Pro recovery

Pro recovery is a stance in paraphilia discourse. It may mean a range of things, varying from defense of conversion therapy to supporting rehabilitation of formerly abusive paraphiliacs.

Origins

The concept of "pro recovery" has been borrowed from the discourse surrounding eating disorders, where this term existed at least in 2012. In communities of people with eating disorders, being pro recovery means encouraging overcoming the disorders and refusing to engage in mutually triggering symptoms of other members.

This term has been introduced to paraphilia discourse in late 2021 by people who believed a paraphilia shares common traits with a disorder. This view originated in zoo discourse on Twitter and has been promoted by such movements as Phi Legion, OZA (Organized Zoo Antis), and Stolism(alternatively spelled as Skolism).

A flag for those of you who are zoophiles but you are recovering and beginning to heal. I think it would also be a great flag for those of you who have competed that journey and want to show pride in your success. Made by @zootsheppie and refined by @sickbagpony

- OZA introducing the recovery flag

Hi, everyone. I finally realized Zoophilia is wrong so I'm using the Recovering Zoophile flag!

- MissYin11 on Twitter

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  OZA's guide to zoo flags

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  Art, featuring the OZA flag

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  OZA polling their followers on their stances

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  "Recovered zoo" flag introduced

The term "pro recovery" has been introduced during a panic about an alleged mass grooming of teenagers into the zoophile identity, and some of its supporters explained recovery as such:

Basically a lot of kids are currently being groomed into being a zoophile so it's Basically "I was groomed but now I know better"

- DinoQueen360 on Twitter

You’re a child. You shouldn’t be hanging around a community of groomers and animal abusers. I run a group by the name of @Stolist_Claw which encourages recovery for kids like you involved in grooming and paraphilia

- treasuresson on Twitter (a co-founder of Stolism addressing a 13 year old zoophile)

A view of zoophilia as something that spreads via social contagion may explain why some of these people could have felt making comparisons with eating disorders is appropriate and adopted this terminology.

"Healthy paraphile"

Healthy paraphile is a term that emerged simultaneously with the events described above and has been used by the same circle of people. One of the first mentions of it still available on Twitter dates 20 December, 2021, and comes from someone identifying as an ex zoo. Zootsheppie, the creator of the recovering zoo flag, has used "healthy" and "recovering" interchangeably.

This term did not remain in the paraphilia discourse vocabulary, perhaps due to opposition from disabled and disordered paraphiliacs.

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  Criticism of the term "healthy paraphile"

One of the flags previously associated with the healthy paraphile identity is now used by members of the Twitter para community as a general paraphilia flag.

Later usage

While OZA did not include maps or any other paraphiliacs in their activities, other people who picked up this term soon applied it more widely. By 2023 a term "sunset paraphile" emerged, which included "pro recovery" as one of the affiliated stances.

This is also the point when the term was torn away from its origins by some users and no longer exclusively described getting rid of, or learning to suppress, a paraphilia. Instead it started meaning getting rid of distress around your paraphilia or seeking wellness in a general sense. In some cases, the concept of recovering from being pro contact appears. The community using these terms is nevertheless still affiliated with antis, only this time primarily in an anti transid sense.

By 2024 there appeared one more alternative meaning of "pro recovery", signifying rehabilitation of ex-offenders. This definition is supported by a paraphiliac organization PACHE, which considers itself pro recovery.

There still remain, however, those who identify with this label in its original sense. Additional meanings need to be understood as existing simultaneously with the 2021 one.

While it is better to be anti-contact than pro-contact, you still identify with the label of those harmful thoughts. If you know your paraphilia is known to be harmful, you shouldn’t try to identify with it. You should be pro-recovery than anti-contact, because- -pro-recovery shows that you KNOW those thoughts are bad and you’re genuinely trying to change, and maybe help others change too

- wubadubdub120 on Twitter

Criticism

The term "pro recovery" has been criticized by members of the paraphiliac community for its origins and implications. Even separated from the conversion therapy context, it can be regarded as inviting a medicalizing view of paraphilias. In addition to that, it may imply that poor mental health of members of the paraphiliac community is their own fault and responsibility to fix, rather than an outcome of living in a hostile society.