that would trigger mandatory reporting, or that could be used to identify you.

Guidelines:

  • By submitting your story, you agree that B4U-ACT may publish it on our website, alongside the first name you provide. (It is suggested to use a pseudonym)
  • We recommend including (non-identifying) details about your life and interests outside of your sexual/romantic attractions.
  • We ask that submissions be no more than ~1000 words.
  • B4U-ACT may contact you at the email address you provide to suggest edits after proofreading your story. We will not post an edited version of any story without permission.
  • Do not include any information that would trigger mandatory reporting.
  • Do not include any information that could be used to identify you.
  • We may not use all submissions. Our goal is to feature a small number of stories that a wide variety of people can relate to and find hope in. Your story is valuable, and we thank you for sharing it even if it does not end up on the website!

Click here to display content from docs.google.com.

B4U-ACT Featured in Psychotherapy Networker Magazine

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In a new article in Psychotherapy Networker magazine, author Chris Lyford writes about B4U-ACT and discusses mental health professionals who work with people attracted to children. Alexandra Roth, a longtime member of B4U-ACT’s referral list of therapists, and Russell Dick, B4U-ACT’s Chairperson and Co-Founder, provided interviews for the piece.

 

Excerpt:
“A lot of people think the more you shame someone, the less likely that person is to do something wrong,” Roth explains, “but shame actually makes it harder for someone to make good choices.” Because most pedophiles struggle with loneliness, fear, self-hatred, and suicidal ideation as a result of their desires, she says, “therapy with them often has to do with addressing problems of identity and how they’ve been affected by stigma.” Many times, she says, the work doesn’t center around the client’s attraction to minors at all. “We’re focused on problems that might bring any other client to therapy, like depression or problematic relationships with parents or partners.”

 

Read the full article here:
https://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/article/the-client-no-one-wants-to-treat/

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MAPs Wanted for Study on Support and Stigma

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]B4U-ACT is supporting a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Paris-Saclay in Évry, France. The study aims to address stigmatization of people attracted to children, access to resources intended to provide support, and whether support received was from the private or public sector. The study is part of the masters dissertation of Vanina Guglielmi, under the review of dissertation supervisor Sébastien Petit.

Participation involves completing a 20–30 minute survey. The survey is offered as an English translation from the researcher’s original French, but may be made available in other languages if needed. Anyone who identifies as being attracted to minors is eligible to participate.

Interested potential participants may click the following link to participate or learn more:

Go to survey

 

The following announcement text was also provided by the researcher:

This is an anonymous survey which aims to provide statistical answers to certain questions concerning, for example, the number of people sexually attracted to minors who have had access to public or private aid, or the number of people attracted to minors who have been victims of stigmatization and the consequences thereof.

This survey is carried out as part of a masters dissertation at the University of Paris Saclay Evry Val-d’Essone. In order to participate in this survey, the only requirements are that you be MAP. The questionnaire is in English but if you do not speak the language and wish to participate, I will take note of it and possibly offer the questionnaire in the desired translation. The response time devoted to this survey depends on you but it is between 20 to 30 minutes.

Depending on the number of responses and the quality of the developments submitted, I could possibly carry out a comparative study between the different profiles. Finally, this survey will be available for several months until June. As I said, it’s anonymous and doesn’t contain Java script. To participate, click on the following link: https://starsky.limesurvey.net/118674?lang=en

 

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