Virginia professor who published research on adults attracted to minors resigns amid ‘multiple threats’

A Virginia professor who recently published research on adults who are attracted to minors is resigning amid “multiple threats.”

Ally Walker, who’s transgender and uses they/them pronouns, announced their resignation on Wednesday — eight days after they were placed on administrative leave.

Walker is an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University. Their book, “A Long, Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity,” was published in June and it sought to challenge “widespread assumptions” that people who are attracted to minors “are necessarily also predators and sex offenders,” according to its publisher.

The book, for which Walker interviewed more than 40 “non-offending minor-attracted persons” aims to offer an account of the “lived experiences of this hidden population,” and it argues that destigmatizing that attraction could ultimately lead to the prevention of sexual abuse.

“I worry that my readers will somehow think that I am downplaying sexual abuse against children or that I am even trying to normalize it,” the professor wrote in the preface of the book. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” they added.

While the research was praised by some scholars — including Jill Levenson, a professor of social work at Florida’s Barry University, who said that the “book will help prevent harm and enhance well-being” — it also generated widespread criticism.

An online petition calling for the firing of Walker — calling their views about minor attractions “unacceptable” — has been signed by nearly 15,000 people.

But in an interview with The Washington Post last week, Walker maintained that their research was “being misrepresented in right-wing media,” making it “unsafe to remain on campus.”

“The idea that I’m somehow condoning child sexual abuse is absolutely outrageous. I really think it’s a coordinated effort about attacking the LGBTQ community and academic freedom,” Walker said.

“That research was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly on the basis of my trans identity,” Walker said in a statement Wednesday, as they announced their resignation. ”As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally.”

ODU President Brian O. Hemphill confirmed that Walker would step down at the end of the academic year in May.

“We have concluded that this outcome is the best way to move forward,” he said Wednesday. “As we move forward, I encourage all members of the Monarch family to continue our efforts toward healing and civil discourse,” he added.

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