Well, this is a new turn of events...
I have been accused of being a child pornographer by some lurker over at my adult Trixie Belden site because I linked to my stories at The Pit of Voles when a friend asked to read my HP stories. (I told her to private message me if she wanted links to the 'racier' stories - i.e. the ficlets I wrote for 1001ways)
I'm so stunned and completely pissed off at the moment. My friends at Jix (the TB site) have all stood behind me in this, and I'm grateful, but it still doesn't ease any of my anger. Not only that, but the woman can't even spell her own name correctly. And since this type of harrassment and slander affects us all here in our HP fandom, (since she is "prepared to go to LiveJournal to confront them with the nature of [my] stories,") I feel compelled to share.
(I've removed last names as a courtesy and any emphasis is mine)
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 2:29 AM
Subject: Gay Child Porn at Jix Complaint
To CP and the Jixemitri Moderators:
My name is Kristen R, and it is with great trepidation and regret that I write this. I truly regret that it has come to this, but at this point I feel I have no choice.
I have been a lurking fan of your community for quite some time. I have always been a Trixie fan, and enjoyed the fan fiction and warm and family friendly environment you have fostered in your community. I must be honest in that I didn't approve of what everyone wrote and posted, but with your password system and vigilance, you have been the model of responsibility in a way that is all too rare in online communities.
You can then understand I hope, how surprised and appalled I was to discover that you had a community member that posted and linked to gay child pornography. I was appalled that the author LI Lisa blatantly posts links to self-described "slash" and "NC-17" stories involving children characters in Harry Potter in an unpassworded forum, and she posts these
descriptions and URLs in your open forums where anyone can see them. That this community would even welcome a self professed child pornographer in their midst is shocking to me.
What you do here is illegal. Despite your disclaimers and such, fan fiction can legally be considered a copyright violation. I do not know if Random House is aware of your community and has decided to be good natured about it, but if they do know, I can't image they will continue to be as good natured about what you do at Jix if it got out that it was also a haven for links to morally deplorable, sexually explicit and illegal stories involving minors. She may try to pass it off as "boy snogging", but the NC-17 ratings she gives her own fiction pretty much say it all, and stories of that nature are not only morally reprehensible, but illegal.
I am a part of a group of parents at my church that have somewhat loosely banded together to fight the proliferation of illegal child exploitation of this nature on the net, and we are prepared to fight this if you are not willing to take the appropriate steps to see that this comes to a stop. We are prepared to notify any all copyright holders of the abuses of these communities, including Trixie and Harry Potter.
We are prepared to email every member of the community with our concerns over this pornographer in your midst and your lack of willingness to do anything about it. We are already preparing to go to Live Journal to confront them with the nature of her stories.
I didn't want it to come to this. You have always been very good and responsible about keeping the boards friendly and family safe, but now that you have embraced a writer of gay child porn into your ranks, I feel I have no choice. I'll do whatever I have to,
but I write to you first, because god willing, we won't have to ruin this for everyone. We will not be ignored or written off however. We will not settle for any mild, halfway, feel good measures, because we feel we have to fight for the greater good and get this
situation resolved.
I sincerely hope it won't come to that, but don't for a minute doubt our resolve and willingness to take action.
Sincerely,
Kristin
Dear Ms. R:
First, I would like you to know that I take great offense to your statements ACCUSING, yes, accusing me of being a child pornographer. Despite the fact that it is offensive and blatantly false, your statements can also be construed as slanderous, and illegal in their own right.
On the one hand, it's amusing to me to that a Trixie Belden story where Trixie and, say, Regan (ETA: who is approximately nine years older than Trixie), having sexual relations before she is legally "of age" would bounce off of your "morality" radar, yet a story about two boys kissing (kissing being an act that teenagers of all ages do on occasion, or so I'm told) is considered child pornography. Seems to me that the point that has you so worked up is not the fact that it's sexually motivated, but that it's about two boys. I can't see that if I wrote a story about Trixie losing her virginity at age 16 to Jim (ETA: who is approximately two years older than Trixie)that you would be raising such a cry of "child pornography". (Obviously you have not read my Trixie stories, because there is little more than kissing contained within them.)
I'm sorry, but where I come from that's called prejudice. I understand that you are a religious woman, but you cannot pretend to speak for me when it comes to what is sinful and what is immoral. I am Jewish. Homosexuality is not a sin to me - it's a natural BIOLOGICAL condition - like having blonde hair or blue eyes. There is no choice in the matter. Whatever you wish to believe about it, your views about homosexuals and homophobia are not universally shared.
