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__NOTOC__'''Prostasia Foundation''' is an American non-profit organization founded in San Fransisco, August 15, 2018.<ref>https://prostasia.org/event/official-launch/</ref> The foundation's activities include, but are not limited to the provision of public forums and funding/promotion of private chats for [[minor attracted people]], the provision of child abuse prevention training and consultancy services to corporate and other clients, and grants for researchers. Prostasia Foundation has also been seen to carry out awareness-raising activities in the form of numerous public media and social media engagement campaigns.
__NOTOC__
[[File:Prostasia9.png|thumb|Logo, 2021]]
'''Prostasia Foundation''' is an American non-profit organization founded in San Fransisco, August 15, 2018.<ref>https://prostasia.org/event/official-launch/</ref> The Foundation's activities include, but are not limited to the provision of public forums and funding/promotion of private chats for [[Minor Attracted Person|MAPs]], the provision of child abuse prevention training and consultancy services to corporate and other clients, and grants for researchers. Prostasia Foundation has also been seen to carry out awareness-raising activities in the form of numerous public media and social media engagement campaigns.


Since its inception, Prostasia has attracted a lot of attention throughout social media due to its sometimes bizarrely angled anti-[[CSA]] messaging. The idea that Prostasia may be in some way designed to stimulate adverse publicity (a so-called "psy-op") has been raised numerous times. These concerns usually focus on the following topics:
As of May 2023, Prostasia's current Executive Director is [[Gilian Tenbergen]], a Sexologist and CSA [[Preventionism|Preventionist]].<ref>[https://twitter.com/ProstasiaInc/status/1661737137568616449 New Exec Director]</ref> Her predecessor was [[Jeremy Malcolm]], a [[Wikipedia:Trust and safety|Trust and safety]] professional and intellectual property expert with prior experience at the [[Wikipedia:Electronic Frontier Foundation|EFF]].<ref>[https://jere.my/ Jeremy Malcolm Bio]</ref>
 
*The choice of Noah Berlatsky as Communications Spokesman - A Social Justice Warrior, Anti-Gamergater and Jewish journalist, who is likely to trigger visceral reactions among the alternative-right.  
*His and others general reactions in video productions, described as "fake empathy" and "hand wringing".
*General confusion in their messaging as to whether minors are separated from adults in MAP Support Club's online chats (the projects have a very close codependency relationship).
*Publicity concerning campaigns in favor of sex doll use among MAPs.
*Bizarre, "sex positive" messaging, somehow incorporating kink, BDSM and Sex Worker rights into their anti-abuse platform.
*The name "Prostasia" (protection), and its subliminal evocation of prostatic hyperplasia (Prostate Enlargement).
*The choice of an elephant as a mascot, and various branded online merchandise.
*Various rules of engagement for online fora - effectively demanding complete abstinence from even hypothetical dissent against the CSA narrative of universal harm.


Prostasia receives funding through crowd finance, memberships and anonymous donations (Bitcoin and Monero are options according to their website). They have also supposedly received money from an institutional investor.<ref>https://archive.fo/0kSVP</ref> Ultimately, with anonymous donation a possibility, there is no way of telling who their critical benefactors are, at this point.
Prostasia receives funding through crowd finance, memberships and anonymous donations (Bitcoin and Monero are options according to their website). They have also supposedly received money from an institutional investor.<ref>https://archive.fo/0kSVP</ref> Ultimately, with anonymous donation a possibility, there is no way of telling who their critical benefactors are, at this point.
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==MAP Support Club==
==MAP Support Club==


Prostasia is in public partnership with MAP Support Club<ref>http://mapsupport.club</ref>, an online chat for MAPs who are committed to a non-offending lifestyle ([[NOMAP]]s). In October 2021, a member reported on Boychat.org, that chats were visited by 3-10 users at most times of day. A group administrator then clarified that MAP Support Club had over 100 active users.<ref>https://boychat.org/messages/1579713.htm</ref> MAP Support Club has posted a series of strict rules for participation. While most of these were said to act as a deterrent, the user did confirm there is a strict prohibition against advocacy for [[age of consent]] reform. Some of the rules follow:
:''See also [https://archive.is/Gkwgo MAP Support Club] on the anti-c MAP Wiki.''
 
