Frank Report published a guest view by Vernon Blake.
The title was Calling Pedophiles MAPs Is Dangerous; Will Encourage Child Abuse.
In the article Blake made some assertions about the Prostatia Foundation.
Blake said:
Prostatia had a co-founder who was a member of NAMBLA (National Association of Man Boy Love, a pro-pedophile organization).
Prostatia has convicted sex offenders on its board of directors.
They argue to DECRIMINALIZE the sharing of sexually explicit images of children and child porn material because “it hurts a few children who just want to share nudes of themselves.”
Prostatia is a front organization hoping to normalize pedophilia and increase avenues of child trafficking and abuse under the guise of being actually “helpful.”
The Prostatia Foundation’s San Francisco business address is across the street from a children’s elementary school.
Dr. James Cantor, a Prostatia board member, wants to include a “P” [for pedophile] in LGBTQ and said so on Twitter.
Prostatia promotes the idea that allowing MAPs access to digital, cartoon, or written child pornography and child-sized sex dolls (illegal in the US) will help MAPs not molest or rape children.
Prostatia advocates AGAINST child safeguarding on the internet.
Their communications director, Noah Berlatsky said on Twitter that the relationships between parents and children are inherently abusive, and that sex offender registries are “racist.”
Prostatia promotes the idea that “MAPS” [Minor Attracted People] should have chat rooms to meet privately online to help each other not offend.
Jeremy Malcolm PhD LLB (Hons) B Com is a lawyer, and father of two. He is the Executive Director of Prostasia.
Macolm’s background is, according to the Prostatia website, “information technology and intellectual property lawyer and IT consultant. He is admitted to the bars of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1995), High Court of Australia (1996), and Appellate Division of New York (2009).”
Macolm wrote to me:
Please remove the following false statements from your article:
“Prostatia had a co-founder who was a member of NAMBLA (National Association of Man Boy Love, a pro-pedophile organization).”
“Prostatia has convicted sex offenders on its board of directors.”
“They argue to DECRIMINALIZE the sharing of sexually explicit images of children and child porn material because “it hurts a few children who just want to share nudes of themselves.”
“Prostatia is a front organization hoping to normalize pedophilia and increase avenues of child trafficking and abuse under the guise of being actually “helpful.””
“The Prostatia Foundation’s San Francisco business address is across the street from a children’s elementary school.”
Dr. James Cantor, a Prostatia board member, wants to include a “P” [for pedophile] in LGBTQ and said so on Twitter.”
These statements are all blatantly untrue and on behalf of the organization I am requesting an immediate retraction and apology.
You can read accurate information about Prostasia Foundation on our website:
https://prostasia.org/faq/social-media-callouts-faq/
Incredible that you can describe yourself as an investigative journalist and yet publish an article like this with no fact checking whatsoever.
Of the 10 assertions made by Vernon, Malcolm disputes six.
He does not dispute:
Prostatia promotes the idea that allowing MAPs access to digital, cartoon, or written child pornography and child-sized sex dolls (illegal in the US) will help MAPs not molest or rape children.
Prostatia advocates AGAINST child safeguarding on the internet.
Their communications director, Noah Berlatsky said on Twitter that the relationships between parents and children are inherently abusive, and that sex offender registries are “racist.”
Prostatia promotes the idea that “MAPS” [Minor Attracted People] should have chat rooms to meet privately online to help each other not offend.
What Is Prostasia’s Published Position
Internet freedom
We support the removal of child sexual abuse imagery from the Internet, but don’t believe this requires the censorship of lawful speech or redistributing liability for speech onto neutral Internet platforms.
Sex worker rights
We are strongly opposed to minors engaging in any kind of sex work. But measures that would target all sex workers in the name of protecting those who are underage are disproportionate and infringe the rights of adult sex workers.
Encryption and safety
As the only child protection organization that is a member of the Global Encryption Coalition, we recognize how strong encryption keeps children safe. Any technology can be abused, but banning this one isn’t an option.
Helping people to avoid offending
Research can inform us about how best to work with those who have a higher risk of offending, or whom the public perceives as doing so, to help keep children safe—while upholding the due process rights that protect us all.
