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'Poor, poor, pedos': Internet erupts after therapist Miranda Galbreath claims pedophiles are 'VILIFIED'

Galbreath talks about how pedophiles do not choose to be attracted to minors, drawing a parallel between pedophilia and sexual preferences

ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA: Netizens are up in arms over a sex therapist's appeal for the word "pedophile" to be eliminated because it was derogatory to individuals who are drawn to minors. Miranda Galbreath, who deals with incarcerated sexual abusers, uploaded a clip on YouTube recently with the title 'Let's talk about minor-attracted persons.'

According to Galbreath, the label pedophile is used against the most reviled demographic of people who are shunned by their community members for having different sexual preferences. She recommended, in the viral video, that the term "minor-attracted people," or MAPs, be used as a replacement.

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Galbreath was seeking to distinguish between a person's sexual interest in children and their real involvement in child abuse. According to her, "Attraction does not equal action." An individual who is "minor-attracted" merely implies that they have an ongoing sexual or romantic interest in kids. She continued explaining her viewpoint by drawing comparisons between pedophilia and sexual preferences. "They have not chosen this attraction... you don't get to choose to be heterosexual or gay, and you don’t get to choose to be a minor-attracted person," she added.

Over 500,000 people have already seen the clip, and it has scored several retweets. TikTok user Libs reposted the video on Twitter. Galbreath has drawn a lot of flak for her 'theory.' "She is essentially saying that pedophilia is a sexual orientation. It isn’t. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sexual orientations don’t harm other people. It is pathological, dangerous, and needs to be treated when not acted upon, and punished severely when acted upon," a Twitter use said.

Another one commented, "I personally just cannot embrace pedophiles no matter how 'inclusive' it may be." A third penned, "We wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of those poor, poor pedophiles who hurt children, right? People like her disgust me. It's one thing to provide those people help to not act on their urges, it's another thing to attempt to guilt people for calling them what they are."

Galbreath acknowledged on social media that discussing a topic like pedophilia is indeed sensitive and tough for most people, regardless of the ferocious pushback she received. She said, "I have worked with minor-attracted persons for years now, and have heard and witnessed so many misconceptions that I wanted to put something out into the world to clear some of those up. If you're seeing this post, I hope you can set your prejudices aside and take a few minutes to understand a bit more about these folks who are our fellow human beings."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.

If you or anyone you know suspects child abuse, you are urged to immediately call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.