A Brainstorm Rant… - A MAP in Love

I’m awake, when I should be in bed asleep. I’m just gonna brainstorm rant in the open here. It’s not directed at anyone, or any specific group.

This community (the whole MAP community, not just fedi, or specific forums) has a problem with activism, or a lack thereof. People are content with the fact that we can only be ourselves anonymously online, with other mostly anonymous people. They’re ok with not being able to live openly, as long as they have one little safe space in the digital realm. They’re complacent with the way MAPs are treated by society, because it doesn’t directly affect them, as long as they’re quiet and keep their heads down. I say that’s no way to live.

We always talk about the perfect world, where discrimination against MAPs is nonexistent. We long for better mental healthcare for MAPs. We dream of the day that we’ll be able to walk down the street hand-in-hand with our little friends. But what are we doing to get there?

With the exception of a few people who are spread out thinly across the MAP community, most people are complacent and complicit. Just imagine where we could be as a community, AND AS INDIVIDUALS, if people believe they can make change, and are willing to step out of their comfort zone to get there.

As I wrote in “Our Stonewall is Coming,” we are coming upon a crossroads in the US and Western society. This is the right time to make our collective voices heard. But to do that we’re gonna need four things.

1. Numbers. It’s estimated that between 2 and 80% of the population is attracted to minors to some extent, depending on the study and the metric used. We have the numbers. But these numbers need to know there’s a community, and those numbers need to organize.

2. An outward or public-facing message. We know who we are and what we want. But we can’t just keep preaching to the choir. We have to develop a message in a way that is palatable to and easily understood by society.

3. Humility. People need to be humble. This is something I need to work on too. Stop trying to one-up everyone else, or the other camp, because you think you’re right and they’re wrong. Accept each other as they are, work together, learn from each other. I know it’s cliche, but teamwork makes the dream work. And there is no room for hate and hateful rhetoric in this community.

4. And we need people to step out of their comfort zones. STOP LIVING IN FEAR. If you were to be outed, what would happen to you? You might lose your job, people may disown you. So what? You can get another job. If people will disown you for your orientation, did you really want them in your life anyway? We currently live in a world where we must stay anonymous or face harassment and discrimination. That is modern-day slavery. We are slaves to a society that won’t let us openly be ourselves. And that won’t change until we overcome our collective fear and assert our freedom.

Who’s going to step up and help liberate us? I wanna hear ideas, and plans to push the MAP movement forward.