Online pedophile activism

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Published list of websites advocating adult-child sex in 2011, as appeared in a criminology book.[1]
“”Age is just a number, in the same sense that jail is just a house.
“”Pedophilia is a sexual orientation in the way cannibalism is a dietary preference?

In many online forums, confessing to being a pedophile is sometimes considered trolling, at best, because the implication is that the person may be a danger to any youngsters who use the site, and therefore could expose the site to legal risk. Despite this, there are websites that have engaged in activism in favor of pedophilia or pederasty, and they may argue for things like the abolition of the age of consent, or that pedophilia is just another sexual orientation, such as homosexuality or heterosexuality.[note 1]

Sites[edit]

Wikis[edit]

Wikipedia[edit]

Wikipedia has banned self-identified pedophiles under its child protection policy,Wikipedia but not before much calamity had already taken place on the site.[2]

The English Wikipedia enacted, at the behest of the God-king Jimbo,Wikipedia[3] a child protection policy that states "Wikipedia regards the safety of children using the site as a key issue. Editors who attempt to use Wikipedia to pursue or facilitate inappropriate adult–child relationships, who advocate inappropriate adult–child relationships on- or off-wiki (e.g. by expressing the view that inappropriate relationships are not harmful to children), or who identify themselves as pedophiles, will be blocked indefinitely."

The first version of that policy was added by MZMcBrideWikipedia on 27 April 2010.[4] On 4 April 2013, AlisonWikipedia added the language stating that off-wiki advocacy would merit an indefinite block.[5][6] It would seem that the impetus for this change was this thread.

By 2010, large numbers of pro-pedophile websites (such as NAMBLA and BoyWiki's websites) were banned from Wikipedia, following a Faux News article which reported that the liberal pedo agenda had infiltrated Wikipedia.[7] This was confirmed by the Wikipedians; they also confirmed "All of the links appear in old talk archives or from project page discussions."

Despite this, Erik MöllerWikipedia (former deputy director at the Wikimedia Foundation) has been described by Gawker as "a defender of pedophilia", and takes interest in many subjects which fall under the (now defunct) Wikipedia Pedophile Article Watch.Wikipedia Various pro-pedophile websites such as those belonging to the Dutch pedophile group MARTIJN (the Dutch counterpart to NAMBLA) and BoyLinks (which describes itself as "The Internet's most comprehensive listing of boy-related and boylove websites")[8] find his arguments on pedophilia to be coherent with theirs. Also, on his previous humanist.de website, a picture of child pornography was present.[9]

Flyer22 Reborn,Wikipedia one of the most active enforcers of the child protection policy until her death, favored tolerance towards pedophiles who claim to "fight against their child sexual abuse urges and believe that child sexual abuse is wrong". She also added: "even if they are lying, it's not a problem for this site if they don't openly express pro-child sexual abuse views or engaging in pro-child sexual abuse editing, and so on".[10][11]

Newgon[edit]

Newgon Organization (Newgon.net) is (according to itself) an informal activist organization initially set up at Newgon.com by Daniel Lievre and Jillium on Jun 8, 2007. Newgon, which presently operates from a MediaWiki-based site and has no official membership, was founded after Google's removal of a number of pedophile/"minor attraction" blogs from their blogger platform, and was most active until around 2010 and again after 2021. The organization (in this instance, confirmed by media sources) produces information resources, academic research collections,[12] and "debate" guides relating to MAPs (see below), and pedophilia.[13][14][15] It has also hosted forums for discussion of these themes, and private forums to organize "evidence-based" information campaigns.[16]

Newgon was an early proponent of the term "MAP" (Minor Attracted Person) - an identity that includes ephebophiles and hebephiles with pedophiles. While "MAP" (and the body of scientific research surrounding it, see for example in Google Scholar) is now a staple of RW online outrage-mongering and groomer-hysteria, for Newgon, it is likely an attempt to expand their perceived demographic to a substantial minority of the male population. Newgon had semi-successfully infiltrated Wikipedia in the 00s, going on to inspire an edition of Law and Order: SVU ("Hardwired"), and the villain Kevin O'Donnell.[17][18]

It was only after their editors were kicked off Wikipedia in 2007 and 2008, that significant editing began on NewgonWiki, resulting in a "body of knowledge" that now resembles a serious attempt to "construct a history of MAPs" that rivals both black and gay history. In its more recent incarnation, the organization funds an "independent" chat server, on which members organize Twitter sock trolling campaigns. If only to confirm their symbiotic relationship with the right-wing outrage mob, these have inspired performative outrage within the followings of influencers such as Jordan Peterson, Blaire White, Raheem Kassam and Jack Posobiec, according to various (and sadly, it appears genuine) screens reproduced on their website. Newgon has claimed responsibility for multiple Twitter outrage threads commanding over 2M impressions, and considers the publicity a mark of pride in their attempts to "increase visibility".

