Members undertake to purge child pornography and age-restrict adult content

Launch members include sex toy companies and a zine for adult content creators

Seoul, Korea — October 4, 2019 — Hollywood movies have long carried a rider from the American Humane Association, "No animals were harmed." Now, a new seal for websites, events, and vendors makes a similar promise—"No children harmed."

The new seal was launched today by child protection group Prostasia Foundation, at a conference in Seoul, Korea which discussed the controversial issue of whether artworks such as cartoons can be classified as child pornography, as recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child last month.

In Korea, when the law was changed to include cartoons as child pornography, the number of people charged with that offense increased by twenty-two fold in 2012-2013—and many of those charged were women, over cartoon books featuring fictional teen characters.

At today's conference, Daniel Mogster, Human Rights Officer from the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, cautioned that art and fiction can't be treated as equivalent to real abuse images, and that criminalizing speech is only permitted as a last resort.

The "No children harmed" guidelines that were launched today operate on this principle. Prostasia Foundation Executive Director, Jeremy Malcolm, said, "Illegal sexual images of real minors shouldn't be allowed at all—and our members have undertaken to do their part to stop this scourge."

"But when it comes to art, fiction, sex toys, and adult events and erotica," Malcolm continued, "the rules are different—nobody should be sent to jail for such stuff. Instead, our members undertake to warn their users and customers what to expect, so that nobody is exposed to it unwillingly."

Catherine Esmond, co-editor of a digital zine titled PROBLEMATIQUE which is to launch as a member of the "No children harmed" program, said, "We are honored to carry the message of child protection with us as we continue building spaces for adult content creators in fandom to thrive, safely and with pride."

Don Delano, manager of sex toy distributor Mon Amour Toujours, another member of the new program, said, "It is vital that we—academic professionals, law makers and individuals—unite and explore all options for CSA prevention regardless of how controversial the option may be. It is time to put feelings aside in lieu of an evidence based approach to CSA prevention. We can solve this issue. We owe it to our communities but most of all we owe it to our children."

"In the past, websites like Tumblr have dealt with child exploitation by censoring broad swathes of lawful adult content," said Malcolm. "We believe that's the wrong approach. Our launch members are committed to doing their part to eliminate child exploitation, without over-censoring legitimate content."

For further information:

No Children Harmed website: https://prostasia.org/no-children-harmed

Jeremy Malcolm (Executive Director)
+1 415 650 2557 – [email protected]
Prostasia's website: https://prostasia.org

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