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Pro-Pedophile Activist Arrested in Ecuador After Allegedly Sexually Abusing “Dozens” of Children

By
Anna Slatz
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A man who advocated for the destigmatization of pedophilia has been arrested in Ecuador on suspicion of sexually abusing children in the country.

Marthijn Uittenbogaard, 50, was arrested after a manhunt was launched to bring him to justice. The Dutch national was arrested around the town of Canoa after the Transnational Crime Investigation Unit of the National Police of Ecuador became aware he had allegedly sexually abused “dozens” of children while staying there.

According to Free a Girl, a Netherlands-based organization dedicated to ending child sexual exploitation, several minors regularly stayed at Uittenbogaard’s residence. They were allegedly lured into the home under the premise of playing video games. In exchange for sweets and money, Uittenbogaard coerced them into sexual acts. He also reportedly organized parties for children at his pool, where the youth were then groped and sexually assaulted.

Uittenbogaard’s devices were also seized, and found to contain child sexual abuse material featuring children between the ages of 7 and 12.

The pedophile’s capture is said to have been a direct result of the arrest of one of his colleagues in Mexico earlier this month.

Nelson Maatman, a friend of Uittenbogaard and fellow pro-pedophile advocate, was arrested in Mexico City on June 5, after an anonymous tip was handed to the Mexican prosecutor’s office indicating that he intended to purchase an adolescent and sell child sexual exploitation material.

Upon arrest, police found Maatman in possession of 4 terabytes (4000GB) of child sexual abuse material across a number of external storage devices. Maatman also had photos of children in his clothing pocket, a weapon, and drugs.

Uittenbogaard had been one of multiple pro-pedophile advocates to flee the Netherlands this year. He was arrested along with his husband, Lesley, who previously had been imprisoned in their home country for creating child sexual abuse material. Lesley, 34, is a pro-bestiality activist.

Lesley [L] and Uittenbogaard [R]. Source: Transnational Crime Investigation Unit of the National Police of Ecuador

Both Uittenbogaard and his partner likely left the country in March after the former was convicted of continuing to operate a pedophile organization that had been declared illegal in 2014.

Vereniging MARTIJN, a pro-pedophile activist group found by a convicted sex offender in 1982, was banned and dissolved by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands because its members promoted the sexual abuse of children.

MARTIJN is also allegedly responsible for the creation of a 1,000-page ‘pedophile handbook‘ which provides tips and tricks on how to lure, groom, and sexually abuse children without their parents or authorities becoming aware. In 2010, four years before it was banned, MARTIJN was sued by the family of a little girl who had been sexually abused by one of its members.

Vereniging MARTIJN’s now-deleted website. Source: ANP

Uittenbogaard had been the treasurer and chairman of MARTIJN, and was sentenced to four months in prison earlier this year for continuing to operate the organization along with Norbert de Jonge, who was sentenced to six months for the same crime.

In 2011, Uittenbogaard was interviewed by NPO Funx, a Dutch public radio station that plays popular music and has a target audience of young people between 15 and 34 years of age. In the interview, he stated his ‘age of attraction’ was girls aged 6 to 12.

“[sic] Children actually like it when they have someone who communicates with them at their level. That also has to do with sexuality, feelings and eroticism. Children can really enjoy cuddling and being physical. a certain place, then the whole mess breaks out, but that’s the western way of looking at sexuality,” Uittenbogaard said, asserting during the interview that, despite his attraction, he had never sexually abused a child.

In 2013, Uittenbogaard appeared as a featured speaker at Schuimt! – a cultural event held in Tilburg, Netherlands featuring prominent artists. Uittenbogaard was invited by Anton Dautzenberg, who at the time was the foreman of the Tilburg Writer’s Guild.

Uittenbogaard and Dautzenberg. Photo Credit: Gemma van der Heyden

Uittenbogaard maintained a blog he regularly updated until April of this year. Within the English-language publications, he compares the treatment of pedophiles to that of the Jews during the holocaust. He also recently wrote a post in praise Gert Hekma, a widely-cited academic and former professor at the University of Amsterdam who had written extensively in support of pedophilia prior to his passing in April. Hekma had come to the defense of Vereniging MARTIJN in 2014 when its legality was being challenged, and created a petition in an effort to keep pro-pedophilia advocacy legal.

In 2004, Hekma had been interviewed by Uittenbogaard for a pro-pedophile magazine during which he extensively detailed his own childhood sexual fantasies.

The academic stated that anyone who didn’t sexually fantasize about children below the age of 16 was “crazy,” going on to assert: “Most people know very well what a beautiful boy or a beautiful girl is, that they are sexy, that they have nice little blow mouths. If you do not see this, then you are blind.” In the same interview, Hekma agreed with the Uittenbogaard that sometimes children needed to be “forced” or “pressured” into sex.

On a blog post from 2020, Uittenbogaard quotes Canadian sexologist James Cantor in asserting that “voluntary pedosexual contacts” are not harmful to children. Cantor, a professor at the University of Toronto, once served on the board of Prostasia. Both Cantor and Prostasia have been influential in promoting the theory that “destigmatizing” pedophilia will reduce child sexual abuse.

Uittenbogaard was also active on Twitter until June 23, with his last post being a retweet of Chelsea Manning promoting a memoire. His profile photo on the account, which he had started in 2011, is of two young boys lying in a field.

Uittenbogaard is the second “pedophile rights” activist to be nabbed in 2022, the first being his colleague Nelson Maatman. However, in February, a pro-pedophile advocate was sentenced in the United States after being arrested in 2021.

As previously reported by Reduxx, Ian Andrew Zearley was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found in possession of child sexual abuse material. 

The serial pedophile was arrested after law enforcement officials monitoring his internet access discovered Zearley had searched terms consistent with attempting to access child sexual abuse materials in breach of his release conditions.

According to the Department of Justice, Zearley had been searching for terms such as “real hardcore child porn” and “boys severely whipped and bleeding.” Zearley also authored two stories that described, in graphic detail, the rape and abuse of young boys.

Zearley was the President of the Pedophile Associates of America — which had been granted full IRS tax-exempt status in 2018, and was registered as an advocacy and educational entity. The organization’s status with the IRS wasn’t revoked until May of 2021, and it was likely due to Zearley already being in police custody and not having filed the proper forms to maintain the exemption on time.

Reduxx is your independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.

Trans-Identified Adult Male Takes First Place Against 13-Year-Old Girl in Women’s Skateboarding Event

By
Jennifer Sieland
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Ricci Tres [L] and Shiloh Catori [R]

Netizens are expressing outrage after an adult man beat out a 13-year-old girl for first place in a women’s skateboarding competition held today in New York.

Ricci Tres, also known as Ricci And Tres, took top spot in the women’s division of The Boardr Open today held in New York City, taking home a $500 prize for a first place win.

Tres, a 29-year-old trans-identified male, came in first place against 13-year-old Shiloh Catori. Of the 6 competitors, 4 were under the age of 17, with the youngest being 10-year-old Juri Iikura.

In 2021, Tres became the first trans-identified male to attempt to quality for Olympic Women’s skateboarding, submitting a virtual run for the USA National Skateboarding Championships. Tres was unable to meet the short deadline to submit a hormone levels test, but was later told his testosterone was “much higher” than the required levels to compete in the female category.

Around this time, Tres was interviewed by Robert Brink of USA Skateboarding and revealed he was over 190 units off of the required testosterone reduction needed to be able to qualify in the female category by International Olympic Committee Standards. During the interview, Tres expressed ambivalence towards reducing his testosterone levels, and even stated he was comfortable “where [he] was at” in his transition.

Tres’ win was put on blast by Taylor Silverman, a female skateboarder who previously came into the spotlight after she spoke out about her experiences competing against trans-identified males.

This comes just weeks after Silverman, a professional skateboarder, posted a statement to her Instagram in which she called out the Redbull Cornerstone skate event she took part in for allowing a biological male athlete to compete against women, and take the top spot.

In her statement, Silverman wrote that she placed second in two previous competitions in which biological males were allowed to compete against female skateboarders, and noted that at the last Redbull-sponsored skate event, the female athletes lost out on financial awards because a transgender competitor took first place.