BoyWiki[edit]

Described by Wikipedia as "An online wiki collaborative project for "boylovers". Available in English, French, and German."Wikipedia An interesting variety of its articles were copied onto the anarchist-based wiki imaginatively named Anarchopedia,[19] including articles on the so-called "Child liberation movement"[20] and child molestation.[21] Anarchopedia is not unique in this, and this has led to factional infighting in the radical left community; Maoist Rebel News (Jason Unruhe) described RevLeft as "a Bunch of Pedophile-Zionists".[22] The founder of NAMBLA (David Thorstad) was a lifelong Trotskyite.[23]

Some of BoyWiki's more interesting articles (not moved over to the anarchist website) describe information such as "How not to accidentally out yourself"[24] and a very large article discussing adult-child sex (who would have guessed!).[25] This was created on 8 August 2009,[26] coincidentally after a POV-fork article of the same name was deleted on Wikipedia, in January of that year.[27]

Interestingly enough, the site seems to take a rather positive view of RationalWiki (whilst not mentioning Conservapedia), stating that we are:

“”... a wiki ostensibly devoted to analyzing and refuting pseudoscience and the anti-science movement, documenting the full range of crank ideas, explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism, and analysis and criticism of how these subjects are handled in the media. The site's main blind spot is that it has very little criticism of left-wing authoritarianism.[28]

"My enemy's enemy"?...

It is associated with the "Free Spirits" organization behind BoyChat,[29] described by BoyWiki as "the longest-running boylove community on the World Wide Web." Apparently, some 200–300 posts are created each day,[30] although it's difficult to tell as to how many are genuine "boylovers", or as to whether they are trolls, vigilantes, or law enforcement officials.

“”The most important function Wikipedia serves is via the pedophilia articles themselves. It is important that they remain fair and unbiased. It is important that they continue to have external links to the support and activist community.[31]

AnnabelLeigh.net, also called GirlChat, is the sister site to BoyChat.[7] This site is less active and frequently is down. However, when BoyChat gets taken down by DDoSWikipedia attacks (as happened in late October 2016), GirlChat often remains unaffected and can be a source of information about what is happening with BoyChat.

Rightpedia[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Rightpedia

Rightpedia admin Hu1 (posting as Fiala1) defended Children.orain, a site registered with the now-defunct Orain.org by a pedophile. Hu1 described the site as a "small harmless children's Wiki".[32] In fact the creator was banned by Orain staff, describing him as a "pedophile scumbag" and Children.orain has been closely monitored.[33]

Unsurprisingly, being the fashier version of Metapedia, Rightpedia's article on pedophilia only focuses on opposition to Jewish pedophiles and there is not any mention of non-Jewish pedophiles on the page.[34]

Imageboards[edit]

8chan[edit]

8chan has been described by The Washington Post as "the more-lawless, more-libertarian, more 'free' follow-up to 4chan."[35] Boards have been created to discuss controversial topics, including pedophilia. While the sharing of illegal content is against site rules, The Daily Dot wrote that boards exist to share sexualized images of minors in provocative poses, and that some users of those boards post links to explicit child pornography hosted elsewhere.[36]

When asked whether such boards were an inevitable result of free speech, Brennan responded, "Unfortunately, yes. I don't support the content on the boards you mentioned, but it is simply the cost of free speech and being the only active site to not impose more 'laws' than those that were passed in Washington, D.C."[36][note 2] 8chan then had multiple boards dedicated to such material. In August 2015, for a brief period, 8chan was blacklisted from Google Search for containing content constituting "suspected child abuse content".[38] It was later restored to the search engine's listings without explanation.[39]

