Dr Allyn Walker: Old Dominion University slammed for protecting 'pedophilia activist'
Following the Allyn Walker controversy, Virginia's Old Dominion University is facing intense backlash and criticism from students, alumni and politicians for not firing the educator. Walker, a 34-year-old transgender assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at ODU, recently drew flak for their shocking comments about pedophiles. During an online interview on November 8, Allyn Walker asserted that adults sexually attracted to minors were not immoral. Rather, they advocated that those individuals should be provided with child sex dolls to satisfy their sexual urges.
"I want to be extremely clear that child sex abuse is never ever OK. But having an attraction to minors doesn’t mean the person having those attractions is doing something wrong," Walker said. Furthermore, Walker had advised against the ostracization of pedophiles in their new book 'Long Dark Shadow: Minor Attracted People and their Pursuit of Dignity'. The comments outraged students and other teachers at the campus, as well as the prestigious institution's LGBTQ Board. Many of them alleged that the professor was being an apologist for criminals and sex offenders. They have now rallied together to slam the university authorities for protecting the 'woke' staff and showing double standards.
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Walker was placed on leave following the outrage after the Trans Advisory Board at the university condemned the professor's remarks, dubbing them reprehensible. They further stated that Walker's ideas were damaging to survivors of pedophilic abuse and clarified that his views did not reflect the views of the trans community. The university also conveyed a statement from Walker that said,
"An academic community plays a valuable role in the quest for knowledge. A vital part of this is being willing to consider scientific and other empirical data that may involve controversial issues and perspectives. Following a recent interview that gained national attention, Dr. Allyn Walker has released the following statement.
"I want to be clear: child sexual abuse is an inexcusable crime. As an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, the goal of my research is to prevent crime. My work is informed by my past experience and advocacy as a social worker counseling victims. I embarked on this research in hopes of gaining understanding of a group that, previously, has not been studied in order to identify ways to protect children."
"Following recent social media activity and direct outreach to the institution, it is important to share that Old Dominion, as a caring and inclusive community, does not endorse or promote crimes against children or any form of criminal activity."
However, many protesters are of the opinion that the high-end Virginia school is standing by Allyn Walker. In fact, initially the institution observed their disagreement with Walker's statements but insisted that they be allowed to keep their job role. After pressure from the protesting students and the public uproar, ODU authorities placed Walker on leave. Meanwhile, the student community has started an online petition on Change.org demanding that Allyn Walker be fired. They further questioned the university for continuing to offer protection to the embattled professor.
Grant Rimmer, a junior student at ODU recently shared with DailyMail, "It saddens me that other professors and students have been kicked off campus for less and hopefully ODU will take the correct course of action.
I'm still confused on why this double standard exists. I am baffled and disappointed that an individual with those beliefs would even be allowed to have a job on our campus where children interact frequently."
Another student Geni Piatkowski asserted why Walker's comments are problematic beyond the ambit of academic research. Speaking to WAVY, Piatkowski said, "It is okay to research, it is okay to find out this information. It is not okay to sympathize and create a term to blanket what pedophilia is."
"I noticed that it did not state unpaid leave. This person is a danger to society and should never be given the opportunity to to promote this perverted agenda," remarked another signatory of the petition against Walker.
Allyn Walker's comments had come during an online conversation with the Prostasia Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization that describes itself as “a new kind of child protection organization.” Clips from the interview made waves on social media and accumulated hundreds of thousands of views after it was posted on Twitter by @LibsofTikTok.
“We have a tendency to want to categorize people with these kinds of attractions as evil or morally corrupt,” Walker said. “But when we’re talking about non-offending MAPs, these are people who have an attraction they didn’t ask for.” According to the ODU professor, the research couldn't determine whether “minor-attracted persons” could be classified as a specific sexual attraction. “My research touched upon the labels that MAPs use to describe themselves,” Walker said. “A lot of them have been really conscious about their choice of language because they don’t want to slander ... lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. So they’ll use language to ... distance themselves from LGB folks.”