Silverman’s Instagram post had initially been inundated with hateful comments from trans activists, but she has since become even more vocal about her disagreement with males participating in female sport. On Twitter, Silverman has found a significant following of feminists and individuals critical of gender ideology who appreciate her pro-woman advocacy.

After Silverman announced the outcome of The Boardr event, netizens immediately expressed outrage at the results.

Many immediately took to congratulating Shiloh Catori on her victory, honoring her with the symbolic first-place recognition as they declared Tres’ win invalid.

While some questioned what advantages males have in skateboarding compared to females, earlier comments by commentator Tim Pool began to circulate.

Pool, a former pro-skateboarder, had come to Taylor Silverman’s defense after she came out against males competing against female athletes. Pool had offered to compensate Silverman the total earnings she had lost to trans-identified males competing in the women’s devision against her, and also pointed out that male skateboarders have distinct differences compared to their female counterparts.

“Males in skateboarding have higher centers of gravity granting advantages that cannot be removed with [hormone replacement therapy],” Pool wrote while engaged in a spat with YouTuber The Amazing Athiest, who was defending trans-identified male participation in women’s categories.

In a separate tweet, Pool continued to assert male skateboards have advantages that cannot be addressed by reducing their testosterone levels.

“Males carry their center of gravity higher than females creating advantages in skateboarding that cannot be changed due to HRT. Plus with the Q angle women are more prone to injury creating a major disadvantage regardless of HRT,” He said, replying to evolutionary biologist Colin Wright.

Ricci Tres isn’t the only trans-identified male to prompt outrage after taking the top spot in a women’s sporting competition this month.

On June 3, two trans-identified males took first and second place in a women’s cycling competition in the United Kingdom.

Emily Bridges and Lilly Chant, both trans-identified males, took the first and second place spots, respectively, during the ThunderCrit race at the Herne Hill Velodrome in London. Jo Smith was the only female to take the winner’s podium, coming in third place. ThunderCrit is the UK’s largest fixed gear cycling race.

A recent Gallup Poll revealed that 62% of Americans believe athletes should only be able to participate on sporting teams that correspond with their sex, not their chosen gender identity. Studies have also consistently affirmed that trans-identified male athletes retain competitive advantages even years after starting hormone replacement therapy.

In 2020, a report released in the British Journal of Sport Medicine noted that trans-identified males were able to complete 31% more push-ups and 15% more sit-ups in one minute on average than a female Air Force service member. They also ran 1.5 miles 21% faster.

But even after two years on testosterone suppression treatment, the males were still 12% faster on average than biological females.

Reduxx is a newly-launched independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.

Child Sex Abuse Doll Creator Offers Pedophile “Packages” in Africa

By
Genevieve Gluck
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A Dutch national responsible for manufacturing toddler- and baby-like sex dolls he claims are “therapeutic” for pedophiles has called for self-identified “minor-attracted people” to join him in an unnamed location in Africa for the purposes of having their sick desires “protected.”

Bram Joosten, a native of Bennekom, Netherlands, recently advertised “protection services” in a video titled “How to be safe and happy as a pedophile.”

In the promotional video, posted June 14 to a website owned by Joosten called Doll Orphanage, Joosten encourages pedophiles to relocate to Africa in order to “start a new life where you as a MAP can be safe, content and happy.”

Joosten was previously located in Ukraine, but explains in the video he moved to a nation in Africa after experiencing backlash for his pedophilic activities.

Still from the “African Paradise” video uploaded to Joosten’s Doll Orphanage site. Website URL redacted.

“This service is for people… who permanently want to move to a place where they are safe, protected and where they can get everything they ever dreamed of. It’s a paradise,” writes Joosten. While he goes on to say that “this service does not include prostitution or helping you hook up with minors,” Joosten does state that he will seek out young women who “resemble minors” for interested clients. In the video promotion, “beautiful girls” are mentioned as a benefit of living in Africa.

“Finding girls is not hard since white privilege is still a thing here,” Joosten states. “People see and treat you as a God… I understand it if you prefer petite girls and it doesn’t matter if you want to date a girl that looks like a minor, as long as she is not an actual minor.”

Joosten advises site visitors that should they relocate to the unspecified nation in Africa, “importing things such as [child-like] sex dolls” can be done without risk of punishment “since it’s very easy to bribe people.”

He also claims to be able to personally assist potential clients with convincing customs officials to allow the importation of child abuse materials.

Still from the “African Paradise” video uploaded to Joosten’s Doll Orphanage site.

Joosten also claims to offer security services, referring to himself as “a guide and protector” of pedophiles. The entire package deal described on Joosten’s site is priced at $5,000, which includes “importing of loli sex dolls … finding perfect partner,” and the opportunity to join “a community of like-minded people.”

“Loli” is a term which refers to female child-like characters popularized by Japanese animation, but has become synonymous with pedophilic depictions of sexualized young girls.

On the site affiliated with the African “paradise” packages, Joosten also hosts videos of men having sex with dolls in the likeness of small children.

Joosten operates several sites, including Doll Orphanage, which he once advertised ownership of on his public Facebook profile. Many of the sites had Joosten’s personal email address linked to them, one associated with a defunct fitness company he once ran, making him easy to identify despite the fact his name often doesn’t appear directly on the sites.

The majority of the sites are marketplaces which feature his disturbing toddler and infant sex abuse dolls. Joosten takes responsibility for being the first manufacturer to create penetrable masturbation devices intended to look like human babies.

A product sold as “TPE Baby” is described as “The first detailed, high quality baby sex doll on the loli doll market.” The doll’s vaginal depth is measured, before reading “Please note that she does not have oral or anal function. She is too small for those functions.”

The sick doll, which Joosten proudly proclaimed was the first of its kind, sells for $800 USD, with an even more life-like silicone counterpart being offered for $1,500. The extra cost gets perverted buyers hyper-realistic eyes, hair, skin coloring, and genitalia.

Most of Joosten’s sites provide the same merchandise under different brand names, and most are hosted on the Shopify platform, which recently banned a women’s rights activist for selling her crafts under an accusation she was promoting “transphobia.”

On one of Joosten’s blog posts for his Loli Dolls store, he argues that baby and child-like sex dolls are “therapeutic” for pedophiles. In the post, he writes “Loli dolls have a child-like shape which makes them attractive for people who feel sexually attracted to minors (pedophiles),” continuing: “… relationships with humans can be quite shallow and not satisfying at all. It’s not easy at all to find true love or a person that genuinely cares about you. If you are a pedophile then it’s even harder.”    

In addition to selling child-like sex dolls and operating blogs which discuss them, Joosten also administrates multiple forums associated with his websites where pedophiles are free to gather and discuss details about both the dolls and “loli” culture.

Joosten was previously a member of All the Fallen ⁠— a pedophile website dedicated to hosting chatrooms and fictional stories eroticizing child molestation ⁠— but apparently left the website after receiving criticism that his infant sex dolls were not realistic enough.

The recent video by Joosten encouraging pedophiles to relocate to Africa directs viewers to one such site he created that hosts a forum with over 2,400 members.

On the forum, members upload 3D and illustrated child sexual abuse materials, recommend child sexual abuse patches for video games, and share their pedophilic fantasies. In a thread titled “Age Range Preference,” users discuss which ages of minors they sexualize.

“All are fine, but babies to toddlers are just so cute and chubby I can’t help but melt. So 0-5 would be my favorites,” wrote one site member.

In one of Joosten’s forum threads on “Toddler Dolls,” a user describes having a young daughter who stumbled upon one of his child sex dolls, and how he convinced her to “keep it a secret.”

Later on in the thread, another user posts photos of a real toddler girl, and asks Joosten to price out a custom replica of a sex doll of the child, writing “I like the short, chubby, post-baby fat legs and young face.”

Joosten responds that a bespoke doll of the girl could cost up to $6,000.

Reduxx can confirm the child is a model for children’s clothing, and appears to be in no immediate danger.

Joosten’s arguments that child-like sex dolls can be “therapeutic” for pedophiles are hardly isolated, with many academics, organizations, and professionals working to normalize the concept of “fantasy outlets” for pedophiles.

James Cantor, a Canadian psychologist and neuroscientist, has claimed that prohibiting the use of child sex dolls amounts to “blocking harmless ways of masturbating,” and may cause sex offenders to become desperate and therefore more likely to offend. His theory has been pushed by US-based organization Prostasia, which uses it to campaign against laws criminalizing child sex dolls.

