An ethics professor at Oslo Metropolitan University is under fire after arguing that pedophilia should be viewed as a natural sexual orientation that schools ought to teach in the classroom.Ole Martin Moen, a queer individual who serves on Norway’s Patient Organization for Gender-Incongruence’s advisory board, has long been a subject of controversy due to his provocative writings on sex, morality, and the boundaries of criminal law. New attention on his work has sparked outrage from children’s advocates, women’s groups, and fellow academics. They accuse him of sanitizing child sexual abuse and putting young people at risk.Moen first staked out his position a decade ago in a peer reviewed paper called The Ethics of Pedophilia. In that essay, republished in a 2018 philosophy textbook, he wrote that pedophilia is “bad only because, and only to the extent that, it causes harm to children,” adding that non-harmful “pedophilic expressions and practices … are morally all right.” .While he conceded that “penetrative sex” between adults and children is “likely” to be harmful, Moen claimed other forms of “adult–child sex” are not “categorically very harmful” and said society should judge those acts on a case-by-case basis. He portrayed sexual attraction to minors as a stable trait comparable to homosexuality, insisting many pedophiles “have a deep and integral part of their personalities” shaped by those child sexual desires.In the same paper, he praised offenders who never touch a child for their “admirable willpower,” saying condemnation of their attractions is “unjust.” He also argued that many people experienced attraction to pre-pubescent peers during childhood and that pedophiles merely “prefer more youngness” than the average adult.Moen’s most provocative suggestion may be his call for schools to educate teenagers who discover they are pedophilic. “A certain percent of high school students either are or will become pedophiles,” he wrote, urging educators to give them advice on “how to handle their sexuality” so future harm could be avoided..Two years after publishing that paper, Moen co-authored a chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy favouring the legalization of computer generated child sexual abuse images. He claimed such “fantasy outlets” would let pedophiles satisfy urges without endangering real children and insisted there is no evidence virtual material fuels in-person offences. Child protection experts disagree. Line Hegna, communications director for Save the Children Norway, has warned that any form of child abuse material “contributes to maintaining a market which presupposes abuse of children” and can “work to normalize abuse.” Critics say Moen’s ideas are especially jarring given his online attacks on feminist Christina Ellingsen, a campaigner with Women’s Declaration International Norway. Ellingsen faced a potential three year prison term over social media posts stating men cannot be lesbians.“You are a man. You cannot be a mother,” said Ellingsen referring to Christine Marie Jentoft, a Norwegian trans activist..Moen has publicly supported the police probe and repeated claims that Ellingsen’s comments constitute hate speech. Women’s groups argue the professor is attempting to silence dissent while advancing theories they call far more dangerous.Moen’s influence reaches beyond the university campus. Since 2015, he has sat on the academic council of Civita, Norway’s largest progressive think tank, and from 2017 to 2021, he led a government funded research project that received 8.9 million kroner ($1.25 million CDN) to examine what goods and services should never be bought or sold. The grant has come under renewed scrutiny, with opposition MPs calling for an audit of any public money that supported his work on pedophilia..The backlash arrives amid a growing movement of what watchdogs describe as pro-pedophile sentiment in higher education. State University of New York (SUNY) placed philosophy professor Stephen Kershnar on leave in 2022 after video surfaced of him defending adult-infant sexual contact. Kershnar is still banned from campus and cannot contact students.His academic appointment ends in August 2026 as SUNY terminated the position.A journal article questioning the push to “destigmatize” so called “minor attracted persons” was retracted within 24 hours after complaints from activists..Dr. Alaric Naude, an applied linguist at Suwon University in South Korea, said framing pedophilia as innate “makes it harder, not easier, for potential offenders to redirect their desires.” Naude called Moen’s proposals “dangerous pseudoscience” and urged universities to draw clear lines around child safety issues.Back in Oslo, children’s rights advocates have asked police to examine whether Moen’s writings violate Norway’s broad hate speech and child protection laws. Legal scholars note the country already outlaws written or visual depictions of sexual activity involving minors, including computer renderings, but the debate has reopened questions about academic freedom and immunity.Trine Sande, executive director of Adults for Children, said Moen’s argument that graphic virtual images pose no threat “ignores decades of evidence that fantasy can lower inhibitions and groom offenders.” Sande warned that normalizing the language of “sexual orientation” around minors “erodes one of the last taboos meant to shield children.”.For many Norwegians, the dispute touches a national nerve. In 2018, a celebrated child psychiatry expert was jailed for possessing thousands of child abuse images. The case shattered public trust and led lawmakers to stiffen sentencing guidelines. Advocates fear Moen’s high profile defence of virtual child porn risks undoing those gains.Law enforcement officials are skeptical. .Oslo police inspector Ragnhild Johannessen said investigators routinely find that men who consume virtual child sex images escalate to “contact crimes.”“The pathway from computer screen to real world harm is well documented,” said Johannessen, adding that officers “welcome any academic debate that keeps children safer, but not one that gives offenders talking points.”Moen faced a faculty review in 2022 but survived to continue his academic career without a “motion of censure.”Students have launched petitions demanding his removal, while staff in the department of childhood studies say they no longer feel comfortable collaborating with him.As the uproar spreads across the world over academics pushing for social acceptance of pedophiles or “minor attracted persons,” others see a broader reckoning over the boundaries of inquiry. “Universities exist to test ideas,” said Naude. “Yet some ideas, when directed at the most vulnerable, demand not just critique but a firm moral stance.”