Second of all, if you have an issue with ME, you take it up with ME, since I am the one whom you are accusing of being a child pornographer. My e-mail was easily accessible in several places at Jix. I understand that what I choose to read or write OUTSIDE of the
Trixie boards, is not something that everyone would choose, and I specifically state at the beginning of ALL of my stories if there are issues contained within that I feel might offend someone. (I also take the time to explain my ratings on my Trixie stories, and
passworded "Retribution" at my own discretion. According to the Jix ratings, it didn't really need to be passworded for its content.) Other web communities do not have the luxury of password systems and the measures that Cathy takes at Jix to ensure that those underage do not have access to them. If I write stories that are more sexually
suggestive, I do not post them on the Fanfiction.net community where they are easily accessible, and I certainly did not post the link to more sexually suggestive stories on the Jix message board! I take offense to that blatantly false accusation. In fact, there are no links to my Harry Potter fanfiction on my website and never have been.
I am a 37 year old woman. What I do in my own time, outside of Jix is not the responsibility of any of the Jix administrators, just as what they do is of no concern to me. Jix is, for all intents and purposes, an adult community. Those who are under 18 who are members of our community are very responsible young women and they are quite capable of choosing not to follow every link. Moreover, I specifically indicated what my (one) slash story was about so that they would know what said story entailed if they found such things personally distasteful (as you obviously do) and not click on said link. I'm
sorry if my belief that knowledge and education are a more useful tool than ignorance offends you. Regardless, their activities online are not my responsibility - that is their own personal responsibility and that of their parents.
And as an adult, you make your own choices what to read, click on, etc. It's called personal responsibility and freedom of choice, and sometime in the last few decades, people have decided that that concept has gone out the window because your letter also presumes that adults cannot make these choices for themselves and need your help to decide. And that I simply cannoy abide.
I respect your choices and I respect your beliefs, but you have no right to impose your beliefs on me or anyone else who disagrees with you. And if you think differently, I advise you to read the Bill of Rights of our country.
Child pornography, prostitution, molestation, and the like ARE deplorable, but what I write does NOT fall under any of those categories, and I do NOT 'entice' people into reading it. Your time and your crusade might be better spent educating young teens about the dangers and consequences of sexual activities, sexually transmitted diseases, and self respect. Knowledge and education about sexual matters is not giving permission for teens to act. Only ignorance does that. And having been a teen, I speak from experience. Whether you believe it or not, that type of knowledge and education makes teens think twice and is more of a deterrent than you could possibly imagine.
Along that vein, I'm guessing that you missed Katie Couric's special on NBC network television two weeks ago wherein she addressed the issues and problems of THIRTEEN year olds, yes, thirteen year olds, engaging in activities such as oral sex, for one. I personally was gobsmacked watching it. And not because she was discussing sex, but because the subjects of such acts were ridiculously young and immature. Are you also inundating NBC with protests and slanderous e-mails for airing such a shockingly explicit show as well?
Kissing and even masturbation are not "dirty". They are not illegal. I am not writing about adults coercing children into sexual acts. I wrote a story about two sixteen year boys in love. How many people do you know who were "high school sweethearts"? Do you find THAT concept reprehensible? If my writing about two boys offends you, please don't read it. It's your choice. I specifically state that 'slash' (which is the webwide term for homosexual relationships) is not for everyone and please click the X if it is not something you approve of. I can do no more than that. For the record, in my other, 'higher rated' stories, both boys were either 17 or 18 years of age.
Let me ask you one further question, while I'm on the subject. If I chose to write a story about my own personal sexual experience(s) as a teen, would you consider that pornography as well? If you believe that, I would highly implore you to avoid the "young adult" section of Barnes & Noble. Even such celebrated writers as Madeleine L'Engle have written about their protagonist's 'first time' - which, I might add, involved a 16 or 17 year old Poly O'Keefe and an older medical student. The book is "House Like a Lotus", should you feel this blatant display of what could be construed as "Statutory Rape" should be stricken from the bookshelves. And, I might add, that Ms. L'Engle is revered by many as a Christian writer in theme.
Sex is not a dirty word. Nor is 'slash' "morally reprehensible", regardless of your personal religious beliefs. What I find "morally reprehensible" are close-minded people who believe that sex is sin and homosexuals are immoral sinners. And that is MY personal belief. I do not ask that you change your views or even accept my beliefs, but I DO ask that you respect that others do not share your views. To be honest, it's hypocritical to denounce a story about two homo- or bi-sexual boys kissing when a similar story about a young teenage boy and girl kissing would be considered acceptable.
Teens definitely need to be educated about the dangers of pornography on the web. I agree with you wholeheartedly there. But your 'all encompassing' (or more accurately, rather mutually exclusive) view of what constitutes 'pornography' is not a universal definition. And for you to threaten a community like Jix, which has done NOTHING but take every possible measure to ensure that only adults have access to the stories it hosts, I find that deplorable. Like I stated earlier - if you have a problem with me and wish to discuss it, you now have my e-mail address and I am always willing to discuss this matter without threats or accusations.