Sexting law reform
The criminalization of sexting can cause more harm to teens than the images themselves. We support measures that restrict the dissemination of sexting images and criminalize their possession by adults, but oppose the criminalization of their subjects.
I understand this to mean that children can share nudes of themselves. So that I do not think Vernon was wrong when he wrote
They argue to DECRIMINALIZE the sharing of sexually explicit images of children and child porn material because “it hurts a few children who just want to share nudes of themselves.”
Kink awareness
Other child protection groups often misunderstand the kink community. We believe that adults have a right to participate in consensual sexual behaviors, and that researchers could learn from this community about practices that may reduce child sexual abuse.
One of the kinks they do not oppose is
The majority of sexual offences aren’t the result of child sex trafficking, nor are they committed by known sex offenders. Yet these are the targets of most child protection laws and policies, which explains why they are so ineffective.
In contrast, Prostasia’s priority is on using law, technology, and social intervention to prevent CSA before it happens, rather than merely tracking down and punishing those who have already offended—at which point our society has already failed the victim. We do this through four actions:
Campaigning for effective laws
Consulting to platforms and agencies
You can become a member of the Prostasia Foundation for as little as $5 per month.
The directors besides Malcolm are
Maggie McNeill is a writer, sex worker, and former librarian. She writes a daily blog called “The Honest Courtesan.”
She is also fighting the “War on Whores.”
Jae Snell is also a member. “They” [i.e. Jae] are a mental health worker, a human rights activist, educator, and researcher.
According to Ayden Férdeline who operates Prostasia.info, Prostasia supports “the sale of child-like sex dolls, advocate in support of the sexual depiction of minors in drawings and cartoons, and believe sex offense registries don’t protect children.”
Who is involved with Prostasia?
A convicted sex offender, sex workers, webcam models, and others — but it’s hard to find anyone with child protection expertise.
The advisory council of Prostasia consisted of convicted sex offender Guy Hamilton-Smith, sex worker Maggie McNeill, and webcam model Honey Sampson, as well as a number of individuals who have expertise in free expression, intellectual property protections, and Internet governance.
Honey Sampson
Advisor, she/her
Honey Sampson is a social media influencer, a cam model, and an activist for sex and body positivity, sex worker rights, and sexual abuse prevention.
Prostasia spent resources on justifying the behavior of adults and commissioning art that I believe depicts a child in a sexual manner.
What is the Prostasia Foundation?
The Prostasia Foundation is a tax-exempt California non-profit, which has described itself as a
“child protection organization that is inclusive of … kinky people, and sex workers.”
Prostasia advocates for the lawful possession and sale of
supports the “sexual depiction of minors in drawings and cartoons“,
argues that “sex offense registries do almost nothing to protect children from abuse“,
and has published a blog post where a “kinky person” mentions fantasizing about being touched non-consensually while pretending to be a child.
Clinical psychologist Dr. James Cantor, who serves on Prostasia’s advisory council, said on social media that pedophilia is akin to homosexuality.
Prostasia hired Jeff White as a research associate in 2018 to serve as a “liaison between Prostasia and its stakeholder communities” in its convenings with “marginalized stakeholder groups.”
Sarah Phillimore, a family lawyer in the United Kingdom, discovered White was arrested in 2012 for criminal sex conduct with a victim under the age of 13.
Following scrutiny on social media, Prostasia terminated White and has now implemented a staff screening policy.
Prostasia blog editor Sheila van den Heuvel-Collins resigned in January 2020 after tweeting on Christmas in 2019, “Merry Christmas to everyone, including the nepiophiles, pedophiles, hebephiles and ephebophiles who have to put up with people … virtue-signalling and perpetuating stigma every single day of the year.”
Prostasia seems to support the provision of sex dolls depicting children.
She joined Prostasia in August 2019.
Months before joining Prostasia, she self-published a book Past the Dark Field, which she described in a podcast as being “a collection of short stories about minor-attracted people.”
She says in the podcast she was inspired to write this book by “all the anti-pedo content on social media.”