In addition, Reduxx recently reported on a Norwegian professor of ethics who suggested that pedophilia be taught in schools as a sexuality and advocated for legalizing “fictional” child sexual abuse materials.

Yet despite the growing popularity of the idea amongst those who sympathize with pedophiles, there is no conclusive research to suggest that such a strategy would prevent offending.

In 2019, Australian criminologists reported that child-like sex dolls have a number of negative outcomes, noting the potential for an escalation in child sex offenses. Researchers Rick Brown and Jane Shelling wrote that child-like sex dolls “potentially results in the risk of children being objectified as sexual beings and of child sex becoming a commodity,” and that desensitization may occur as the dolls are not capable of giving negative feedback.

Caitlin Roper, the Campaign Manager for Collective Shout, has also researched extensively into the impact of sex dolls and has come to similar conclusions. Her book “Sex Dolls, Robots and Woman Hating” will be released in August. In 2020, ABC News published her counter-arguments to the assertion that the dolls prevent sexual offending.

“I cannot help but conclude that the academic arguments in support of child sex dolls are baseless, unconvincing and are open to being hijacked by vested interests,” Roper wrote. “They prioritize men’s sexual preferences over the rights of girls. Academic advocates fail to consider the gendered dynamics involved in the production of female-bodied child dolls for adult men’s sexual use, or to situate their development within a cultural context of gender inequality,” she argued.

“If child sex dolls function as advocates claim, they will maintain pedophiles’ sexual urges for children. Rather than encouraging restraint or investing energy into pursuing healthier relationships or sexual practices, child sex dolls enable the realistic fantasy experience of sexually abusing a child.”

Her sentiment has been echoed by many child protection agencies and advocates. Jon Brown, head of development at the UK-based charity The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), has said that “there is a risk that those using these child sex dolls or realistic props could become desensitized and their behavior becomes normalized to them.”

Joosten was reported to European Union authorities in 2021 by writers now associated with Reduxx, but it is unclear if any investigation has been launched into his activities.

Reduxx is your independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.

Patinador adulto transidentificado le arrebata primer lugar a niña de 13 años en competencia de skate femenino

By
Jennifer Sieland
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Ricci Tres [L] and Shiloh Catori [R]

Una ola de indignación se apoderó de la red luego de que los internautas conocieran el resultado de una competencia femenina de skate en Nueva York donde un hombre adulto le quitó el primer lugar a una niña de 13 años.

Ricci Tres, también conocido como Ricci And Tres, se adjudicó el primer lugar y un premio de $500 en la división femenina del The Boardr Open que tuvo lugar en la ciudad de Nueva York.

Tres, un hombre transidentificado de 29 años, superó a Shiloh Catori, de apenas 13 años. De los 6 competidores, 4 eran menores de 17 años, siendo Juri Iikura la más joven con 10 años.

En 2021, Tres se convirtió en el primer hombre transidentificado en intentar calificar para el skateboarding olímpico en su categoría femenina. Tres presentó una carrera virtual para el Campeonato Nacional de Skateboarding de EE. UU. pero no pudo cumplir con las pruebas hormonales a tiempo, pero luego fue informado que su nivel de testosterona era “mucho más alto” que los niveles permitidos para competir en la categoría de mujeres.

Durante este tiempo, Tres fue entrevistado por Robert Brink de USA Skateboarding donde reveló que tenía más de 190 unidades por encima del nivel testosterona requerido para poder calificar en la categoría femenina según los Estándares del Comité Olímpico Internacional. Durante la entrevista, Tres también expresó su ambivalencia hacia la reducción de sus niveles de testosterona, e incluso afirmó que se sentía cómodo “como estaba” en su proceso transición.

La victoria de Tres fue condenada por Taylor Silverman, una patinadora que anteriormente se convirtió en el centro de atención después de hablar sobre sus experiencias compitiendo contra hombres identificados como trans.

Esto ocurre pocas semanas después de que Silverman, una skater profesional, publicara una declaración en su Instagram en la que denunció al evento skate Redbull Cornerstone por permitir la participación de un atleta masculino que le quitó el primer lugar a las mujeres en su propia competencia.

En su declaración, Silverman describió como ella quedó de segunda en dos eventos en donde se les permitió a hombres biológicos competir contra patinadoras, y señaló que en la última competencia de patinaje patrocinado por Redbull, las atletas perdieron premios económicos porque un deportista transgénero se llevó el primer lugar.

La publicación de Instagram de Silverman se vio inundada inicialmente con comentarios llenos de odio por parte de activistas trans, pero  ella se ha vuelto aún más incisiva en su rechazo hacia los hombres que participan en el deporte femenino. En Twitter, la posición en pro de la mujer de Silverman  le ha conseguido un número significativo de seguidores entre las feministas y personas críticas de la ideología de género.

Después de que Silverman anunciara el resultado del evento The Boardr, los internautas no tardaron en expresar su indignación.

Muchos optaron por felicitar a Shiloh Catori por su victoria, honrándola con el reconocimiento simbólico de primer lugar al declarar el podio de Tres como invalido.

Si bien algunos cuestionaron las ventajas que podrían tener los varones frente a las mujeres en el deporte de skateboarding, se comenzaron a virilizar algunas opiniones que el comentarista Tim Pool había compartido en torno a la controversia.

Pool, un ex patinador profesional, salió en defensa de Taylor Silverman después de que esta se enfrentara a patinadores que competían contra mujeres. Pool ofreció compensar a Silverman por todos los premios perdidos frente a hombres transidentificados que participaban en las categorías femeninas, y también señaló que existen diferencias claras entre patinadores masculinos y sus contrapartes femeninas.

“Los hombres que andan en patineta tienen centros de gravedad más altos que otorgan ventajas que no se pueden eliminar con terapia de reemplazo hormonal”, escribió Pool mientras discutía con el YouTuber The Amazing Athiest, quien defendía la participación masculina transidentificada en las categorías femeninas.

En otro tuit, Pool continuó afirmando que las patinetas masculinas tienen ventajas que no pueden solventarse reduciendo los niveles de testosterona.

“Los hombres llevan el centro de gravedad más alto que las mujeres, lo que crea ventajas en el skateboarding que no se pueden cambiar con la HRT. Además, con el ángulo Q, las mujeres son más propensas a las lesiones, lo que crea una gran desventaja independientemente de la TRH”, escribió en respuesta al biólogo evolutivo Colin Wright.

Ricci Tres no es el único hombre identificado como trans que provocó indignación después de obtener el primer lugar en una competencia deportiva femenina de este mes.

El 3 de junio, dos hombres identificados como trans obtuvieron el primer y segundo lugar en una competencia ciclista femenina en el Reino Unido.

Emily Bridges y Lilly Chant, ambos hombres identificados como trans, ocuparon el primer y segundo lugar, respectivamente, durante la carrera ThunderCrit at the Herne Hill Velodrome en Londres. Jo Smith fue la única mujer en subir al podio de ganadores, quedando de tercera. ThunderCrit es la carrera ciclista de piñón fijo más grande del Reino Unido.

Una encuesta reciente de Gallup reveló que el 62% de los estadounidenses cree que los atletas solo se les debería permitir participar en equipos deportivos que correspondan con su sexo biológico, y no a su identidad de género preferida. También los estudios han sido contundentes al afirmar que los atletas masculinos identificados como trans conservan ventajas competitivas incluso años después de comenzar la terapia de reemplazo hormonal.

En el 2020, un informe publicado en el British Journal of Sport Medicine señaló que en promedio  los hombres identificados como trans podían completar un 31 % más de flexiones y un 15 % más de abdominales en un minuto que una mujer miembro del servicio de la Fuerza Aérea. También corrieron 1.5 millas un 21% más rápido.

Pero incluso después de dos años de tratamiento de supresión de testosterona, los varones seguían siendo en promedio un 12 % más rápidos que las hembras biológicas.

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EXCLUSIVE: Brazilian Feminist Facing Up To 25 Years In Prison After Calling Trans Politician a “Man”

By
Anna Slatz
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Feminist activist Isabela Cêpa

A Brazilian feminist is reportedly facing up to 25 years in prison after being charged for calling a trans-identified male politician a “man” in a case she says she hopes will wake the world up about the impact of gender ideology on women’s rights.