Please do not threaten Cathy and the Jix administration any further. To proclaim they are "the model of responsibility in a way that is all too rare in online communities" and threaten them in your next breath - That was completely uncalled for and I think you are well aware of that. I have removed the link (to ffnet) from my post on the message board as a courtesy to the Jix administrators since it so greatly offends you. It was not my intention to offend anyone, but you should know that your threats to them have offended me.
For the record, publishers and authors like J.K. Rowling are WELL aware of every fanfiction community, and many even encourage it. If you have doubts, I suggest you visit Ms. Rowling's website (http://www.jkrowling.com/) where she bestows awards to various
websites on a monthly or bi-monthly basis knowing full well that some of the stories archived at such sites are slash stories.
I think perhaps you need to readjust the focus of your crusade. Again, I apologize if my personal views have offended you, but I will not apologize for believing them.
Yours sincerely
Lisa L. (LI Lisa)
I didn't bother to address her threats to LJ because I couldn't stop laughing. I was actually rather tempted to direct her to communities like pornish_pixies and hp_rimming. *snort* What I feel badly about is her threats to Jixemitri - that's totally uncalled for, and they take these things very seriously over there.
Damn, I'm pissed.
edited 4/4/05 to un-flock
I'm so stunned and completely pissed off at the moment. My friends at Jix (the TB site) have all stood behind me in this, and I'm grateful, but it still doesn't ease any of my anger. Not only that, but the woman can't even spell her own name correctly. And since this type of harrassment and slander affects us all here in our HP fandom, (since she is "prepared to go to LiveJournal to confront them with the nature of [my] stories,") I feel compelled to share.
(I've removed last names as a courtesy and any emphasis is mine)
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 2:29 AM
Subject: Gay Child Porn at Jix Complaint
To CP and the Jixemitri Moderators:
My name is Kristen R, and it is with great trepidation and regret that I write this. I truly regret that it has come to this, but at this point I feel I have no choice.
I have been a lurking fan of your community for quite some time. I have always been a Trixie fan, and enjoyed the fan fiction and warm and family friendly environment you have fostered in your community. I must be honest in that I didn't approve of what everyone wrote and posted, but with your password system and vigilance, you have been the model of responsibility in a way that is all too rare in online communities.
You can then understand I hope, how surprised and appalled I was to discover that you had a community member that posted and linked to gay child pornography. I was appalled that the author LI Lisa blatantly posts links to self-described "slash" and "NC-17" stories involving children characters in Harry Potter in an unpassworded forum, and she posts these
descriptions and URLs in your open forums where anyone can see them. That this community would even welcome a self professed child pornographer in their midst is shocking to me.
What you do here is illegal. Despite your disclaimers and such, fan fiction can legally be considered a copyright violation. I do not know if Random House is aware of your community and has decided to be good natured about it, but if they do know, I can't image they will continue to be as good natured about what you do at Jix if it got out that it was also a haven for links to morally deplorable, sexually explicit and illegal stories involving minors. She may try to pass it off as "boy snogging", but the NC-17 ratings she gives her own fiction pretty much say it all, and stories of that nature are not only morally reprehensible, but illegal.
I am a part of a group of parents at my church that have somewhat loosely banded together to fight the proliferation of illegal child exploitation of this nature on the net, and we are prepared to fight this if you are not willing to take the appropriate steps to see that this comes to a stop. We are prepared to notify any all copyright holders of the abuses of these communities, including Trixie and Harry Potter.
We are prepared to email every member of the community with our concerns over this pornographer in your midst and your lack of willingness to do anything about it. We are already preparing to go to Live Journal to confront them with the nature of her stories.
I didn't want it to come to this. You have always been very good and responsible about keeping the boards friendly and family safe, but now that you have embraced a writer of gay child porn into your ranks, I feel I have no choice. I'll do whatever I have to,
but I write to you first, because god willing, we won't have to ruin this for everyone. We will not be ignored or written off however. We will not settle for any mild, halfway, feel good measures, because we feel we have to fight for the greater good and get this
situation resolved.
I sincerely hope it won't come to that, but don't for a minute doubt our resolve and willingness to take action.
Sincerely,
Kristin
Dear Ms. R:
First, I would like you to know that I take great offense to your statements ACCUSING, yes, accusing me of being a child pornographer. Despite the fact that it is offensive and blatantly false, your statements can also be construed as slanderous, and illegal in their own right.