[[File:Fo6sHgGWIAETNy .jpg|thumb|An earnest view held by one moderator on Prostasia Forum]]
Prostasia is in public partnership with MAP Support Club<ref>http://mapsupport.club</ref>, an online chat for MAPs who are committed to a non-offending lifestyle ([[NOMAP]]s). In October 2021, a member reported on Boychat.org, that chats were visited by 3-10 users at most times of day. A group administrator then clarified that MAP Support Club had over 100 active users.<ref>https://boychat.org/messages/1579713.htm</ref> MAP Support Club has posted a series of strict rules for participation. While most of these were said to act as a deterrent, the user did confirm there is a strict prohibition against advocacy for [[Age of Consent]] reform. Some of the rules follow:


*4. No talk about lowering Age of Consent (AoC), whatever it is where you live.
*4. No talk about lowering Age of Consent (AoC), whatever it is where you live.
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*12. No images or videos of children for the sake of sharing “cute” or “hot” kids. If relevant to an ongoing discussion, an occasional image will be allowed as long as it doesn't violate rule #11.
*12. No images or videos of children for the sake of sharing “cute” or “hot” kids. If relevant to an ongoing discussion, an occasional image will be allowed as long as it doesn't violate rule #11.


Rule #5 appears to be a prohibition against [[pro-c]] viewpoints, and could even be used against some clearly stated consequentialist [[anti-contact]] positions. However, what seems more realistic, is that topics such as consent reform are just deemed irrelevant and not discussed.
[[File:Mya.jpg|thumb|While the management of Prostasia has often faced controversies surrounding their "too soft" stance on MAPs, they have been known to rely on volunteers who have acted in threatening ways towards them. In this 2023 screencap, Alan ("Mya/Chie"), a moderator on Prostasia forum can be seen calling on hostile members of the public to report legally compliant [[pro-c]] accounts.]]Rule #5 appears to be a prohibition against [[pro-c]] viewpoints, and could even be used against some clearly stated consequentialist [[anti-contact]] positions. However, what seems more realistic, is that topics such as consent reform are just deemed irrelevant and not discussed.
 
[[Open MAP Community]] and [[Pediverse]] are less-strict alternatives to MSC.


==Controversies==
==Controversies==


Prostasia has been involved in a string of social media controversies. We cover examples that made the mainstream media.
Prostasia has been involved in a string of social media controversies concerning the [[MAPocalypse|"normalization"]] trope. They have also been attacked by abuse industry figureheads such as [[Michael Salter]] and [[John Carr]]. We cover examples that made the mainstream media, or became common social media talking points.
 
*Prostasia has often come under-fire for positions taken by former communications spokesman, Noah Berlatsky. One often-repeated example is his piece in the New Republic, ''Child Sex Workers’ Biggest Threat: The Police''.<ref>[https://newrepublic.com/article/128028/child-sex-workers-biggest-threat-police Bertlatsky: Child Sex Workers’ Biggest Threat: The Police]</ref> Later attempts to scandalize Berlatsky as the former spokesman of a "pedophile advocacy" group after he wrote a Bloomberg hit piece on a film depicting [[Operation Underground Railroad]], fell on deaf ears after only going so far as the conspiracy media and a feminist blog.<ref>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-pedophile-advocacy-group-spokesman-writes-bloomberg-hit-piece-on-sound-of-freedom Daily Wire: Berlatsky's Bloomberg Hit Piece]</ref>
*There has been some confusion in Prostasia's messaging - whether minors as young as 13 are separated from adults in MAP Support Club's online chats. In reality, this is almost impossible to police.
*Prostasia's defense of sex doll use among MAPs is seen as "unconventional" for a child protection charity, although use of dolls appears to be unrelated to offending, or otherwise underexplored.<ref>[https://psyarxiv.com/fxznv/ Harper and Lievsley: Exploring the psychological characteristics and risk-related cognitions of individuals who own sex dolls]</ref>
*In early to mid November, 2021, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University, [[Allyn Walker]] received widespread coverage after partaking in an interview with Prostasia, advocating the destigmatization of pedophilia. At that point, Walker had written a book, published in June 2021.<ref>[https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520306363/a-long-dark-shadow  Allyn Walker - Book] and [https://anonfiles.com/baQ8Pch3x7/a-long-dark-shadow-minor-attracted-people-and-their-pursuit-of-dignity_pdf download link]</ref> Walker has since been hired by Johns Hopkins, and started work as a postdoctoral fellow for the Baltimore school on May 24, 2022.<ref>[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10813233/Trans-professor-DEFENDED-pedophiles-minor-attracted-persons-hired-Johns-Hopkins-center.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field Johns Hopkins child sex abuse center hires trans professor, 34, who was forced to resign from Virginia school for DEFENDING pedophiles as 'minor attracted persons' (Daily Mail)]</ref>
*Early in 2023, Reduxx (an online radical [[Feminism|feminist]] publication) published an article claiming to link various online profiles of Prostasia's general manager, alleging that he "admits to being a pedophile".<ref>[https://reduxx.info/exclusive-prostasia-general-manager-used-pedophile-forum-joked-of-trapping-kids/ EXCLUSIVE: Prostasia General Manager Used Pedophile Forum, Joked of “Trapping” Kids]</ref>


