Pedophile's discovery of his 'sexual orientation' celebrated in new German play

A new play titled "A MAP's Tale" will premiere in Germany in February of 2023 at Berlin's Theater unterm Dach, and will tell the tale of "Adam," a pedophile, in a story that the creators hope will expose the "the gross oversimplifications and criminal associations that currently shape our perceptions of all MAPs." MAP stands for minor attracted person, a politically correct euphemism that pedophiles use to normalize their predilections. 

According to the production company's website, the play "depicts a young boy who goes through puberty discovering his sexual orientation is focused on children. From the age of 14 he embarks on a never-ending journey of battling his desires."

The show is produced by Monstress Mess, a German-based company that describes itself as a "feminist theatre collective." 

On the show's Indiegogo page, it describes itself as a "theatre piece focusing on the prevention of child sexual abuse." While it leads with that description in its fundraising efforts, the content paints pedophiles in a sympathetic light focusing on Adam's "inner struggles." 

"Never before has he (Adam) spoken publicly about his sexual preference disorder," the show's Indiegogo reads, later saying pedophilia is a sexual orientation.

The play is inspired by a story that appeared in the podcast This American Life in an episode titled "Help Wanted: Tarred & Feathered."

That story's author, Luke Malone, posted on Twitter, "Some exciting news: My @ThisAmerLife story on non-offending young pedophiles is being turned into a play, supported by the German federal government and the Berlin Senate."

Malone's story focused on Adam "unpacking what his desires mean for his future" and finding "his place in a society that doesn’t acknowledge his existence." 

Malone wrote a piece for Medium with more details on Adam, including his habit of watching child pornography: "As he watched the scene unfold, Adam was transfixed, and then quickly revolted; he reached over and stopped the video. It wasn't like anything he'd witnessed in the two years he'd been viewing child pornography. Until now everything he'd seen seemed to suggest that the kids liked it, but this toddler was clearly in pain."

The play is categorized as "documentary theatre intertwined with Sarah Kane-ian in-yer-face stream of consciousness and the deep introspection of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape" and is directed by Rebecca Scott and written by Charlie Dupré.

Sarah Kane is an avant-garde theater maker who committed suicide in her late 20s, and whose work focused on incest, rape, and cannibalism among other taboo subjects. Her work is often taught in undergraduate theater programs as a hallmark of feminist achievement. 

According to Reduxx, the play is supported by the German government through the Berlin Senate as well as the Prevention Network Dunkelfeld, which was "launched in 2005 with the aim of reducing the stigma surrounding pedophilia in a purported effort to encourage pedophiles to come forward and seek support and treatment — an approach first popularized by B4U-Act, a pedophile support group which is also cited as popularizing the term 'minor-attracted person.'"

A MAP's Tale is part of the recent trend of attempting to normalize pedophilia in theater.

Bruce Norris's recent play "Downstate," which the Washington Post described as "brilliant," focuses on convicted child sex offenders living in a group home and, according to the theater's website, "zeroes in on the limits of compassion and forgiveness." The show is still running at New York's Playwrights Horizons Theater.