Isabela Cêpa, also known by her social media handle FEMINISA, is a feminist influencer well-known in Brazil for her advocacy on the issues of sexual and domestic violence. She spoke exclusively to Reduxx on what she describes as “unconstitutional” criminal charges that have been formally lodged against her by the State on behalf of a trans-identified male politician – Erika Hilton of the Socialism and Liberty Party.

Erika Hilton

Hilton was elected to São Paolo’s municipal government in November of 2020, winning his seat by a landslide that gave him the title of the most voted-for ‘woman’ in Brazil.

At the time of his victory, Hilton was celebrated in international media as being a “symbolic triumph” for transgender people. Hilton was amongst the top 10 most-voted for candidates in all of Brazil, and was touted as the “only woman” to make the list.

It was the widespread announcement of his victory that first put him on Cêpa’s radar.

“At the time I didn’t even know who this person was. I just saw a headline on an Instagram page celebrating that ‘the most voted woman in São Paulo is a transwoman,'” she says, recounting how her ordeal began, “Then, I shared a video with my followers saying I was disappointed to hear that the most voted-for woman in São Paulo – later found out that it was in the entire country – was a man.”

Cêpa says she left her home to go shopping, and when she had returned, a veritable firestorm of outrage had broken out, one which quickly spiraled out of control.

“When I arrived back home, I was already being attacked by thousands of people,” she describes, stating Suyanne Ynaya, an editor at ELLE magazine’s Brazil franchise and friend of Erika Hilton’s, had posted her Instagram video to Twitter, calling her out for describing Hilton a “man.”

But Ynaya’s attack didn’t just end there. The ELLE editor also accused Cêpa of filing a false sexual assault report against a Black man in an attempt to also paint her as a racist.

“This is something that just never happened. I’ve never reported a Black man for anything at all. So people started spreading the rumor that not only am I transphobic, but also a racist and a liar who takes advantage of the feminist movement to file false reports against innocent men of color.”

Cêpa told Reduxx she had been the victim of a sexual assault, but that her rapist was Caucasian. Despite that, Ynaya continued to spread the rumor that she had reported an Afro-Brazillian man, and even engaged beneath Cêpa’s tweets calling her “privileged and disgusting.”

Translation [sic]: “You have so many complaints against you, every person who talks to you says how many evil things you do out there looking for fame. You are a liar, privileged, and disgusting. Your feminism doesn’t knock at my door or educate my children. Know!”

On Instagram, Ynaya threatened to physically harm Cêpa multiple times, threats she brought to the Police but nothing was done.

“I have no idea why she did it … She deleted tweets when she realized it would result in criminal charges against her,” Cêpa says, noting that some survivors of sexual assault had begun to take issue with Ynaya’s campaign to delegitimize Cêpa’s sexual assault testimony, but the ELLE editor told them Cêpa did not deserve an apology because she was transphobic.

In an audio recording Cêpa provided to Reduxx for review, Ynaya is heard calling Cêpa a “racist” with mental health issues, and repeating the rumor that she had falsely accused a Black man of rape.

“I couldn’t count how many threats I received, between my social media profiles and e-mail,” Cêpa told Reduxx, saying that in the 24 hours after Ynaya launched her campaign, she lost over 11,000 followers on Instagram, “I was also uninvited to participate in a podcast where I was supposed to talk about sexual violence, as a survivor. My friends were threatened.”

But the social media attacks had more than a cursory impact on Cêpa’s life, they would also go on to impact a situation of domestic violence she was attempting to navigate shortly after.

“When I broke up with my [ex-boyfriend] after he raped me, he found a really comfortable space to say I was a false accuser. Things got to a point I coudn’t go out anymore without being taped, watched or photographed by his supporters – all women. His ex-girlfriend – a very fanatic trans ally – sent private information about the investigation to media, and then many people started saying online that I was a false accuser.”

Cêpa’s ex-partner was convicted of violating her restraining order against him last week, with an additional 6 alleged crimes still being investigated. Cêpa says that he told her in a recorded conversation that it was “way too easy” to convince others he hadn’t committed any wrongdoing against her because of the trans activist campaign that had been launched to discredit her.

While all of this was happening, Hilton was using Cêpa’s fall from popularity as a talking point. In early 2021, he mentioned he was planning on taking 50 people to police, of which Cêpa and her friend, whom he called a “mythomaniac,” were two of them.

Hilton didn’t report Cêpa to police until November of 2021, and in January, police would turn up to Cêpa’s mother’s workplace to ask for her whereabouts.

“They just gave her a document and she called me, worried. At the time I was traveling in another town and had to call the police station to understand what it was about,” Cêpa says, describing having to go to a local police station and speak with the officer there.

“When the officer told me it was about the politician I laughed. There was no other possible reaction … I said: Yes, I do defend women’s rights on a biological basis. There is no crime in stating the facts.”

After she spoke with police, Cêpa would be in the dark about developments in her case until June of 2022 when a reporter from a major Brazilian newspaper contacted her to ask for comment for a story she was writing on the charges.

Isabela Cêpa at a Women’s Rights protest in 2018.

“I heard about my charges for the first time on June 18th when a reporter from Folha sent me a direct message on Instagram asking for a statement, minutes before posting the article,” Cêpa says, “This was the first I had heard I was being formally criminally charged with anything.”

Cêpa learned from the Folha article that she was being charged with 5 counts of racism after the Public Prosecutor combed her social media feed to find other “transphobic” statements.

In 2019, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court ruled that discrimination against ‘LGBTQ Community’ constituted a penal offense, but fell under existing race-based protections as a form of “social racism.” This came a few years after State Police in São Paolo began to include trans-identified males in “femicide” statistics.

In addition to learning about the charges, the outlet announced Cêpa was facing up to 25 years in prison, a figure she says was manufactured to discourage other feminists from speaking out on similar issues.

“That [25 years] would be more time than a murderer convicted in the first degree would get here,” she says, calling the threat of the sentence “psychological terrorism.”

Speaking with Reduxx on Cêpa’s case, Brazilian journalist Andreia Nobre points out political dynamics are likely playing a role in her ordeal.

“[Cêpa] is being punished by a man who says he’s trans, because Brazilian media outlets wrote that he was the most-voted female councillor of all time and she challenged it,” Nobre says, “All she stated was fact. How can anyone believe that a government composed of 50% males saying they are ‘cis’ and 50% males saying they are ‘trans’ would represent progress?”

Nobre, who is the author of the newly-released Grumpy Guide to Motherhood and critically-acclaimed Grumpy Guide to Radical Feminism, notes that females comprise less than 20% of political seats worldwide, and are massively underrepresented in politics in Brazil.

“It shows Brazilian women they are not humans deserving of rights,” Nobre says, “It is definitely a setback. We barely have our rights respected in Brazil.”

Despite still having no formal copy of the charges that have been filed against her by the State, Cêpa has put together a team of 12 female lawyers to fight on her behalf.

“It would be unconstitutional to convict me for any of these charges … I’ve been facing these kinds of attacks from trans activists for years, so when I heard about it, I just put my legal team together right away.”

Last year, Hilton announced he would be suing 50 people for “transphobic” remarks, but as of right now Cêpa says she is the only one who has been formally targeted. In reports made across Brazilian media last year, Hilton appeared to be using the threat of suing feminists as a re-election strategy, rallying his supporters around the idea he will sue them after having them criminally convicted, and give the settlement money to other trans-identified people.

Cêpa says she hopes her ordeal will show how women are losing basic constitutional rights to validate the feelings of males.

“This case is not about a hate crime, but about a difference in political views. No one can impose upon a woman a belief that her sex is irrelevant.”

Reduxx is a 100% reader funded source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. This Exclusive was made possible by the generosity of our supports. Help us platform more stories and get behind our mission by joining our Patreon. Or, consider making a one-time donation through cryptocurrency or PayPal.

Feminista Brasileña enfrenta hasta 25 años de cárcel por describir a político trans como “hombre”

By
Anna Slatz
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Feminist activist Isabela Cêpa

Una activista feminista brasileña enfrenta hasta 25 años de cárcel luego de haber sido acusada de catalogar a un político transgénero como “hombre”. La demandada aspira que este caso logre mostrar al mundo el verdadero impacto de la ideología de género sobre los derechos de las mujeres.