*In early to mid November, 2021, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University, '''Allyn Walker''' received widespread coverage after conducting an interview with Prostasia, advocating the destigmatization of pedophilia. At that point, Walker had written a book, published in June 2021.<ref>[https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520306363/a-long-dark-shadow  A ]</ref> Twitter coverage from trans exclusionary radical feminists at '''4W''' and the alt-right channel '''Libs Of TikTok''' soon spread to online media including the New York Post, Washington Post, Breitbart and various small conservative outlets.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/11/17/old-dominion-professor-allyn-walker/ Allyn Walker - WAPo]</ref><ref>[https://nypost.com/2021/11/15/allyn-walker-says-attraction-to-children-isnt-immoral/ Allyn Walker - NYPo]</ref><ref>[https://jezebel.com/professor-on-leave-after-comments-about-people-attracte-1848089269 Allyn Walker - Jezebel]</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/allyn-walker-professor-paedophile-virginia-b1960427.html Allyn Walker - Indie]</ref><ref>[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10212633/amp/Trans-professor-placed-leave-defending-pedophiles.html Allyn Walker - UK Mail]</ref><ref>[https://reason.com/volokh/2021/11/18/professor-removed-from-campus-for-writing-and-talking-about-people-who-have-sexual-attraction-to-minors/ Allyn Walker - Reason]</ref><ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/11/17/old-dominion-u-professor-placed-on-leave-after-defending-pedophiles/ Allyn Walker - Breitbart: Suspension]</ref><ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/11/18/academics-speak-out-for-old-dominion-u-prof-put-on-leave-after-defending-pedophiles/ Allyn Walker - Breitbart: Academic response]</ref> Walker's use of [[Minor Attracted Person|MAP]] was mocked by Tucker Carlson and Geraldo Rivera on FOX News as the next woke frontier. Walker was supported by many in the scientific field, including Dr. [[Michael Seto]], Dr. Craig Harper, Dr. Gilian Tenbergen and Professor [[Michael Bailey]] after subsequently being put on leave by their employer. Our [https://www.newgon.net/wiki/images/PR.pdf press-release] of 18 Nov, 2021 provides further perspective.
==Criticism from MAPs==


==Commentary==
[[File:Prosbait.png|thumb|Unusual angle and choice of marketing material]]
Since its inception, Prostasia has attracted a lot of mainstream attention throughout social media due to its unconventional anti-[[Child Sexual Abuse|CSA]] messaging, which incorporates kink, BDSM and Sex Worker Rights with child protection. MAPs have also expressed incredulity towards the idea that said messaging is not intended to be deliberately provocative. This includes the choice of Noah Berlastsky (who no longer works at Prostasia) as a communications spokesman, a "Social Justice Warrior" and "Anti-Gamergater" whose Jewish background further triggered the alternative-right.


