An in depth breakdown of the suggestrogen saga.
Tw for pedophilia, transphobia, csa discussions.
suggestrogen/isuggestforcefem was a popular tumblr account that recently deactivated after facing major pushback from posts she made regarding pedophilia.
There are now multiple popular blogs claiming this was a harrassment campaing, pedojacketing, stalking, etc. Interestingly enough, the people defending her very rarely show what she actually said. So here i aim to compile everything that happened and provide context. If you have heard that this was rooted in transphobia, i encourage you to read this in its entirety and judge for yourself.
Many people are saying her words were misconstrued. According to these people: what she said was this:
"Pedophiles are not ontologically evil, and there is a difference between pedophilia and child abuse."
If this was all of it, while im sure it would have caused discourse because it is a controversial thing to say, I don't think it would have caused this much pushback. But if you actually read what she said, you'll know this wasn't all that happened and it is leaving out huge amounts of context in an effort to make her look better.
1. Previously problematic behavior.
Before this current debacle, isff had already been called out for displaying transphobia towards trans men. Here are some examples of this sort of behavior.
I don't particularly participate in transandrophobia discourse but I find it incredibly disingenous to pretend trans men dont face specific issues. Are trans women affected by forced birth as a means of detransition? Are they affected by claims of being "broken women who cant think for themselves and are being manipulated"? No! This isn't to say there are no issues with the transmasc community or that trans men never benefit from transmisogyny. But one thing is to say that, and another is to consistently villanize trans men, to treat them like they are just as privileged as cis men and face NO struggles of their own. Like the only struggle that matters is that of white trans women.
This is the first example of isff displaying black and white thinking. There can be no nuance regarding trans men and their role in transmisogyny. It's either "trans men are oppressed by trans women" or "trans men are oppressing trans women." There is no room in her head for a potentially nuanced opinion. We will continue to see this as we go forward with her takes on pedophilia.
2. The pedophilia saga.
A few days ago, ISFF posted this:
These are not her own words, she is posting on behalf of a friend. But she does agree with the points made and defends them:
Many people seem to think what she is saying is perfectly reasonable, and while I think many of them are just blatantly malicious, I also think many are just gullible, so I will attempt to break down all her points in good faith.
1. Pedophilia is attraction not action, therefore, calling pedophiles child abusers is unfair unless they actually have abused anyone: This is the only true thing this whole thing says, and even then, it is very disingenous. If a pedophile has not acted on their urges, then they are by definition, not an abuser. HOWEVER, they are more likely to become an abuser due to the persistent nature of the desires. In the same way a person with homicidal urges is more likely to murder someone with time, a pedophile is also more likely to act on their desires if they don't learn to deal with said urges adequately. So technically true, but leaving out the context that yes, these urges do evolve and then lead to actions, to me reads as manipulative. A pedophile is not going to be harmless if they don't do the work to manage their disorder. It's active work, which is why promoting this passive view on pedophilia is extremely dangerous, because it makes people think their urges will be fine on their own instead of actively working on them.
2. Pedophilia is similar to having a noncon kink. If having a noncon kink is okay and not going to lead to rape, then how is pedophilia any different?: False equivalency, kinks and pedophilia are different psychological experiences. Dark kinks are usually not literal. Very often it is the brain creating subconscious symbolism in the realm of fantasy that doesn't reflect their views on reality. So a person with a noncon kink is different than someone with rape urges, which is what a pedophile is.
3. If people who experience attraction to adults are not going to force that attraction on every person they're attracted to, why do we expect the same for pedophiles?: Second false equivalency, ordinary sexual attraction is also a different psychological experience to pedophilia. A gay person is not going to rape every men he meets, but they will still act out their desires in consensual spaces. Plus, unless the person has an unhealthy view on sex, the idea of rape would be distressing enough that it would discourage the person from forcing their attraction. At their core, these desires are rooted in the attraction towards consensual activities, so even in a situation where you find yourself attracted to someone who may not reciprocate, because rape is not in line with your desires, the attraction won't lead to abuse easily (unless as stated, the person does have unhealthy views on sex).
But pedophiles inherently have a disordered view on sex. It is a disorder where you are consistently attracted to people who cannot consent to you, so there isn't this disconnect between their desires and the act of rape. The desire is rape. Additionally, while a gay person can eventually find a consensual partner, pedophiles can't! No, i don't expect gay men to force themselves on every men they meet, but I do realize they'll be inclined to explore their sexuality consensually. A pedophile will probably also feel inclined to explore their sexuality, but there is no consensual alternative.
4. Pedophiles are a marginalized group comparable to queer people: Are they? The people who benefit from the social structures that promote CSA because it aligns with their wants are marginalized? Sure, the topic of pedophilia is taboo, but it is also structurally reinforced, so it evidently isn't the same thing. Now, some people will argue that it is child abusers who benefit, not pedophiles. But a pedophile is just one kind of person who wishes to abuse children. Sure, they aren't the only ones. But they are a demographich that benefits because their desires align with the structures in place. Wanting to rape children for power vs wanting to rape children for sexual attraction isn't that different, both are desires that if acted on cause harm, and the healthy thing to do is to encourage these people to seek help and coping mechanisms instead of telling them "well, it's just like being gay!"