Administration of 8chan later shifted from Brennan to Jim Watkins and his son, Ron Watkins. Following this, an investigation by Mother Jones alleged that old websites owned by Jim Watkins had domains suggestive of child pornography. Watkins was also dismissive of Brennan's proposals to better police child abuse content on the site, using machine learning.[40] The Watkins administration eventually banned illustrated child pornography on 8chan circa the early 2020s, according to an updated "guidance" page laying out the site's rules against illegal content, which interprets illustrated sexualizations of children as illegal.[41]

4chan[edit]

There was one board, /l/ (Lolikon), dedicated to lolicon (illustrated child pornography of young girls) on 4chan as far back as 2003 (the same year the site was founded). Though, it was eventually removed after people posted real-life child porn on it (users were assured that the site's founder was not on some kind of "anti-pedo crusade", however). At least one other board, /sm/ (Shota/Male) was dedicated to shotacon (illustrated child pornography of young boys).[42][43] These days, lolicon and shotacon are only allowed on /b/, though this rule is regularly disregarded by some posters (as any rule tends to be treated on 4chan). In more recent years, some more seriously organized pedophilia advocacy has occurred on boards such as /pol/, with multiple users citing, with some regularity, other established pro-pedophile websites such as Newgon in campaigns to sway opinion.[44] Blatant pedophilia advocacy is technically a bannable offense, at least on /pol/, but is not always enforced.[note 3]

IMGSRC[edit]

IMGSRC is a Russia-based image host and board. It does look innocuous on the surface and has legitimate uploads such as travel and pet photos, but it became something of a pilgrimage site or echo chamber for many a depraved creep as a significant proportion of users are uploading questionable if not outright illegal imagery of children and minors; despite claims that they have a strict policy against child pornography, this is in practice leniently enforced at best and many have dumped in countless photos of children either culled from publicly available social media profiles or advertising material (e.g. stock photos of child fashion models), or photos of friends and/or relatives taken by the uploaders themselves in various states of undress. Users would often leave disturbing comments gushing over the ensuing infantile erotica, much to the disgust of watchdog groups who took notice of the site and its users' sick antics. One American serviceman who worked at Mar-a-Lago was implicated for uploading topless photos of an underage relative in 2019, though a court ruled that the images – while indeed sus – did not legally constitute as child porn (unless the children involved are completely in the nude).[45]

Whether the site's operators are turning a blind eye or are indeed complicit i.e. using IMGSRC as an actual pedo forum on the clearnet fronting as a seemingly legitimate image host (which speaks volumes about the Russian authorities' duplicity and hypocrisy for banning everything contrary to "traditional family values" while turning a blind eye to actual obscenity) is anyone's guess. The site appears to have been banned from Google's index in recent years, though this is apparently limited to site-specific searches as links pointing to IMGSRC still show up in search results, even potentially explicit media involving kids (!). A number of ISPs and DNS providers did block the site on obscenity grounds, however,[46] and the Internet Archive has banned the site from being crawled by its Wayback Machine as well. The Russian communications (and censorship) bureau Roskomnadzor did in fact block the site for a while in August 2021,[47] but somehow lifted the ban just one month later.[48]

Miscellaneous[edit]

Egomoral[edit]

Egomoral is a website for pedophiles and is chock full of apologia for pedophilia; as well as promoting adult-child sex,[49] the site also promotes polygamy[50] and zoophilia.[51] It has been quoted a few times on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!, much to the revulsion of the commenters. User webwub declared that "age of consent laws conflict with biology" and user Anglebrook makes the claim that 91.4% of men are pedophiles, based on a quiz that the website itself had put up[52] (which falls victim to the spotlight fallacy and selection bias).

Christian Boy Love Forum[edit]

“”The Christian Boylove Forum (CBF) was started in order to give Christian boylovers a space in which to work out their own issues.
—BoyWiki, describing the Christian Boy Love Forum.[53]

The "Christian Boy Love Forum" was created following the completely unwarranted prejudice that "boylovers" felt within the Christian community, and from 2000–2002 published a newsletter named Parakelesis, which they claimed contained "informative articles and poetry".[53] The organisation organized a number of meetups between 1998 and 2002, deciding in 2001 that they would allow filthy breeders within their ranks.[53] A variety of choice quotes from these people are available via the Encyclopædia Dramatica.[54]

Caution Click[edit]

Caution Click advocates decriminalization of "non-production child pornography" activities, such as possession and distribution of images of children being sexually assaulted.[55]