Isabela Cêpa, también conocida por su nombre de usuaria en las redes sociales FEMINISA, es una influencer feminista conocida en Brasil por su concientización del público acerca de los temas de violencia sexual y doméstica. Ella habló exclusivamente para Reduxx sobre lo que  describe como cargos penales “inconstitucionales” que el Estado presentó en su contra en nombre de un político masculino identificado como trans: Erika Hilton del Partido Socialismo y Libertad.

Erika [Filipe] Hilton

Hilton resultó elegido para el gobierno municipal de São Paolo en noviembre del 2020, ganando su escaño de forma aplastante, lo que le dio el título de la “mujer” más votada de Brasil.

En el momento de su victoria electoral, Hilton fue aplaudido por los medios internacionales como un “triunfo simbólico” para las personas transgénero. Hilton estuvo entre los 10 candidatos más votados en todo Brasil y fue presentado como la “única mujer” en la lista.

La abrumadora cobertura de su victoria fue lo que lo visibilizó en el radar de Cêpa.

“En ese momento ni siquiera sabía quién era esta persona. Acababa de ver un titular en una página de Instagram que celebraba que ‘la mujer más votada en São Paulo es una mujer trans’”, dijo al contar cómo comenzó su calvario. “Luego, compartí un video con mis seguidores diciendo que me decepcionó escuchar que la mujer más votada en São Paulo –después supe que lo fue en todo el país– era un hombre”.

Cêpa dice que salió de su casa para ir de compras, y cuando regresó, se desató una verdadera tormenta de indignación, que rápidamente se salió de control.

“Cuando llegué a casa, ya estaba siendo atacada por miles de personas”, explicó, afirmando que Suyanne Ynaya, editora de la franquicia brasileña de la revista ELLE y amiga personal de Erika Hilton, había publicado su video de Instagram en Twitter, reprendiéndola por describir a Hilton como un “hombre”.

Pero el ataque de Ynaya no terminó ahí. La editora de ELLE también acusó a Cêpa de presentar un informe falso de agresión sexual contra un hombre afrodescendiente en un intento de pintarla como racista.

“Esto es algo que simplemente nunca sucedió. Nunca he denunciado a un hombre negro por nada en absoluto. Así que la gente comenzó a difundir el rumor de que no solo soy transfóbica, sino también racista y una mentirosa que se aprovecha del movimiento feminista para presentar informes falsos contra hombres inocentes de color”.

Cêpa le confesó a Reduxx que había sido víctima de una agresión sexual, pero que su violador era caucásico. A pesar de eso, Ynaya siguió difundiendo el rumor de que ella había denunciado a un hombre afrobrasileño, e incluso dejó descalificaciones debajo de los tuits de Cêpa llamándola “repugnante y privilegiada ”.

Traducción [sic]: “Tienes tantas quejas en tu contra, toda persona que habla contigo relata cuantas cosas malas haces por ahí en busca de fama. Eres mentirosa, privilegiada y repugnante. Tu feminismo no llama a mi puerta ni educa a mis hijos. ¡Para que lo sepas!”

En Instagram, Ynaya amenazó varias veces a Cêpa con agresión física, amenazas que ella denunció con la policía, pero que no generaron respuesta alguna de las autoridades.

“No tengo idea de por qué lo hizo… Borró los tuits cuando se dio cuenta de que generarían cargos penales en su contra”, explicó Cêpa, y señaló que algunos sobrevivientes de agresiones sexuales habían comenzado a tener serios problemas con la campaña de Ynaya de deslegitimización del testimonio de agresión sexual de Cêpa. , pero la editora de ELLE respondió que Cêpa no merecía una disculpa porque era transfóbica.

En una grabación de audio proporcionaba por Cêpa a Reduxx para su revisión, se escucha a Ynaya describir a Cêpa como una “racista” con problemas de salud mental y repetir el rumor de que había acusado falsamente a un hombre negro de violación.

“Perdí la cuenta de cuántas amenazas recibí, entre mis perfiles de redes sociales y el correo electrónico”, dijo Cêpa a Reduxx, y agregó que 24 horas después de la campaña de odio iniciada por Ynaya, perdió más de 11,000 seguidores en Instagram, “También cancelaron mi invitación a participar en un podcast donde estaba pautada para hablar sobre la violencia sexual, como sobreviviente. Amenazaron a mis amigos”.

Pero los ataques en las redes sociales tuvieron más que un impacto superficial sobre la vida de Cêpa, también agravaron una situación de violencia doméstica que estaba tratando de sobrellevar.

“Cuando rompí con mi ex-novio después de que el abusó de mi, ellos le proporcionaron un espacio bien cómodo para decir que yo era una falsa acusadora. Las cosas llegaron a tal punto de que no podía salir sin ser grabada, observada o fotografiada por sus seguidores, todas mujeres. Su exnovia, una aliada trans obsesiva, envió información privada sobre la investigación a los medios de comunicación, y después mucha gente en línea comenzó a decir yo era una falsa acusadora”.

La semana pasada La expareja de Cêpa fue condenada por incumplir una orden de alejamiento en su contra, y aún se investigan otros 6 presuntos delitos. Cêpa dijo en una conversación grabada se le escuchó decir que era “demasiado fácil” convencer a los demás de que no había cometido ningún delito contra ella debido a la campaña de activismo trans que se había lanzado para desacreditarla.

Mientras todo esto sucedía, Hilton estaba usando la caída en popularidad de Cêpa como tema de conversación. A principios del 2021, mencionó que planeaba denunciar a 50 personas a la policía, de las cuales Cêpa y su amiga, a quien llamó “mitómana”, eran parte de su lista.

Hilton no denunció a Cêpa a la policía hasta noviembre del 2021 y, en enero, las autoridades se presentaron en el lugar de trabajo de la madre de Cêpa para preguntar por su paradero.

“Apenas recibió el documento me llamó preocupada. En ese momento estaba viajando a otra ciudad y tuve que llamar a la comisaría para que me explicaran de qué se trataba”, recordó Cêpa, describiendo como tuvo que ir a una comisaría local y hablar con un oficial de turno.

“Cuando el oficial me dijo que se trataba del político me reí. No había otra reacción posible… Dije: Sí, yo sí defiendo los derechos de las mujeres en términos biológicos. No hay delito en exponer los hechos”.

Después de hablar con la policía, Cêpa no tendría información sobre la evolución de su caso hasta llegar a junio del 2022, cuando un reportero de un importante periódico brasileño la contactó para pedirle declaraciones sobre un artículo que estaba escribiendo sobre los cargos.

Isabela Cêpa at a Women’s Rights protesT in 2018.

“Me enteré de mis cargos por primera vez el 18 de junio cuando un reportero de Folha me envió un mensaje directo en Instagram pidiendo una declaración, minutos antes de publicar su artículo”, dijo Cêpa, “Esta fue la primera vez que escuche que estaba siendo formalmente acusada de algo”.

Cêpa supo por el artículo de Folha que estaba siendo acusada de 5 cargos de racismo después de que el Ministerio Público revisara sus redes sociales para encontrar otras declaraciones “transfóbicas”.

En el 2019, el Supremo Tribunal Federal de Brasil dictaminó que la discriminación contra la ‘Comunidad LGBTQ’ constituía un delito penal, pero caía dentro de las protecciones existentes basadas en la raza como una tipo de “racismo social”. Esto se desarrolló unos años después de que la Policía Estatal de São Paolo comenzara a incluir a hombres transidentificados en las estadísticas de “femicidios”.

Además de enterarse de los cargos, el medio anunció que Cêpa enfrentaba hasta 25 años de prisión, una cifra que, según ella, fue fabricada para disuadir a otras feministas de hablar sobre temas similares.

“Esos 25 años sería más tiempo de lo que recibiría un asesino condenado en primer grado”, dijo, catalogando a la amenaza de sentencia como “terrorismo psicológico”.

Discutiendo el caso de Cêpa con Reduxx , la periodista brasileña Andreia Nobre señala que es probable que la dinámica política esté jugando un papel en su terrible experiencia.

