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Outrage after Johns Hopkins hires Allyn Walker to work at Child Sexual Abuse center

The transgender professor faced immense backlash last year for calling pedophiles 'Minor Attracted Persons'

A transgender professor, who faced a lot of backlash last year for calling pedophiles "Minor Attracted Persons," has now secured employment with the Johns Hopkins University center working towards preventing child sexual abuse. The Moore Center for Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse took to Twitter to announce Allyn Walker’s hiring, by writing: “We are excited to share that Allyn Walker, PhD, will be joining the Moore Center as a postdoctoral fellow on May 25.”

In follow-up tweets, the center, which a part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, added: “Allyn Walker is a leader in the field of perpetration prevention research, which is essential for developing a comprehensive public health approach to addressing child sexual abuse and effective prevention programs. We are delighted to have Allyn Walker join our team. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, Allyn Walker will support multiple, large-scale, ongoing research projects and help identify new projects. Allyn Walker’s expertise and qualitative research methodology will enhance and advance the  work of the Moore Center. We are excited to have them join our team.”

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In another statement to Newsweek, the Moore Center said, “Allyn Walker, PhD, joins the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse as a postdoctoral fellow on May 25, 2022. Walker is a leader in the field of perpetration prevention research, which is essential for developing a comprehensive public health approach to addressing child sexual abuse and effective prevention programs. Walker previously served as an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University.”

This comes months after the 34-year-old was forced to resign from Old Dominion University for their controversial comments that were detailed in their book 'A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity.' People accused them for supporting pedophilia despite Walker’s stating in the 2021’s publication preface: “I worry that my readers will somehow think that I am downplaying sexual abuse against children or that I am even trying to normalize it. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

At the time, in a statement, they also noted: “That research was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly on the basis of my trans identity. As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally,” before adding: “I want to thank Old Dominion University for giving me the opportunity to teach and to conduct my research, and the ODU Department of Public Safety for monitoring the threats against me and the community.”

Meanwhile, Walker’s hiring has been criticized by a lot of people including Michael Salter, the Scientia Associate Professor of Criminology at the School of Social Sciences at UNSW and an expert in child sexual exploitation and gendered violence. Salter tweeted: “To retain its ethical foundation, child sexual abuse prevention work has to be victim-centred. What is victim-centric about the claim that there is nothing wrong with being sexually attracted to children?”

He also mentioned, “Too much prevention work is being driven by researchers and practitioners who work solely with offenders or people sexually attracted to children. What these individuals say in a research encounter or forensic interview does not line up with victim report. We need to integrate the evidence base to develop a comprehensive approach to CSA prevention - one that recognises and respects CSA victims and survivors as witnesses and a critical source of information.”

Conservative journalist Andy Ngo also slammed the hiring and pointed out that Walker was "forced to resign from Old Dominion University last year."

A user slamming the child sex abuse center asked, “Are you trying to sexually abuse kids?” Another user sarcastically wrote: “Yeah hire someone that normalizes pedophilia. Great job.” “How could you even consider someone that refers to pedophiles as ‘minor-attracted persons’ for a person of authority on any subject matter?” the third one added.