Within the usual protocols (use Tor, VPNs, Pseudonyms), we see nothing dangerous about taking part in any of the projects supported by this organization - if their sanitized level of discussion is ''your kind of thing''. They also host a useful library of research on a range of topics relevant to MAP activism. When assessing the type of organization we have before us, the term "big grift" would certainly be one of the most apt. We must ask ourselves, considering the unusual collection of journalists, academics and educators involved in Prostasia, would either it, or its platform have arisen "organically", without the critical impetus of a big whale donor? The answer to that is probably "no". It is highly likely that the publicity surrounding Prostasia is the primary reason for its existence and continued funding. On the positive side, this will have the effect of bringing MAPs into the limelight - something we will likely benefit from, and should seek to take advantage of through our own media campaigns.
The forum section of Prostasia's website is run by volunteers, some of whom appear to support censorship and anti-MAP extremism.<ref>See for example, the [https://web.archive.org/web/20221205183011/https://forum.prostasia.org/t/map-minor-attracted-person-flag-origin/1570 before] and [https://forum.prostasia.org/t/map-minor-attracted-person-flag-origin/1570/ after] of a discussion focusing on the [[MAP Flag]] origin (comments by Jim removed without explanation). There appears to be disagreement among moderators over this - the comments were initially removed, reinstated, and then removed again.</ref>


==See also==
==See also==


*[[B4U-Act]]
*[[NOMAP]]
*[[B4U-ACT]]
*[[Virtuous Pedophiles]]
*[[Virtuous Pedophiles]]
*[[NARSOL]]
*[[NARSOL]]
*[[Mu]]
*[[MEDAL]]
*[[Ipce]]


==References==
==References==
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== External links ==
== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnF2hMI_XRM Lotus Eaters] - Prostasia discussed on an intellectual counterculture vid cast
* [https://www.zotero.org/groups/2249125/csa_prevention/library Prostasia have compiled a useful library of research on a range of topics relevant to MAPs]
* [https://prostasia.org/ Prostasia]
* [https://prostasia.org/ Prostasia]
* [https://www.prostasia.info/ Anti-Prostasia]
* [https://www.prostasia.info/ Anti-Prostasia]
* [https://www.maceandcrown.com/post/dr-allyn-walker-on-administrative-leave-after-campus-protest ODU Student article, with pictures of the Allyn Walker protestors]


[[Category:Official Encyclopedia]][[Category:Prostitution]][[Category:Cyber Activism]][[Category:Youth]][[Category:Organisations]][[Category:Organisations: Fence-sitters]][[Category:Organisations: Web-based]][[Category:Organisations: Real-life]][[Category:Organisations: American]][[Category:Organisations: Charity & NGO]][[Category:Organisations: Professional]][[Category:Mental Health Industry]][[Category:Websites]][[Category:Websites: Academic]]
[[Category:Official Encyclopedia]][[Category:Prostitution]][[Category:Cyber Activism]][[Category:Youth]][[Category:Organisations]][[Category:Organisations: Fence-sitters]][[Category:Organisations: Web-based]][[Category:Organisations: Real-life]][[Category:Organisations: American]][[Category:Organisations: Charity & NGO]][[Category:Organisations: Professional]][[Category:Mental Health Industry]][[Category:Websites]][[Category:Websites: Academic]]

Latest revision as of 22:33, 16 October 2024

Logo, 2021

Prostasia Foundation is an American non-profit organization founded in San Fransisco, August 15, 2018.[1] The Foundation's activities include, but are not limited to the provision of public forums and funding/promotion of private chats for MAPs, the provision of child abuse prevention training and consultancy services to corporate and other clients, and grants for researchers. Prostasia Foundation has also been seen to carry out awareness-raising activities in the form of numerous public media and social media engagement campaigns.

As of May 2023, Prostasia's current Executive Director is Gilian Tenbergen, a Sexologist and CSA Preventionist.[2] Her predecessor was Jeremy Malcolm, a Trust and safety professional and intellectual property expert with prior experience at the EFF.[3]

Prostasia receives funding through crowd finance, memberships and anonymous donations (Bitcoin and Monero are options according to their website). They have also supposedly received money from an institutional investor.[4] Ultimately, with anonymous donation a possibility, there is no way of telling who their critical benefactors are, at this point.

