Sexologists and sex workers included at launch of Prostasia Foundation

Prostasia touts an evidence-based approach to child sexual abuse prevention

San Francisco, CA – August 3, 2018 – A new child protection organization will be launched on Wednesday, August 15 at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. Unlike other child protection groups, the Prostasia Foundation includes members from the sex industry and from sex-positive community groups, alongside mental health professionals and criminal justice experts.

“Protecting children from harm is our top priority,“ explained Prostasia’s Executive Director Jeremy Malcolm, “but we believe that this can be done in a way that respects the constitutional rights of stigmatized minorities such as sex workers—and more than that, includes them as allies in our fight to eliminate child sexual abuse.”

Prostasia Foundation is the only child protection group to oppose FOSTA, a controversial bill that was signed into law in April with the intention of stopping sex trafficking by banning Internet platforms from promoting sexual services. A constitutional challenge to the law was launched in June by digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which will have a speaker at Prostasia’s launch event.

Another unconventional position taken by Prostasia is to support research into how to prevent non-offending pedophiles from becoming child abusers. Last month Prostasia criticized San Francisco based chat platform Discord for banning a support forum used by non-offending pedophiles and professional counselors. The group is also opposing a law, the CREEPER Act, that would ban sex dolls that experts believe may help some people avoid committing child sexual abuse.

Dr Carol Queen, co-founder of the Center for Sex & Culture, will be speaking at the launch event about her own experience with a practitioner of one unconventional method of child sexual abuse prevention. “If I've learned one thing as a sexologist”, said Dr Queen, "it's to listen carefully to those who are living lives outside mainstream norms in seeking to understand them. I am so heartened to learn about Prostasia's focus on research and thoughtful consideration of difficult issues, especially now, when thoughtfulness and clarity sometimes seem in short supply."

Meagan Ingerman, a member of the group’s Advisory Council who will also be speaking at the launch event, said “Prostasia’s holistic approach is so important for creating change. Research could lead to more effective solutions that actually protect minors without curtailing the rights of consenting adults.”

For further information, please contact:

Jeremy Malcolm (Executive Director)

+1 415 650 2557 – [email protected]

Prostasia’s website: https://prost.asia

###