VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — An assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice whose pedophilia research created a stir at Old Dominion University landed a new job with Johns Hopkins University’s Moore Center for Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.
Allyn Walker stepped down from ODU in November after their use of “minor-attracted person” instead of the word pedophile in research led to an outcry on campus and social media. Walker’s contract with ODU ended this month.
The Moore Center tweeted Thursday that Walker would be joining the center as a postdoctoral fellow. The announcement was met with a mix of comments — those that condemned the decision and several praising Walker.
The Center followed up its initial tweets Friday, saying it was excited to welcome Walker and they would be working on research and new projects to develop a “comprehensive public health approach to addressing child sexual abuse and effective prevention programs.”
On its website, the center, which launched in 2012, says, “We work to change the way the world thinks about child sexual abuse, from inevitable to preventable. We work to change the way the world thinks about prevention, to understand that perpetration prevention is a necessary element of a comprehensive approach to child sexual abuse.”
In the series of tweets, the center referred to Walker as “a leader in the field of perpetration prevention research.”
In the fall, ODU announced Walker would remain on administrative leave until the end of their contract.
Walker faced threats of violence, and more than 15,500 people signed an online petition calling for their removal from ODU in the fall after a controversial interview about their book “A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity.” The book focused on people who do not act on their sexual attraction to children and strategies to prevent them from acting on the attraction.
Walker said they use the term “minor-attracted person” instead of pedophile because “it’s less stigmatizing.”
In the interview, Walker emphasized, “child sexual abuse is never OK.”
Walker also differentiated between child sexual abusers and people who haven’t acted on their attraction to children in the interview. They said that many child sexual abusers are attracted to children, but people may also commit those crimes for other reasons.
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