Fay Brown is the founder of Project Snowball, a charitable organisation raising awareness by providing counselling, group support and education both for children and adults affected by pedophilia or child sexual abuse. In 2019, Fay, who is a sexual abuse survivor herself, spoke on Prostasia’s podcast about sexual and intimacy conditions related to the trauma of sexual violence and assault.

Last month, Fay was suspended from membership of the BACP, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, in response to a campaign by online trolls who objected to a video that she had posted to YouTube. The video, shown below, was made in defense of a young artist who had himself been subjected to troll warfare over claims that his fan artwork was “pedophilic.”

In her video, Fay argues:

people are being incredibly offensive to actual sexual abuse victims by labeling drawings as child sex exploitation material. Now they are not⁠—they are not—they are a drawing. Child sex exploitation material is the image of a child rape or abuse, so to [conflate the two] does damage to both things, now. If you find hentai, lolicon, and manga offensive then don't go and look, but [it is not OK] to totally delegitimize an entire section of people because they do, either because they are trauma victims—and they are equally valid in the way that their trauma lays in their body as you are—or that is their kink, in which case we don't kink shame in 2020 either.

Fay applied a similar argument to the demonization of young people who exchange sexting images with each other, contending that “Teenagers are sexual and they're online nowadays, so to demonize them as creating child sex exploitation material simply by being in a relationship with a fellow teen is also not okay.”

In appealing against her expulsion from the BACP last month for stating these not unreasonable opinions, Fay struck back against the organization’s capitulation to the stigma-based arguments of the online troll army. In her appeal, Fay writes, “Free speech includes my right to talk about laws that I feel are unjust, terminology that is outdated, and stigma that gets in the way of survivor’s rights and prevention initiatives.”

Prostasia Foundation calls on the BACP to rescind its suspension, and to restore Fay Brown to full membership of the organization—if she chooses to accept it—with an apology.

In June, Thomas Arthur, administrator of the Mr Double erotic fiction archive, was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for the crime of publishing obscene stories online. Prostasia Foundation has been following this case ever since an over-the-top militaristic raid on Arthur’s property in 2019, and we assisted his lawyers in attempting to secure expert evidence for his trial—an attempt that the court rebuffed by refusing to allow such evidence.

Two centuries earlier, another author of taboo erotic fiction died in a mental asylum, after having been imprisoned for a third of his life. Donatien Alphonse François, more commonly known as the Marquis de Sade, was the infamous author of erotic works such as Justine, Juliette, and 120 Days of Sodom. The crime for which the Marquis ultimately spent his last years in confinement was the publication of Juliette, a pioneering work which cast a women as a dominant sadistic figure, taking out revenge on people of power. His stories featured dark themes of sexual violence similar to those of some stories in the censored Mr Double archive. Indeed, the word “sadism” was coined from the Marquis’ name.

Although his ultimate imprisonment was for his writing, the Marquis was also convicted of real life crimes. The first was when he scandalized a sex worker by demanding that she whip him, while he swore and desecrated a crucifix—for which he was prosecuted for blasphemy. More seriously, he also once beat a housemaid, and imprisoned six servants in his home for weeks. 

Allegations of real life sex crimes have also been leveled against Thomas Arthur. Due to a quirk of American law that allows unproven accusations of sexual abuse to be introduced in sentencing a defendant, prosecutors introduced allegations from two women who came forward during their investigation alleging that he had molested them 20 and 40 years ago. As he did not have the opportunity to defend himself against those claims they will remain unproven, but they certainly influenced the length of his sentence.

However the only crime of which he was convicted was the publication of fictional stories (along with a few drawn images that were used as author avatars). On that count, Arthur did everything right: access wasn’t allowed to minors, there were ample disclaimers about the graphic nature of the content, and stories were individually tagged with appropriate warnings. The Department of Justice cherry-picked the most extreme sexual horror stories Mr Double had to offer (a tiny minority of the thousands of works hosted on the site), and falsely insinuating that the authors and readers of these stories would actually act them out in real life. His conviction of obscenity is wrong, and does nothing to hold him accountable for whatever real life sex crimes he may previously have committed. 

Unless his conviction and sentence are reversed on appeal, Thomas Arthur will very likely die in prison, just as the Marquis did before him. This prosecution in Arthur’s case sets a precedent allowing future curators of taboo fiction to be criminalized. This could include publishers and writers at the Internet Archive (which continues to host an archive of the censored site), or at Archive of Our Own. It also represents a conscious decision of the Department of Justice to divert its limited enforcement resources towards prosecuting people over harmless fantasy, rather than prosecuting their backlog of cases of real child sexual abuse. This in itself is a despicable choice, to which Arthur’s publication of dirty stories pales in comparison.

What happens to sex offense laws when powerful, deep-pocketed lobbyists and politicians decide to make an example of sex offenders? What effect does this have on rehabilitation and the prevention of future abuse? What happens to the offenders whose lives are dictated by those laws? UNTOUCHABLE is a film that weaves together the separate but related stories of sex offenders, victims and the families attached to both. In order to explore the film and the unavoidable questions raised, Prostasia hosted a screening and panel discussion on July 29. 