“Cêpa está siendo castigada por un hombre que dice ser trans, porque los medios de comunicación brasileños declararon que él era la concejala más votada de todos los tiempos y ella lo cuestionó”, explicó Nobre, “Todo lo que ella dijo es un hecho. ¿Cómo puede alguien creer que un gobierno compuesto por un 50 % de hombres que aseguran ser ser cis y un 50 % de hombres que dicen ser trans representaría un progreso?”.

Nobre, autora de la recién publicada Guía gruñona para la maternidad y de aclamada Guía gruñona para el feminismo radical, señala que las mujeres representan menos del 20% de los escaños políticos en todo el mundo y están enormemente subrepresentadas en la política de Brasil.

“Muestran a las mujeres brasileñas como si no fueran seres humanos que merecen derechos”, dijo Nobre, “Definitivamente es un revés. Apenas se respetan nuestros derechos en Brasil”.

A pesar de que aún no tiene una copia formal de los cargos que el Estado ha presentado en su contra, Cêpa ha formado un equipo de 12 abogadas para luchar en su nombre.

“Sería inconstitucional condenarme por cualquiera de estos cargos… Durante años me he enfrentado a este tipo de ataques por parte de activistas trans, así que cuando pude enterarme, inmediatamente reuní a mi equipo legal”.

El año pasado, Hilton anunció que demandaría a 50 personas por comentarios “transfóbicos”, pero hasta estos momentos Cêpa figura la única que ha sido formalmente atacada . En informes del año anterior publicados por los medios brasileños, Hilton parecería estar usando la amenaza de demanda a las feministas como una estrategia de reelección, reuniendo a sus partidarios en torno a la idea de que las demandará después de haberlas condenado penalmente y les dará el dinero del acuerdo a otras personas transidentificadas.

Cêpa dice que espera que su terrible experiencia muestre cómo las mujeres están perdiendo derechos constitucionales básicos para validar los sentimientos de los hombres.

“Este no es un caso de crimen de odio, sino de una diferencia de puntos de vista políticos. Nadie puede imponerle a una mujer la creencia de que su sexo es irrelevante”.

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Drag Queen Charged With 25 Counts of Felony Child Sexual Abuse Material Possession

By
Reduxx Team
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A Drag Queen who performed in front of children has been charged with 25 counts of child sexual abuse media possession after a lengthy investigation by law enforcement officials connected him to a disturbing Dropbox account.

Brice Patric Ryschon Williams is currently being held at Franklin County Jail in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania on a $100,000 bail he was unable to post. He has been charged with 25 counts of felony Class 2 child pornography, and 18 counts of criminal use of a communications facility.

According to the Tri-State Alert, Williams was nabbed after a lengthy investigation by law enforcement officials after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) submitted a tip to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Child Predator Section in May of 2020.

The tip noted that over 70 pieces of child sexual exploitation media had been uploaded to Dropbox, and the email associated with the account belonged to an account named ‘Ana D.’ A subsequent search of the IP address associated with the uploads led officials to subpoena Comcast for the location of the user’s login.

Two months later, NCMEC submitted another tip to the Attorney General’s office stating that 10 more sexually explicit child exploitation files were uploaded by the same user. Inspection of those files confirmed that at least 9 of the 10 files depicted child sexual abuse.

In September of 2020, a search warrant was issued to Dropbox on the account. Additional child sexual exploitation materials were uploaded during this time.

Brice Patric Ryschon Williams/Anastasia Diamond. Source: Instagram

On October 23, 2020, the search warrant for the Dropbox account uncovered 135 files, including those previously tipped to the Attorney General’s office by NCMEC. Months later, additional child sexual abuse materials were uploaded to the Dropbox as investigators continued to attempt to validate the files.

This month, investigators were finally able to obtain a search warrant for the Chambersburg-area home that had been suspected of being the origin of upload for the child sexual abuse material found on Dropbox. Williams was a resident of the home, and would later admit to being the sole user of the electronic devices in the residence. Investigators would find that ‘Ana D,’ the name associated with the Dropbox account, was a shortened version of Anastasia Diamond, Williams’ Drag stage name.

While initially denying any wrongdoing, Williams would admit to searching for, possessing, and uploading child sexual abuse materials after investigators found exploitative videos on his phones. He also told police that he first saw child abuse media in 2014 on a messaging app, and that he eventually started uploading the files to cloud storage websites to trade files with other pedophiles.

Williams performed as a Drag Queen under the stage name Anastasia Diamond. Since his charges were announced, internet sleuths have uncovered videos and pictures of Williams performing for children.

In a video uploaded to his Instagram from 2017, Williams is seen dancing and strutting in front of a crowd of youth at the Pride Festival of Central Pennsylvania.

One of Williams’ most recent posts on his Instagram is from February, in which he promotes the 2022 LGBTQ Pennsylvania Health Needs Assessment apparently in collaboration with the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

Williams appears to have been a very active member of the Pennsylvania LGBTQ and Drag Queen communities, with frequent posts to his social media pages showing he was a regular guest on podcasts and participated in many Drag events in his area. Last year, he was a featured speaker at GLO Harrisburg, which bills itself as a “safe space” for LGBTQ youth.

Williams next appearance in a large Drag show was scheduled for July 4.

Drag shows and their appropriateness for youth have become hot topics over the last few years, especially since the controversial spread of Drag Queen Story Hours across North America and Europe. In 2019, it was discovered that a registered sex offender had been performing at a Texas library for children as a Drag Queen.

In May, footage from the DragCon LA convention sparked backlash after it was discovered that children had performed on stage with the drag queens, collecting cash ‘tips’ from the audience as they danced. 

Earlier this month, a video of ‘drag queens’ performing provocatively for an audience of children at a gay bar in Texas went viral on Twitter, prompting massive backlash and raising concerns about child safeguarding.

The event had been subject to protests by right-wing advocacy group Protect Kids Texas, which stated on Twitter that they had 80 people outside of the venue voicing their concerns. The group also posted a video showing police showing up to the bar and escorting children from the venue.

Reduxx is your independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.

Publishing House Under Fire For Calling Indigenous Women “Womb Carriers”

By
Shay Woulahan
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A publishing house was forced to delete tweets today after receiving a firestorm of backlash for calling Indigenous women forcibly sterilized under racist policies “womb carriers.”

Verso Books, a left-wing publishing house which has offices in the United Kingdom and United States, published a series of tweets on June 23 focused on the history of obstetrical violence against Indigenous women.

In an attempt to make their ordeals ‘gender neutral,’ Verso instead called them “womb carriers.”

“In the 1970s up to 50% of Native womb barriers were sterilized against their will by the Indian Health Service (IHS),” read the first tweet in the thread, continuing: “Stripping our womb carriers of their ability to have children is the continuation of over 500 years of misogynistic violence against Indigenous peoples.”

One of the now-deleted tweets pushed on the official Verso Books Twitter.

The Indian Health Service is a division within the United States Department of Health and Human Services which focuses on providing health services to Indigenous American tribes and Alaska Natives. The IHS was established in 1955, but has a long history of controversies surrounding its administration of services to Indigenous people.

In 1976, the U.S. Government admitted that a mass sterilization policy had been enacted by the Indian Health Service between 1973 and 1976. A study by the U.S. General Accounting Office found that 3,406 Indigenous women without their consent, validating research undertaken by Choctaw Doctor Connie Pinkerton-Uri years prior which had found that one out of every four Indigenous women had been sterilized. Some had even been given total hysterectomies under the lie that it was “reversible.”

Shortly after Verso’s tweets were posted, the publisher prompted outrage from women’s rights advocates who called out the language used as “dehumanizing” and erasing the unique, sex-based oppression within the practice.

Radical feminist Claire Heuchan responded to Verso’s thread writing: “*Women* were forcibly sterilized as part of the violent subjugation of our sex class. And you dishonor every last victim of this heinous crime by pretending that she was chosen for some arbitrary reason, as opposed to recognising this violation as racialised misogyny.”

Author of Give Birth Like A Feminist, Milli Hill also tweeted in response; “Imagine typing this out and clicking ‘tweet’ without even pausing to consider how calling women ‘womb carriers’ would absolutely delight the racists and misogynists who carried out the atrocity they are trying to highlight. Sheer idiocy.”

Other twitter users responded with similar incredulity, offended at the sexed nature of the practice being erased, and noting that only females could be impacted by such a barbaric practice.

