'Virtuous
pedophile' who admits being attracted to children but has never abused
anyone is trying to encourage others in his situation to come forward.
Self-confessed 'non-offending pedophile', Todd Nickerson
A 43-year-old man identified as Todd Nickerson, from Tennessee in
the United States, who is a self-confessed 'non-offending pedophile',
has admited of being attracted to children and has encouraged other
pedophiles to seek help and support for their sexual inclinations.
According to a report by Dailymail,
the man disclosed that he has never abused anyone, claims pedophilia is
better understood as a sexual orientation - although one he believes it
is unethical to act on, he is encouraging others in his situation to
come forward.
Speaking exclusively to Barcroft TV, the paedophile who is a
moderator on the online forum 'VirPed' - short for 'virtuous
pedophiles', also sometimes called 'ethical pedophiles' or 'gold star
pedophiles', said:
'I am a pedophile. I'm not a monster. I have the attraction but
I don't act on it. I have never ever sexually abused a child and I
never will. I do not look at child porn, I never will. I obey the laws, I
respect the laws, I respect society's position on this. I understand it
and agree with it.'
Nickerson went public as a pedophile in a blog for American liberal
news site, Salon in September 2015, generating a huge quantity of
hostile replies in online comment sections and on social media.
However, he also received a large amount of positive feedback -
including messages from people who had suffered at the hands of
pedophiles.
He said: 'You get the people who tell you to kill yourself and say you should be castrated and all of that kind of thing.
'Publicly, there was a lot of backlash but privately it's been
very different. I got hundreds and hundreds emails from people who were
very supportive, a lot of which were from people who were survivors of
abuse.'
Nickerson says becoming an advocate for other 'virtuous pedophiles' has helped turn his life around and given it meaning.
'I am part of one of the most hated groups of society, no question about it, we are the scapegoats du jour,' he said.
'If you look at history, there is always one minority that
everybody kind of persecutes and I think at the moment we're it. I would
like to see some protections for people like me, protections against
being fired from their job and being protected from violence.'
Nickerson says his goals are twofold - to end the demonisation of
pedophiles, which he says helps drive them underground, and to encourage
other offenders to seek support.
He said: 'I would like people to empathise with us and understand that this is not a choice.
'We didn't choose our sexuality, we just have to deal with it
and their empathy helps us and the abuse actually makes things worse for
us. We just want to educate the public and help people understand where
we are coming from and hopefully see our humanity.'
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