There are two possible guiding values for an organization like ours: morality, or harm reduction. It may not seem obvious why a choice should be necessary, since child sexual abuse is both immoral and harmful. But these two values are in tension, and the contours of this tension are actually pretty easy to find. For example, should teens be prosecuted for sexting with each other? Should cartoon images of minors be treated as equivalent to actual photographs of child abuse?

A "yes" answer to questions like these isn't about preventing or reducing harm to children; indeed, it sometimes comes at the cost of directly harming children. Rather, this approach is all about enforcing morality irrespective of harm; a "war on creeps," if you will. It is a safe and popular choice, and that's why it's the approach followed by most child protection groups.

In contrast, a harm reduction approach requires an understanding of science, a willingness to question stereotypes, and the fortitude to stand up to stigma. It's a more difficult path to take than a "war on creeps," but it's far less likely to create casualties of innocent adults and children. It's also the only approach that encourages people to seek help to avoid offending if they need it, rather than treating them as irredeemable monsters.

PayPal has made its choice between these approaches, and it has decided to reject our evidence-based, prevention-focused approach in favor of joining the "war on creeps" brigade that has been so harmful to communities such as sex workers, LGBTQ+ people, and CSA survivors. You can read the full story behind PayPal's attempt at financial censorship of Prostasia's work in our blog post linked here and below.

Since then, we have made a complaint against PayPal which has been escalated to the company's Executive Office. Our demands are very straightforward: since PayPal alleged that we breached its Acceptable Use Policy in some way, we would simply like to know which provision of that policy we breached. We'd like to be able to give you the answer to that question, but PayPal continues to dodge it. Its latest response says merely:

I understand your frustration completely. Please understand we are not trying to prevent you from taking donations through your website; all we are saying is that we cannot be your processor going forward. Were I in your place, I would also probably feel that PayPal’s actions regarding your account were arbitrary, and perhaps even punitive. Let me assure you this is absolutely not the case in any way. As a large corporate entity, we have specific policies that we must adhere to, and before we take action on an account, we do extensive research and review before making any kind of decision. We do not come to these decisions without considerable forethought and deliberation. I sincerely apologize for any kind of hindrance this may have caused you.

As we made clear in our blog post, our concern over PayPal's actions isn't limited to its effect on own own operations as a nonprofit—we have already shifted our business elsewhere. Rather, we are concerned about the outsized role that the financial sector wields in forcing other businesses to censor legitimate content about sex.That's why we invited a representative from payment processor SegPay to attend our #SexContentDialogue in May. 

What is it that causes these powerful companies to act in the way that they do? One factor is that they are targets of lobbying from church-linked conservative morality groups. Over the last two weeks NCOSE (Morality in Media) has been ramping up pressure on individual companies like Amazon and Steam to engage in even more censorship of lawful speech. But although these tactics have been successful, by placing this pressure on financial intermediaries such as PayPal instead, the policies of many retailers and platforms can be affected at the same time. That's why NCOSE has boasted: 

We are seeing significant changes across the board in the last four years since Morality in Media dramatically increased its efforts and began to aggressively challenge all those supporting pornography in America. Google, Verizon, the United States Congress, the Department of Defense, Paypal, Groupon, BP Oil, Facebook, just to name a few, have changed course as a result of our efforts. [emphasis added]

We believe that it's high time for the payment industry to recognize that its obligations to respect human rights require it to listen to a diversity of stakeholders when developing its sexual content policies, rather than only listening to conservative groups like Morality in Media. We support the Electronic Frontier Foundation's call for greater transparency from this secretive industry.

Meanwhile, there are ways that you can bypass the payments industry and avoid its sexual censorship. For example, although Steam has been deleting sex-themed games from its catalogue under pressure from groups like NCOSE, those same games remain available from other markets. Some of these markets allow you to use PayPal or a credit card to purchase "points" that can then be redeemed for products of your choice, including products that PayPal wouldn't allow you to purchase directly. We'll be reviewing one such game later in this newsletter.

Prostasia Foundation is overcoming the roadblock that PayPal has thrown in our way, but its actions have still left us in a tight spot financially. As one of our valued supporters, it would mean so much to us if you could join us as a member (if you're not one already—and if you are, thanks!) so that we can continue to promote our vision of a diverse and inclusive world that is free of child sexual abuse. Thank you!

For the first anniversary of Prostasia Foundation's launch, we will be returning to Oakland's New Parkway Theater for the Bay Area premiere screening of a very special film: Butterfly Kisses.

This daring and challenging film won the Generation 14plus Crystal Bear for Best Film 2017 at the Berlin International Film Festival (awarded by a youth jury). Stephen Fry called Butterfly Kisses “Unforgettable” and John Malkovich called it “Beautifully produced.”

The film tells the story of Jake and his group of teenage friends, who live in a London tower block. Jake has a dark secret – one that he cannot even share with his closest friends, and which pushes him deeper and deeper into a sense of isolation. Will anyone close to Jake catch on to his secret obsession before he harms himself or others?

Don't miss this premiere screening, for one day only. All proceeds support Prostasia Foundation, and you'll also get the opportunity to chat with Prostasia's friendly volunteers as we celebrate our birthday.

"We think this novel’s core audience is pedophiles" was quite the slapdown for Steam to make against the developers of the visual novel The Key to Home when denying it a release on the Steam game store.

That's not to say that we think its judgment was wrong. Having bought and played it to see what all the fuss was about, that does seem to be a fairly accurate description of the game's intended audience—although an even more accurate description might be lolicon, which refers more specifically to fans of artistic renderings of fictional minors.

There is no nudity in this game. Neither are any sexual acts depicted on screen. It's not a hentai (sexual) game at all. So although pedophiles may be its intended audience, this isn't because it appeals to their prurient interests in any way. Instead, it makes a valiant attempt to impart a lesson: that those with sexual attractions towards minors can be allies against the abuse of real children, if they limit the porn that they consume to fictional hentai images.

Although the telling of this lesson takes a while to unfold, the novel's opening screen gives the reader an idea of what is coming:

Crimes committed against children are inexcusable, and it goes without saying that we are strongly AGAINST all forms of crimes aimed toward children. We do however believe that the depictions in this game are necessary in order to confront these social problems head on and deepening [sic] our understanding of them.

Without giving away too many spoilers, the crimes depicted in The Key to Home are an act of voyeurism by the game's narrator—a teacher, who is portrayed as something of an antihero—and a more serious sex trafficking crime that comes to light later in the narrative. The teacher and three of his students form an unlikely team to uncover exactly what is going on at their school, and to bring justice to those responsible.

The storyline is engaging, but there are many odd digressions in the script—such as detailed discussions of household chemistry. Although these are part of the characterization of the main schoolgirl protagonist, I found myself skipping quickly through these and other descriptive sections of the game that were tangential to the main action.

As a visual novel, there isn't any "gameplay" as such, except to advance the story frame by frame. There are only a limited number of unique visual assets to illustrate the story, and the original Japanese voices are used even in the English language version. On the other hand, it would be unfair to expect much more for the price of $10.

There was no particularly good reason for this visual novel to be banned from Steam. Anyone who imagines that it was censored because it contains any sort of illicit content will be disappointed (or alternatively reassured) that this is not the case. They may also be disappointed that it's also not much of a game, and even the well-designed visuals quickly become repetitive.

However, the developer is to be commended for trying something quite unique with this title—to subvert our expectations about lolicon-themed games as being sexual in nature, by instead delivering a child protection message through the medium of the visual novel. The Key to Home is available for Mac and PC, and the English language version appears to be exclusively available from Fakku.