Straight Talk for Boys About Sex with Males[edit]

The booklet — recently circulated through a Web site for pedophiles — had been written, it said, "for any boy who is old enough to be able to read it."
Called "Straight Talk for Boys," it is an 18-page discussion of sex, particularly between children and adults, from the pedophiles' viewpoint. Such encounters are depicted as harmless, even beneficial. The document criticizes parents and therapists. And it encourages boys to wear Speedo bathing suits and shower naked in public places.
But it repeatedly returns to one message: boys should never tell about sex with adults. "Older boys and men may be frightened about getting caught having sex play with you, because they can be put in jail," it says. "So you have to think of ways to 'signal' your interest in another person without openly saying what you want," adding that "nobody else can know about what you agree to do."
The booklet comes with instructions, advising pedophiles on how to distribute it. "The best and safest way is to leave quantities of the booklet in places where boys in the 8 to 14 range can find them, and where adults will not discover them too quickly," the instructions read. "Obviously, you don't want to be observed placing the booklets in your chosen locations."
The booklet reflects how pedophiles can use the Internet to advance their interests in the real world. Like many of those efforts, this one involved deception: the booklet does not reveal, for example, that it has been written and distributed by men who are sexually attracted to children, but instead portrays itself as objective fact.
– New York Times.[56]

"Ephebophilia"[edit]

In certain online circles, including parts of Reddit and the manosphere, some male users openly celebrate their attraction to underage girls in their teens. According to many self-proclaimed "ephebophiles," it's "natural" or a "biotruth" that adult men are attracted to teenage girls, and age of consent laws are an attack on "healthy male sexuality" invented by feminists and older women in order to monopolize the "sexual marketplace".[57] One common refrain is that women lose their attractiveness when they hit "the wall," an alleged age where generally female beauty precipitously declines.