3. Consequences vs call out culture.
Before anyone says this is harrassment. If a popular blog came out defending nazism or terf ideology, wouldn't you all be outraged? You would! And you would understand the push back as not harrassment, but retaliation. So why is it that when it comes to pedophilia you all suddenly turn a blind eye? Suddenly we should just block and move on. Why is this the one topic you want people to stay quiet about?
People say it's because she's trans and... really? The point of trans feminism is to treat trans women as human beings, and I don't think infantilizing trans women as people who do no wrong ever is treating them like humans. Some trans women are bad people, not because of their gender, but because human beings are capable of harm.
It is important however to not pretend this is representative of transfeminism. Terfs will take advantage of this and push the narrative this is an example of trans women being predatory. It is an exaple of a trans woman being predatory. A niche tumblr blog is not representative of an incredibly diverse demographic.
The people accusing those criticizing her of transphobia are ironically pushing this rethoric. By saying criticizing one trans woman is somehow criticizingball trans women, you portray trans women as some kind of monolith. Even though suggestrogen's beliefs are not at all accepted by the trans community at large (and no, your terminally online tumblr mutuals arent the representatives of what most trans women think).
4. What this says about site wide culture:
This really has shown some of the major pitfalls of tumblr culture. Many people will fall for bigoted ideals if presented to them under supposedly progressive language. Many people here treat trans womanhood as a sort of sainthood status where trans women are no longer people, but entities incapable of harm. Many people are attempting to normalize predatory behavior under the guise of kink. Many blogs have been pushing for this for a long time now, and this is just the first person who finally came out and said it without filters. This was the result of a myriad of bad ideologies the site has been fostering finally coming together all at once.
suggestrogen was not harrassed, she was rightfully pushed back against for promoting an ideology that endangers others.
Off the bat, I will not be addressing claims of transphobia in this post as this is already going to be a lengthy post without it β and so that discussion is beyond the scope of this post.
As someone who works in the mental health sector and is currently completing a graduate degree in psychology, I believe I am qualified to weigh in on this conversation and would like to specifically address the points raised about Pedophilic Disorder in this post.
However first, I need to address the analogy between homicidal ideation and pedophilia. To start with: around 71% of women and 91% of men experience homicidal ideation at least once in their lifetime. We know persistent homicidal ideation (/urges) is more prevalent amongst clinical populations, and in those clinical populations they are the most prevalent for people with Schizophrenia. However, we also know that of those convicted of homicide only 0.09% of men and 0.01% of women were diagnosed with Schizophrenia, and that the general prevalence of mental disorders amongst homicide offenders is 14% (this is an average calculated from studies from around the globe reporting the prevalence of mental disorders in homicide offenders up to the 90s, excluding Sweden due to the tendency of Swedish Psychiatrists to declare mental deviancy contingent on the committing of homicide which greatly inflates their statistics). So no, homicidal urges, or persistent homicidal ideation, does not make a person more likely to commit homicide.
Homicide is, furthermore, a systematic issue given that marginalized people are disproportionately victims of homicide (axes of marginalization and violence, homicide victimization of Indigenous people in North America, homicide victimization of Black women in the United States).
Child sexual abuse is similarly a systematic issue. The report I am pulling from provides a snapshot of child sexual abuse offending amongst Australian men with a sample of 1,945 Australian men. In it, 15.1% of Australian men report sexual attraction to children. Separately, 9.4% of Australian men report having sexually offended against children (these statistics include online offending), of the 9.4% of child sexual offenders those who experienced sexual attraction towards children did not offend significantly more than those who did not experience sexual attraction towards children. In other terms, men experiencing sexual attraction towards children offended equally (4.9%) to those who did not experience sexual attraction towards children (4.7%). So no, being attracted to children and/or having Pedophilic Disorder does not make a person more likely to sexually offend against children.
Moreover, there has been considerable effort in the mental health sphere aimed at de-stigmatizing pedophilia. Particularly as a significant part of the therapeutic interventions aimed at treating pedophilic disorder center around undoing the stigma and shame as part of the treatment. It's why Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is widely used. This is a necessary step in fostering a healthy and constructive relationship with sexuality. Amongst those with pedophilic disorder who go on to sexually abuse children (keeping in mind the previous statistics of equal likelihood amongst people attracted to children vs those who are not to sexually abuse children), stigma has been identified as a significant risk factor for offending.
This is already very long-winded so I won't address this in depth, but the exploration of one's sexuality and sexual desire does not necessitate the participation of another person, and there are ways to have gratifying sexual experiences with Pedophilic Disorder without having sex with (i.e. sexually abusing) children.
TLDR: Violence, sexual or otherwise, is systematic and has way more to do with power and power imbalance, than attraction, urge, ideation or fantasy. Implying a causal relationship between Pedophilic Disorder or Homicidal Ideation/Urges with criminal offending is false, and in the case of the former explicitly harmful to treatment.