“Such degrading language is only ever used to describe women. Not men. Native women were targeted SPECIFICALLY because of their sex class & their ability to carry children. Don’t minimise the horrors they faced by using this kind of language,” wrote user @AppleofSpring.

Verso Books, previously New Left Books, is a publishing house founded in 1970 which self-identifies as left wing. Many of their publications focus on promoting gender ideology, sex work, or transgenderism.

They have published books such as Revolting Prostitutes by by Juno Mac and Molly Smit, Trans: A Memoir by Juliet Jacques and the North American release of The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye.

Verso Books has also published the work of prominent Queer theorist, Judith Butler. Butler’s work, particularly her 1990 book Gender Trouble, has been seen as influential in distorting the language around women’s rights.

Speaking with The Guardian in 2021, Butler infamously said: “We need to rethink the category of woman” and “The category of woman can and does change.” Roughly eight hours after publication, an entire section of the interview was quietly pulled. In the deleted passages, Butler had said that “the anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times.”

Although Verso sometimes publishes feminist literature, in 2021, they were accused of mishandling a sexual harassment complaint by a female employee.

Emily Janakiram, who described herself as “the newest and lowest paid employee, the only woman of color on full-time staff,” demanded an apology from the publishing house after she reported that Verso’s U.S. editor, Jake Stevens, had sexually harassed her.

“I was told that this was not the first time that Jake had behaved in a sleazy and inappropriate way with employees, and that in filing the first ever former complaint, I would be letting him know that we knew about this behavior and would no longer tolerate it silently,” she stated at the time.

During a meeting to discuss the incident, Jankiram suggested that they hire someone to conduct sexual harassment training at the office, but was told that “this was basically not cool and leftist enough for the hallowed halls of Verso.”

Many of the writers Verso publishes have facilitated the academic argument for the words “woman” and “man” to no longer refer to biological sex distinctions. This has resulted in alternative phrases such as “cervix havers, gestational carries, vagina owners” and even “bleeders” being used when referring to women’s reproductive health.

Researchers have found that women view these terms as dehumanising. A collaborative research paper led by Australian academic Karlene Gribble and included the work of 10 prominent women’s health researchers concluded that so called “inclusive language” had “consequences that have serious implications for women and children.”

“Desexing the language of female reproduction has been done with a view to being sensitive to individual needs and as beneficial, kind, and inclusive,” they wrote in the paper. “Yet, this kindness has delivered unintended consequences that have serious implications for women and children.”

Indigenous women are still disproportionately impacted by sex-based violence. The murder and disappearance of thousands of Native American, First Nation, Metis, and Inuit women and girls across the United States and Canada has been referred to as an “epidemic” that has gone overlooked for years.

According to Native Women’s Wilderness, Indigenous women and girls in the United States are murdered at a rate 10 times higher than all other ethnicities, and experience sexual violence at a rate of 2 times higher their white counterparts.

Homicide was the third leading cause of death amongst Indigenous women and girls in the United States aged 10 to 24.

Reduxx is a newly-launched independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation

The Boy Who Shifted Shapes: A Detransitioner’s Story

By
Shape Shifter
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I call myself Shape Shifter.

While the name is not my own, I feel it describes me well. I have traversed the darkest reaches of the so-called “gender spectrum” in search for what – who – I was, and transformed myself in the process multiple times.

I can say now that I am a 31-year-old gay male who lived life as a transgender woman for a decade.

I grew up in predominantly Muslim country in Eastern Europe. From the youngest years of my life, I was ‘gender non-conforming,’ and even before I hit puberty I knew I wasn’t like the other boys. But as I got older, I realized that my sexuality and desire to present myself the way I felt most comfortable was not accepted by the society I had been born into. I was rejected both at school and in the home. Bullied by peers, and treated as a burden by my family for my femininity.

My father would tell me I “wasn’t a real man.”

My mother expressed shame over my height and physical attributes.

It doesn’t take long to drown when you’re thrown into a sea of resentment with no lifejacket.

Slowly but surely, I began to hate everything about myself. My “feminine” body and mannerisms were a burden, as was my sexuality. Still, all I could focus on was improving my English with the dream I could leave my country and move to the West.

When I was 20-years-old, that dream became a reality. I moved to the United States to begin graduate school, and for a moment breathed the fresh air of a liberation I’d never before known. I was finally able to grow out my hair and dress in the manner I preferred, and I could be openly gay without fear of persecution.

But that moment was tragically brief.

A question from a well-meaning classmate would put the breaks to the freedom I was enjoying.

“What are your pronouns?”

I was confused, uninitiated. I’d never been exposed to the concepts present in contemporary gender ideology before, and began to research into it like any curious person would. Little did I know at the time, every page I scrolled through and concept I learned was tugging me farther and farther away from the liberation I had just barely begun to enjoy.

Faced with an avalanche of testaments to affirmation and validation, I began to convince myself I was a “straight woman” trapped in a man’s body. After the life I had lived, wrought with such repression and condemnation, it almost made sense.

It explained everything, in fact. The reasons why I never fit in or felt comfortable with my body suddenly became crystal clear. The logic behind it also promised an escape, something I had been desperately searching for my whole life.

I could be free from the homosexuality that I had been shamed for since my earliest years. I could be free from being a “feminine” man. I could be a heterosexual woman. Then I could be accepted, find love, and live a normal life.

In my excitement, I almost immediately began presenting myself as a transgender woman. I distanced myself from my gayness and my maleness. I changed my pronouns and quickly changed my name and legal documents.

But despite my initial feelings I had done the right thing, the escape – the freedom – I sought continued to elude me.

While I had been told while I was growing up that I was too “feminine,” male sexual partners were now telling me I was too “masculine,” and not womanly enough. I decided it must have been because my “wrong body” still needed medical correction.

I was able to get feminizing hormones rather quickly through Fenway Health in Boston, Massachusetts, which only required me to tell them I was living as a woman and “felt” like a girl on the inside. Soon after, I got facial feminization surgery and breast implants.

While my dating pool initially increased, I was told by members of my transgender community that men who were comfortable with my penis were “tranny chasers” who didn’t see me as a real woman. This, coupled with the fact these men often didn’t want anything to do with me out of the bedroom, made me feel like I would never find true love until I had completed all of the surgeries associated with transitioning. My mental health began to deteriorate, and I decided that I needed bottom surgery in order to feel happy.

I ended up getting two letters from mental health professionals at Fenway Health stating that I had gender identity disorder and that I was a good candidate for sex reassignment surgery. At no point was I asked about my childhood trauma, the repression of my sexuality in my home country, or even whether I had any co-morbid mental health concerns. They assumed that my depression and anxiety issues were due to gender identity disorder, and that radical medical intervention would be the solution.

I had my surgery in 2015, and my life has been a living hell since then.

The “neo-vagina” the surgeon had constructed was too tight for comfortable penetrative sex, and I started rapidly loosing depth despite rigorous and painful dilations because my body was treating the tunnel as a wound and was constantly trying to heal itself.

Within a few months, I was back on the operating table to widen the constructed passage. The surgeon blamed me for not dilating enough, though I had followed the instructions he’d given. Even after I left the hospital, I lost one inch of the canal’s depth in the drive from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts as my body continued to treat the surgical creation as a wound that needed to be closed.

Despite all of my efforts, most of which resulted in extreme discomfort during urination, the canal was narrowing once again.

My second revision was done with a different surgeon, one who harvested tissue from my colon in order to add it to the constructed canal. Within one month, the passage had tightened once again and dilation was painful.

Shape Shifter in a 2017 YouTube video documenting the aftermath of one of his neo-vagina revisions.

By my third revision surgery, I had done so much research that I was begging the surgical team to order certain supplies to keep my passage from closing again. During this surgery, my pelvic bone was shaved down to make the entrance to my hole wider. But after I removed the inflatable stent I had inserted during surgery, I discovered I had developed a colorectal fistula — an abscess-like infection. I had to be scheduled for fistula repair surgery.

The fourth revision to my neo-vagina resulted in the fistula tearing back open.

It was then that I realized no one had known what they were doing. Everything was experimental. All of it was being made up as they went along — and I was nothing more than a guinea pig.