Prostasia’s Program Director, Meagan Ingerman moderated. UNTOUCHABLE filmmaker, legal commentator, American lawyer, and author David Feige also attended. The panels other members were, Michael McKay, Director of Marketing for the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws, and  Dr. Ira Ellman, Distinguished Affiliated Scholar for the Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of California, Berkeley.

Panelists began with introductions and a brief explanation of their ties to the subject of CSA prevention and sex offender laws. A focus of the film is Florida lobbyist Ron Book’s scorched earth campaign against sex offenders, aided by his daughter, CSA survivor Lauren Book who serves in the Florida Senate. The first topic of discussion was their movement and the harshness of their approach.

David Feige stressed that he wanted the film to speak for himself, but suggested that it was apparent that Book is pushing the limits of sex offender laws out of an almost biblical sense of guilt for his daughter's abuse. The film makes it equally apparent however that he either misunderstands or is indifferent to the harmful effects of those laws.

The panel also discussed what should be done about self-proclaimed vigilante groups devoted to hunting sex offenders to put them back in jail on technical violations. Michael McKay said he believes that such people aren't motivated to fix the problem, but are motivated by vengeance, anger, and retribution. We need to convince them to act in ways that actually reduce and prevent sexual abuse.

Dr. Ira Ellman (who cameos in the film) discussed a core problem: it is politically impossible to oppose sex offender laws even when there is research showing they will not work. People who believe that they are on a mission won't be swayed by statistics.

The panel then turned to consider how to get this conversation started on a wider scale, beyond “preaching to the choir.” David stated that this film had been his attempt to begin just such a conversation. Since he has received equal amounts of acclaim and criticism from both survivor advocates and offenders’ rights groups, he considered that he had achieved his objective.

During the discussion, audience members were also able to ask questions and contribute to the conversation. One audience member discussed their personal experience with offending, and said restorative justice to be more widely implemented.  Generally speaking, there was a consensus between participating audience members and panelists that rationality and science need to be applied to sex offense laws, as they are currently governed by emotion and political rhetoric.

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This month we also congratulate Noah Berlatsky on his promotion from Blog Editor to Communications Director. In his expanded role, Noah will have principal responsibility not only for the blog, but also for our podcast/vodcast series the Prostasia Conversations, and our monthly newsletter. Noah writes, “I’m excited to start in an expanded role at Prostasia, and am particularly looking forward to interviewing activists, scholars, and writers for the Prostasia Conversations series.”

Prostasia Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural recipients of our microgrants program for 2021. These microgrants aim to support individuals and organizations working on gender and sexuality issues, Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), human and civil rights, and sex positivity. We especially sought applications from individuals/groups that usually lack access to funding.

We received more high-quality applications than we were able to support from this year’s small fund, but after much consideration finally settled on the following four deserving grantees. Congratulations to all of them!

The Brooklyn Ghost Project received a $500 contribution towards its Saving Our Own Lives or S.O.O.L. Program, which focuses on supporting black and POC TGNC communities through their most personal and challenging struggles with transitioning. The program is a safe haven for Black TGNC youth, homeless, runaways and adults to ask questions, learn from mentors and experience Black TGNC leadership with guidance in their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes/development. Our microgrant will assist the S.O.O.L program to provide safe and affirming spaces in which Black and POC TGNC identities can be visible, celebrate their existence, share their stories of survival, inspire, and be inspired.

Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention (ASAP) received a $500 contribution towards their next workshop, which is to be held in Toronto on October 8. Like previous successful workshops in the series, the event attracts attendance from mental health professionals who provide services for non-offending pedophiles. Dr. Ainslie Heasman will be the keynote speaker with a focus on their project "Talking for Change." She will be joined by Dr James Cantor who will speak on clinical experiences and answering questions, and by other speakers both from the profession and the community. Our grant will be used to assist in covering speaker expenses.

Bridges4Life is an organization built on helping the Transgender Non-Conforming Community by providing services to children in the foster care system, young adults, and surviving sex workers. It provides them with new skills and educational help such as life skills, coordination, and recovery coaching with mentoring. The goal of this program is to spread awareness and get more financial support for Black and Indigenous trans sex workers in NY and NJ that are looking for a way out of survival sex work. Our $500 microgrant will help to fund a photo shoot with Indigenous sex workers that are in our community, showcasing their storyline and image through visual storytelling. 

Trauma Sensitive Yoga for Sexual Abuse Thrivers is a 4-week program targeted to adults who are sexual abuse survivors. The participants will work through trauma processing over a period of four weeks, and will explore their childhood traumas including their exposure to developmental and complex traumas. Our $500 microgrant will provide opportunities for those who experienced sexual abuse or assault to find their voice, give survivors a choice in decisions about the bodies, and provide a safe place for survivors to integrate their traumatic experiences with body movements.

As we enter the last phase of summer and transition into fall, Prostasia Foundation is preparing for an impressive Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Consent and Safety in Adult Content Distribution and a workshop at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. With these incredible events and opportunities on the horizon, Prostasia invites members to upgrade their membership to support these endeavors. You can easily upgrade your membership here.

Your support will contribute to the success of our upcoming events, help us continue to protect children from sex abuse, and uphold human rights for all.

Many thanks for your ongoing support of Prostasia Foundation!

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