Mu's "VERY Important 2025 Principles"

Mu has decided on four simple priorities for MAP Activism, based on a range of ideas we have seen broad support for in our community. Mu will review and ratify these principles at its annual meeting in 2025, and every 5 years thereafter.

  1. Improving Visibility of MAPs and AAMs (Adult-Attracted Minors) in society.

    • Combat stigma and misinformation concerning these groups.
    • Promote an accuracy and evidence-based approach to correcting misconceptions. Safe/value-neutral language used to distinguish non-forced contact offenses from violent offenses that would be abusive regardless of age.
    • Hold public education campaigns.

  2. Strive for civic Equality of MAPs as a group.

    • MAPs should have access to Legal Advice and Mental Health care, free of risk, and without the chilling effect of social stigma.
    • MAPs as a group must be afforded the same protected status other communities benefit from, including freedom of association.

  3. Support the Reform of laws that unfairly target MAPs.

    • Fictional sexual content must be fully legalized.
    • Abolish the failed "sex offender" registries.

  4. Support broad-based rights for Minors and Youth, in line with their evolving capacities.

    • Opposition to ageism against young people.
    • Support moves to increase youth agency and autonomy.
    • Ensuring youth are heard at every stage of the social/political process.

Together, Visibility, Equality, Reform and Youth make up our guiding set of principles in the 2020s. We will also back up our principles with concrete actions over the coming years. To promote visibility, we must liaise with media and academic institutions, opening new dialogues and offering in-person representation where possible and desirable. To push for equality, we must advocate more strongly against censorship on social media, and use our own resources to provide alternatives such as our forum and building the fediverse.

To stand a better chance of reforming laws that target MAPs, we need to build bridges with other communities such as RSO (Registered Sex Offender) activists and online fiction communities/fandoms. Finding common-cause is the way forward here, as it is with Youth Rights. Very often, we learn the same laws and social conventions that target MAPs are being used against young people themselves, so with the right mix of youth involvement in our community, we will be able to find new ways forward as the role of young people in our society evolves.