I later discovered the surgeon, Dr. Salgado, who had done my last three revisions was let go from the University of Miami for taking pictures of his patients while they were under anesthesia and posting them to Instagram.

Currently, my neo-vagina is only 1 inch deep. I have spent thousands of dollars flying across the United States trying to find a surgeon with a solution, but I have been told that due to the amount of revisions I have had, any attempts would likely result in me having to wear a colostomy bag.

I realize now that in my search for freedom… I have mutilated myself.

I lost my perfectly healthy genitals. I lost my 20s. I lost family and friends. I lost my chance at a comfortable, fulfilling sex life.

My insurance, however, has paid out over $250,000 to surgeons and hospitals for the various hack-jobs that had been performed on my body. Everyone made out like a bandit, yet I had nothing to show for it. Not one of the surgeons who lined their pockets off of my trauma has ever called to check up on me, ask about my quality of life, or see if I was still alive.

In 2018, I made my first YouTube video discussing my complications. At the time, I was still living as a “woman,” and I had thought I would document my thoughts and experiences as I believed they were rare.

But after I uploaded my first videos, I had many trans-identified individuals write me and explain they were in similar positions. I realized there were a lot of people with complications, but they weren’t included in any official statistics or data.

Just as my journey had started, it would end with research.

I realized hormone treatments were not even FDA approved for treatment of gender dysphoria. That there were no studies proving that hormone replacement therapy was safe in the long run. And, just as I had thought, all of the surgeries were experimental.

But more than anything else, I realized I was not a “woman.” I was a gay man who had been sold a lie.

After everything I have been through. I realize medical transition destroyed my mental and physical health, and lowered my quality of life substantially.

At 31-years-old, I have osteoporosis and scoliosis from the impact of hormone replacement therapy. In fact, my testosterone was so low that in January I began taking it to improve my bone density. My T-levels increasing resulted in a slew of extreme emotions towards my transition. It was as though a part of my brain that had been dormant was activated, and I was suddenly wrought with the full depth of the realization that I had made a mistake I could never take back.

I was at my breaking point, and experienced suicidal ideations. Entering therapy helped me realize I had heavy childhood trauma that should have been addressed prior to ever allowing me to proceed with an irreversible medical intervention. I discovered I had borderline personality disorder as well as body dysmorphia, and no matter how far I took my surgical modifications, I would have never felt “at home” in my body.

Since I have come out as a detransitioner, I have spoken to so many people like me whose stories are important and deserve to be heard. In fact, I believe the detransitioner community will be growing exponentially in the coming years. It is tragic to think about the parents who will one day realize they ruined their child’s body by jumping to “affirm” how they perceived themselves at one moment in time — kids who may have just been gay or gender-nonconforming like myself.

I have also met criticism from those who still subscribe to gender ideology who claim that me speaking on my experiences will take away “life saving” care from trans people.

But I got that care. And where is my life?

Sometimes I feel like I am in a nightmare I will wake up from. My eyes will open and I will have my original body and have my whole life ahead of me to make decisions. Since beginning testosterone, I also sometimes get ‘phantom penis’ symptoms which are extremely traumatic.

Medical detransitioning is even more experimental than medical transitioning, but I am not rushing into anything anymore. One thing is for sure, I will never again identify as transgender woman — a label that not only endorses questionable medical experimentation, but also has a negative impact on the rights and dignity of females.

My idea of freedom is different now than it was those years ago, but the challenges are, ironically, the same.

In addition to the criticism from those who champion gender ideology, I also get flak for having long hair and nails but identifying as a man. Yet again I am being criticized for not fitting certain rigid definitions of masculinity — the very thing that set me down this path in the first place.

But I am done trying to ‘correct’ myself to please others.

I am done shifting shapes.

Reduxx is your independent source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% reader-funded! Support our mission by joining our Patreon, or consider making a one-time donation.

Amnesty Norway Collaborates With Trans-Identified Male Who Reported Feminist To Police

By
Shay Woulahan
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Amnesty Norge, the Norwegian chapter of Amnesty international, has released a collaboration video promoting trans rights with an activist who launched a police investigation against a feminist for expressing her opinion on gender ideology.

“Christine Marie” Jentoft reported women’s rights advocate Christina Ellingsen to the police over comments she made on Twitter stating that men cannot be lesbians.

The video, which was posted to Amnesty Norway’s Twitter on June 16, shows Jentoft wearing a shirt intended to mock women who are uncomfortable with men using female bathrooms. Amnesty presents Jentoft with comments and opinions portrayed as uneducated or bigoted he then responds to.

During the video, Jentoft defends males using women’s restrooms, and claims that there are more than two sexes.

When asked about the impact “trans rights” have on women’s rights, Jentoft denies there is any conflict, and addresses the concern by saying “rights are not like a pizza where some get more and others get less.” Jentoft also claims trans activism does not want to erase the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ — two responses which could be perceived as ironic considering Jentoft is attempting to have a feminist imprisoned for her perspective on women’s sex-based rights.

Jentoft, a male who identifies as a “lesbian,” currently serves as an advisor on gender diversity for the Norwegian Organization for Sexual and Gender Diversity (FRI – foreningen for kjønns- og seksualitetsmangfold).

FRI, which originally focused on advancing the rights of the gay and lesbian community, shifted its campaigning towards destigmatizing fetishes as it began to take up the cause of transsexual lobbying.

Since 1996, FRI’s activism has focused on pressuring the World Health Organization (WHO) to declassify fetishes and paraphilias as mental health disorders. In 2018, the organization, which often displays the “BDSM pride” flag, was successful in their campaign to have sadomasochism, transvestic fetishism, and general fetishism re-classified as variants in sexual arousal both in Norway and abroad.

Last year, Ellingsen, a representative of feminist organization Women’s Declaration International (WDI), questioned why FRI promoted the belief that men could be lesbians. She directed some of her tweets at Jentoft due to his involvement with the organization.

“Why [does] FRI teach young people that males can be lesbians? Isn’t that conversion therapy?” Ellingsen tweeted in October 2021.

Christina Ellingsen. Photo Credit/Fartein Rudjord

A second tweet that has been cited as evidence of hate speech reads, “Jentoft, who is male and an advisor in FRI, presents himself as a lesbian – that’s how bonkers the organization which supposedly works to protect young lesbians’ interests is. How does it help young lesbians when males claim to be lesbian, too?”

In January, Ellingsen appeared on a Norwegian television debate with Jentoft, the topic being biological sex, language, and trans health.

“Jentoft claimed to be a woman and a mother. To which I replied: you are a man. You can’t be a mother. It is discrimination against women that we are to understand you as a mother,” Ellingsen says, “My statement is true on every level, of course, but is especially true because changing legal sex in Norway explicitly does not include a change of parental status.”

But Ellingsen explains that when she debated Jentoft on television, the activist had already reported her to police. He would later add the comments she made during the debate to the police report, which she was still unaware of at the time.

While police are still investigating, if she is found guilty, Ellingsen could face a prison sentence of up to three years for her comments.

Speaking with Reduxx, Ellingsen expresses a lack of surprise at Amnesty Norway’s involvement with Jentoft, the organization having previously defended him against her statements before.

“Amnesty Norway used their platform to claim that me calling Jentoft ‘man’ on TV was harassment,” Ellingsen says, “Two of my retweets of Amnesty Norway’s misrepresentation of ‘harassment’ was later included in the report to the police.”

Ellingsen points out that Amnesty, despite being a multi-national human rights charity, has long since abandoned the recognition women face unique, sex-based oppression.

“Amnesty does not recognize violations against women. On the topic of sex-based exploitation against women, they have publicly sided with those who exploit women, both on the topic of prostitution and trafficking, and on the topic of women’s right to count as a sex-class. Their Ireland branch even claims in a letter that there are no such thing as a sexed body.”

Amnesty has come under fire from women’s rights in recent years since shifting its stances on many key feminist issues. It currently lists female genital mutilation as being a “gender-based” discrimination, and announced its support for a blanket decriminalization of “sex work” in 2016.

“Women make up the majority of those who donate to charities. Do women realize what they support when they [donate to] Amnesty?” Ellingsen asks, “I think that by backing the most exploitative industries against women, and by supporting the erasure of women as a sex-class, Amnesty might be making a mistake.”

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