Prostasia welcomes self-described pedophiles as volunteers.
On its online discussion forum, a user in May 2020 asked, “Do you accept pedophiles like myself as volunteers?” Executive director Jeremy Malcolm replied, “We don’t make a policy of asking people about their sexuality before they are allowed to volunteer.”
Dr. Malcolm’s language, in equating pedophilia with recognized sexual orientations, normalizes child sexual abuse under the guise of open-minded compassion.
Prostasia campaigned for drawings and cartoons that contain sexual depictions of minors, but also commissioned art which depict a child in a sexual manner.
In 2019, Prostasia launched a campaign because, “A United Nations committee wants to have drawings … added to the international legal definition of child pornography.”
Prostasia stated that “a drawing that depicts an imaginary child exploits nobody.”
Prostasia released a Hentai image on Twitter equating cartoon child sex scenes with art. Hentai is described on Wikipedia as a pornographic artform used to depict a “perverse or bizarre sexual desire or act.”
Prostasia’s campaign image consisted of an underage female with an exaggerated facial expression and a protruding tongue with a text box saying, “Don’t Report It!“.
One Twitter user, who had previously tweeted about their attraction to drawings of children, asked Prostasia where they could see more images like the one Prostasia shared.
Prostasia replied, stating the image was an “original commission.”
Prostasia routinely advocates for the lawful possession and sale of child-like sex dolls.
In 2019, Prostasia issued a call for proposals for research into the availability of child-like sex dolls with the hypothesis that such “toys may provide a safe, private sexual outlet for some people who would otherwise be at risk of turning their attention towards actual minors. This research should test these hypotheses.”
Due to a funding shortfall, Prostasia was unable to issue a grant to fund this research in 2019, but they state that they are “currently fundraising to support this call for research” at a later date.
Prostasia has used its resources to organize a workshop on “kink and child protection” that discussed scenarios such as:
Child pedo sex doll.
A bisexual and polyamorous woman in her 40s became involved in a sexual relationship with her 18 year old tenant, and on two occasions engaged in sexual activity with him in the presence of her 5 year old son. She claims her son was asleep on one occasion, and unable to witness the act on the other. Were any lines crossed?
This session was led by Prostasia program director Meagan Ingerman, who says in her biography that she “has engaged in multiple forms of sex work and has ties to the organized kink community.”
Ingerman is also the author of the blog post on Prostasia’s website, “Age gap relationships through the looking glass,” where she states, “I don’t believe it’s right to stigmatize teens who pursue sex or relationships with older people of any age.”
Protasia’s official position:
“Child sexual abuse isn’t always intentionally predatory. It can also include carelessly failing to check about a partner’s age when you have reason to doubt that they are legal. In most states, “they lied about their age” is not an excuse. The message that “all child sexual abusers are predators or pedophiles … contributes to a culture of victim-blaming.”
Maggie MacNeill
Prostasia equipment and personnel are used to produce Prostasia’s monthly ‘Sex, Human Rights, and CSA [Child Sexual Abuse] Prevention’ podcast and accompanying video series.
In one episode, program director Ingerman interviewed sex worker Maggie McNeill about her self-care practices and lessons she could offer young people.
McNeill said, “I have my nightly self-care ritual, which is basically to get as stoned as possible.”
Ingerman replied, “That’s a great self-care ritual; I’m familiar with that one myself.”
McNeill then describes not making personal or professional appointments before midday.
I personally do not consider this advice suitable for children. I believe adults should share wisdom with children, which will help them become respectful and hardworking members of society.
Child protection expert Professor Michael Salter, director of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, and advisor to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, asked rhetorically on social media in December 2019:
Are there any Prostasia “campaigns” that don’t undermine online child protection? … They claim to be a child protection org, but it’s hard to find an issue where they err on the side of actual child protection.
In May 2020, Professor Salter said:
Prostasia doesn’t have a victim focus, full stop. Their energies are taken up with defending pedophile access to cartoon CSAM [child sexual abuse material] and child sexual abuse dolls.
Artist rendition of two binary dinosaurs incapable of understanding the mission of Prostasia.
