Writing this #article (well, both of the print and online articles) has been a #journey to say the least.
I started off with an extremely #stigmatized and #controversial subject, where I had to keep my objectivity and values in place, while following the etical codes. When you write about something as daunting as child sexual abuse, you find it quite hard to be objective. Many journalists fail in this particular task to keep the stone cold journalistic mask, but I found that emerging myself in this story and being empathic towards every corner of it was very benefitial.
I believe that I ended up with a well rounded piece that managed to showcase a point that is very hard to get through to people - paedophiles exist and not all of them offend. We, as a society, need to take this giant leap beyond us and our moral beliefs, and treat those people. We need to concentrate on the #prevention of their possible crimes. If that means working with them and helping them - so be it.
Throughout the entire writing process I found myself being anxious that my readers will think I somehow sympathise with child molesters, that I will mess up and the point I wanted to get across will get lost. I gave my best to explain this disputable topic in a way that every regular reader can understand.
And, frankly, I loved every second of it. It was something I have been looking into since the first year of my Bachelors degree and something that kept shocking and surprising me every step of the way. I really felt like I was writing an article that, before all, was #educating me.
The process is still continuing, but the main two texts are #done - and I can't wait to share them with the world!
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