MAP Support Club

See also MAP Support Club on the anti-c MAP Wiki.
An earnest view held by one moderator on Prostasia Forum

Prostasia is in public partnership with MAP Support Club[5], an online chat for MAPs who are committed to a non-offending lifestyle (NOMAPs). In October 2021, a member reported on Boychat.org, that chats were visited by 3-10 users at most times of day. A group administrator then clarified that MAP Support Club had over 100 active users.[6] MAP Support Club has posted a series of strict rules for participation. While most of these were said to act as a deterrent, the user did confirm there is a strict prohibition against advocacy for Age of Consent reform. Some of the rules follow:

  • 4. No talk about lowering Age of Consent (AoC), whatever it is where you live.
  • 5. No talk about adult-child sex being fundamentally OK and only harmful due to societal attitudes and reactions to its discovery, nor discussions of the topic. There are other places on the internet to have these discussions. This is not one of them.
  • 11. No images or videos of children if they would be arousing to an average pedophile (shirtless, swimsuit, underwear).
  • 12. No images or videos of children for the sake of sharing “cute” or “hot” kids. If relevant to an ongoing discussion, an occasional image will be allowed as long as it doesn't violate rule #11.
While the management of Prostasia has often faced controversies surrounding their "too soft" stance on MAPs, they have been known to rely on volunteers who have acted in threatening ways towards them. In this 2023 screencap, Alan ("Mya/Chie"), a moderator on Prostasia forum can be seen calling on hostile members of the public to report legally compliant pro-c accounts.

Rule #5 appears to be a prohibition against pro-c viewpoints, and could even be used against some clearly stated consequentialist anti-contact positions. However, what seems more realistic, is that topics such as consent reform are just deemed irrelevant and not discussed.

Open MAP Community and Pediverse are less-strict alternatives to MSC.

Controversies

Prostasia has been involved in a string of social media controversies concerning the "normalization" trope. They have also been attacked by abuse industry figureheads such as Michael Salter and John Carr. We cover examples that made the mainstream media, or became common social media talking points.

  • Prostasia has often come under-fire for positions taken by former communications spokesman, Noah Berlatsky. One often-repeated example is his piece in the New Republic, Child Sex Workers’ Biggest Threat: The Police.[7] Later attempts to scandalize Berlatsky as the former spokesman of a "pedophile advocacy" group after he wrote a Bloomberg hit piece on a film depicting Operation Underground Railroad, fell on deaf ears after only going so far as the conspiracy media and a feminist blog.[8]
  • There has been some confusion in Prostasia's messaging - whether minors as young as 13 are separated from adults in MAP Support Club's online chats. In reality, this is almost impossible to police.
  • Prostasia's defense of sex doll use among MAPs is seen as "unconventional" for a child protection charity, although use of dolls appears to be unrelated to offending, or otherwise underexplored.[9]
  • In early to mid November, 2021, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University, Allyn Walker received widespread coverage after partaking in an interview with Prostasia, advocating the destigmatization of pedophilia. At that point, Walker had written a book, published in June 2021.[10] Walker has since been hired by Johns Hopkins, and started work as a postdoctoral fellow for the Baltimore school on May 24, 2022.[11]
  • Early in 2023, Reduxx (an online radical feminist publication) published an article claiming to link various online profiles of Prostasia's general manager, alleging that he "admits to being a pedophile".[12]

Criticism from MAPs

Unusual angle and choice of marketing material

Since its inception, Prostasia has attracted a lot of mainstream attention throughout social media due to its unconventional anti-CSA messaging, which incorporates kink, BDSM and Sex Worker Rights with child protection. MAPs have also expressed incredulity towards the idea that said messaging is not intended to be deliberately provocative. This includes the choice of Noah Berlastsky (who no longer works at Prostasia) as a communications spokesman, a "Social Justice Warrior" and "Anti-Gamergater" whose Jewish background further triggered the alternative-right.

The forum section of Prostasia's website is run by volunteers, some of whom appear to support censorship and anti-MAP extremism.[13]

See also

References

External links