Similar sentiments were voiced by Jeffrey Epstein, the infamous financier and convicted sex offender, in an interview he gave in 2018. In it, he argued that modern taboos against adult men having sex with teenage girls were a "cultural aberration" that flew in the face of much of human history, with the implication that he hoped that one day, laws and attitudes concerning such would be rolled back. He contrasted this with homosexuality, which has been the subject of long-standing taboos dating back over a thousand years, and which is still punishable by death in some countries.[58][59]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ There are groups like Virtuous Pedophiles,Wikipedia who state they believe child sexual abuse is wrong and seek to raise awareness that some pedophiles do not offend. This is itself controversial, for which see: Pedophilia § Semantics.
  2. ↑ Brennan later denounced 8chan.[37]
  3. ↑ This slippery fella for example has been occasionally banned (indicated by the trash can icon in 4plebs) for that evident reason.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Jaishankar, K. (2011-02-22) (in en). Cyber Criminology: Exploring Internet Crimes and Criminal Behavior. CRC Press. pp. 109. ISBN 978-1-4398-2950-9. 
  2. ↑ User talk:Jimbo Wales – Massive pedophile crackdown Wikipedia (started 16 April 2007)
  3. ↑ "User talk:Jimbo Wales". wikipedia.org. Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Wikipedia:Child protection". wikipedia.org. Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Alison (4 April 2013). "I think this needs to be clarified (see AN/I discussion). WP:BOLD an' all that ...". 
  6. ↑ Alison (5 April 2013). "it's a recipe for just fine, thanks. Talk page (I noticed you missed discussing this point)". 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "EXCLUSIVE: Pedophiles Find a Home on Wikipedia", Fox News. Archived using archive.is.
  8. ↑ Boylinks, archived by archive.isWikipedia
  9. ↑ Owen Thomas. "Erik Möller, No. 2 at Wikipedia, a defender of pedophilia". Gawker. (Archived using archive.is).
  10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk%3AChild_protection&type=revision&diff=694522163&oldid=694455757
  11. ↑ (January 31, 2021). "Obituary: Flyer22 Frozen". The Signpost. "Flyer22 was also a frequent participant in [various WikiProjects]; plus a variety of noticeboards [...] with especial attention to child protection and the blocking of egregious trolls."
  12. ↑ "Research - NewgonWiki"
  13. ↑ "Debate Guide - NewgonWiki"
  14. ↑ Creepedia
  15. ↑ Mail-order drugs, hitmen & child porn: A journey into the dark corners of the deep web - TNW
  16. ↑ "Debate Guide - NewgonWiki"
  17. ↑ Afterelton Web Archive
  18. ↑ Kevin O'Donnell
  19. ↑ List of articles Beta M copied from BoyWiki and pasted on Anarchopedia, Encyclopædia Dramatica (archived)
  20. ↑ "Child liberation movement", Anarchopedia
  21. ↑ "child molestation", Anarchopedia
  22. ↑ "RevLeft is a Bunch of Pedophile-Zionists". wordpress.com. Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
  23. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on David Thorstad.
  24. ↑ "How not to accidentally out yourself", BoyWiki (archived at archive.isWikipedia)
  25. ↑ "Adult-child sex", BoyWiki (archived at archive.isWikipedia)
  26. ↑ "Adult-child sex", BoyWiki. (archived by archive.isWikipedia).
  27. ↑ Deletion "Review: Adult-child sex", Wikipedia. Closed 04:03, 28 January 2008 (UTC); archive via archive.is here.
  28. ↑ "RationalWiki". BoyWiki (archived at archive.isWikipedia)
  29. ↑ "Free Spirits", BoyWiki (archived at archive.isWikipedia)
  30. ↑ "BoyChat" BoyWiki (archived at archive.isWikipedia)
  31. ↑ Sarah D. Goode (7 July 2009). Understanding and Addressing Adult Sexual Attraction to Children: A Study of Paedophiles in Contemporary Society. Routledge. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-135-25804-7. 
  32. ↑ Rightpedia Screenshot 3.
  33. ↑ Children.orain.org. Wikipediocracy.
  34. ↑ Rightpedia Screenshot 4.
  35. ↑ Caitlin, Dewey (January 13, 2014). "This is what happens when you create an online community without any rules". The Washington Post. 
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Howell O'Neill, Patrick (November 17, 2014). "8chan, the central hive of Gamergate, is also an active pedophile network". The Daily Dot. 
  37. ↑ Bhaskar Sunkara (April 20, 2021). "Fredrick Brennan Is the Founder of 8chan. Now He Wants to Take It Offline." Jacobin.
  38. ↑ Machkovech, Sam (August 14, 2015). "8chan-hosted content disappears from Google searches". Ars Technica. 
  39. ↑ Brennan, Frederick (August 13, 2015). "Google is not your friend?". 
  40. ↑ AJ Vicens and Ali Breland (October 29, 2020). "QAnon Is Supposed to Be All About Protecting Kids. Its Primary Enabler Appears to Have Hosted Child Porn Domains." Mother Jones.
  41. ↑ (May 7, 2022). "GUIDANCE - 8kun", via archive.today.
  42. ↑ https://www.4chan.org/4channews.php/?all#oldnews (Search for posts mentioning /L/.)
  43. ↑ https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/4chan_Chronicle/Foundation
  44. ↑ https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/search/text/%22newgon%22/
  45. ↑ Gilbert, Ben. "A US soldier working at Mar-a-Lago uploaded photos of an underage girl to a Russian website — a closer look at the site reveals a horrific underworld" (in en-US). Business Insider. 
  46. ↑ Site blocking report
  47. ↑ Medium.com
  48. ↑ Medium.com
  49. ↑ "Is sex bad for kids?", archived at the Wayback Machine.
  50. ↑ "Is same-sex marriage the slippery slope to Polygamy?", archived at the Wayback Machine
  51. ↑ "Interview with a Zoophile", archived at the Wayback Machine.
  52. ↑ Archived using archive.is
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 "Christian Boy Love Forum" BoyWiki (Screenshot; archived at archive.is)
  54. ↑ "Christian Boy Love Forum", archived using the Wayback Machine.
  55. ↑ http://www.cautionclick.com/
  56. ↑ "On the Web, Pedophiles Extend Their Reach" New York Times
  57. ↑ Jay Hammers: "Age of Consent is Misandry." 23 December 2010 (recovered 20 February 2018). (Archived copy linked from another MRA blog; here is commentary by We Hunted the Mammoth.
  58. ↑ Stewart, James B. "The Day Jeffrey Epstein Told Me He Had Dirt on Powerful People." The New York Times, 12 August 2019 (recovered 15 August 2019).
  59. ↑ Garber, Megan. "The Myth of the 'Underage Woman'." The Atlantic, 15 August 2019 (recovered 15 August 2019).
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