Meh

Imagine making a place for a proshippers to have a breeding ground in, disgusting, we are trying to get these ppl healthier ways to "cope" and safely ship in an already predatory space, why are you encouraging this??? This is so disappointing and honestly I'm so tired. Just bc you make a space specifically for teens, adults will find their way into it, things like this should STAY ONLINE, you're endangering an already unstable community by exposing them to the public.

I have very often seen the thesis in their communities that if a pedophile has not yet committed a contact crime against a child, then "negativity" (which is actually just basic caution) towards them is bad, they should not be treated as dangerous, they should be pitied and told how oppressed they are. The problem is that both sides encourage the consumption of drawn materials or even AI CSAM by these same pedophiles.

Hmmm where have i heard that...oh yeah

Incase you ever see it in your ask, just block them, or just block here

please read this thesis! it's very insightful and written by a licensed clinical psychologist and professor of psychology :] her wikipedia page attached below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Jeglic

fuck no <3

I think this theory is correct, but with an addition of consideration of the online sphere at the time. I am also a millennial adult, in the same age demographic of those proshippers. When I was younger, between 10-16, I would have been considered a "proshipper" as well, although back then, we didn't have that terminology for it. There was no terminology for it because there was literally no pushback on it. At all.

Anyone who spent any time in online fandom spaces--anime, furry, gaming--between 2000-2010 was almost certainly sexually exploited by adults in some way. A very large number of them were exposed to extreme paraphilic porn--including real material--because of how lax moderating was on many websites, especially 4chan. It was RAMPANT. In roleplaying spheres, in fanfiction spheres, in art communities... I remember being 10 years old roleplaying pedo fandom shit with adults 30 years old across state lines. They knew how old I was. Nobody ever stopped to question it once. It was completely normal.

This was the era of Pedobear memes and memes sexualizing the CHILD ACTRESS of LazyTown being some of the most widespread memes on the net. It was the era where adults and children gathered to roleplay on GaiaOnline, with incest, pedophilia and rape being a common mainstay of almost any roleplay you'd find. In my entire childhood in these places, I don't have a single memory of anyone ever pushing back. Not once. Nobody called out the adults for interacting with us inappropriately, nobody stopped and wondered if 10 year olds should be present in these spaces, and nobody stopped to argue with the adults glorifying and defending pedophilia, not just in "fiction." This lack of pushback + the repeated exposure and romanticization of pedophilic sexual dynamics led to me being manipulated into taking CSAM of myself, having "phone sex" with some of the adults with these websites, and an eventual assault.

In this era, I very specifically remember there never being any debate over whether it was "just fiction" or not. In regards to attraction to underage fictional characters, adults of this era spoke about them as if they were real. 4chan threads were full of "the age of consent is different in different countries therefore I'm not wrong to be attracted to young girls"--both in defense of their anime tastes and real ones. "Old enough to breed, old enough to bleed" "If there's grass on the field, play ball!" -- common mantras I read all over in these spaces during this time period. It was not uncommon to stumble upon actual CSAM by sheer chance while browsing /b/.

The point I'm trying to make is that I think a lot of adults who are proship in my age demographic were exposed and ultimately groomed by pro-pedophilia rhetoric and material, and saw absolutely zero pushback as they entered their adulthood. Many of them probably have memories that people outside of these communities would consider straight up grooming or exploitation, but because it was so present and so normal in our childhood, they don't see it as anything but a memory. For them to confront that their childhood memories were in fact situations in which they were exploited and manipulated by paraphiles, and then continued to be a part of the grooming cycle, would be challenging their core beliefs about who they are. And so they don't. I think this is also why a lot of proshippers complain about "fandom etiquette" and "old fandom being better"--because there was no pushback. And that was absolutely NOT for the better.

I haven't mentioned this yet, but instead of searching for the actual CSAM, I searched for photos of children relaxing on the beach or children wearing short T-shirts. I probably don't need to say why.