On the one hand, it's amusing to me to that a Trixie Belden story where Trixie and, say, Regan (ETA: who is approximately nine years older than Trixie), having sexual relations before she is legally "of age" would bounce off of your "morality" radar, yet a story about two boys kissing (kissing being an act that teenagers of all ages do on occasion, or so I'm told) is considered child pornography. Seems to me that the point that has you so worked up is not the fact that it's sexually motivated, but that it's about two boys. I can't see that if I wrote a story about Trixie losing her virginity at age 16 to Jim (ETA: who is approximately two years older than Trixie)that you would be raising such a cry of "child pornography". (Obviously you have not read my Trixie stories, because there is little more than kissing contained within them.)
I'm sorry, but where I come from that's called prejudice. I understand that you are a religious woman, but you cannot pretend to speak for me when it comes to what is sinful and what is immoral. I am Jewish. Homosexuality is not a sin to me - it's a natural BIOLOGICAL condition - like having blonde hair or blue eyes. There is no choice in the matter. Whatever you wish to believe about it, your views about homosexuals and homophobia are not universally shared.
Second of all, if you have an issue with ME, you take it up with ME, since I am the one whom you are accusing of being a child pornographer. My e-mail was easily accessible in several places at Jix. I understand that what I choose to read or write OUTSIDE of the
Trixie boards, is not something that everyone would choose, and I specifically state at the beginning of ALL of my stories if there are issues contained within that I feel might offend someone. (I also take the time to explain my ratings on my Trixie stories, and
passworded "Retribution" at my own discretion. According to the Jix ratings, it didn't really need to be passworded for its content.) Other web communities do not have the luxury of password systems and the measures that Cathy takes at Jix to ensure that those underage do not have access to them. If I write stories that are more sexually
suggestive, I do not post them on the Fanfiction.net community where they are easily accessible, and I certainly did not post the link to more sexually suggestive stories on the Jix message board! I take offense to that blatantly false accusation. In fact, there are no links to my Harry Potter fanfiction on my website and never have been.
I am a 37 year old woman. What I do in my own time, outside of Jix is not the responsibility of any of the Jix administrators, just as what they do is of no concern to me. Jix is, for all intents and purposes, an adult community. Those who are under 18 who are members of our community are very responsible young women and they are quite capable of choosing not to follow every link. Moreover, I specifically indicated what my (one) slash story was about so that they would know what said story entailed if they found such things personally distasteful (as you obviously do) and not click on said link. I'm
sorry if my belief that knowledge and education are a more useful tool than ignorance offends you. Regardless, their activities online are not my responsibility - that is their own personal responsibility and that of their parents.
And as an adult, you make your own choices what to read, click on, etc. It's called personal responsibility and freedom of choice, and sometime in the last few decades, people have decided that that concept has gone out the window because your letter also presumes that adults cannot make these choices for themselves and need your help to decide. And that I simply cannoy abide.
I respect your choices and I respect your beliefs, but you have no right to impose your beliefs on me or anyone else who disagrees with you. And if you think differently, I advise you to read the Bill of Rights of our country.
Child pornography, prostitution, molestation, and the like ARE deplorable, but what I write does NOT fall under any of those categories, and I do NOT 'entice' people into reading it. Your time and your crusade might be better spent educating young teens about the dangers and consequences of sexual activities, sexually transmitted diseases, and self respect. Knowledge and education about sexual matters is not giving permission for teens to act. Only ignorance does that. And having been a teen, I speak from experience. Whether you believe it or not, that type of knowledge and education makes teens think twice and is more of a deterrent than you could possibly imagine.
Along that vein, I'm guessing that you missed Katie Couric's special on NBC network television two weeks ago wherein she addressed the issues and problems of THIRTEEN year olds, yes, thirteen year olds, engaging in activities such as oral sex, for one. I personally was gobsmacked watching it. And not because she was discussing sex, but because the subjects of such acts were ridiculously young and immature. Are you also inundating NBC with protests and slanderous e-mails for airing such a shockingly explicit show as well?
Kissing and even masturbation are not "dirty". They are not illegal. I am not writing about adults coercing children into sexual acts. I wrote a story about two sixteen year boys in love. How many people do you know who were "high school sweethearts"? Do you find THAT concept reprehensible? If my writing about two boys offends you, please don't read it. It's your choice. I specifically state that 'slash' (which is the webwide term for homosexual relationships) is not for everyone and please click the X if it is not something you approve of. I can do no more than that. For the record, in my other, 'higher rated' stories, both boys were either 17 or 18 years of age.
Let me ask you one further question, while I'm on the subject. If I chose to write a story about my own personal sexual experience(s) as a teen, would you consider that pornography as well? If you believe that, I would highly implore you to avoid the "young adult" section of Barnes & Noble. Even such celebrated writers as Madeleine L'Engle have written about their protagonist's 'first time' - which, I might add, involved a 16 or 17 year old Poly O'Keefe and an older medical student. The book is "House Like a Lotus", should you feel this blatant display of what could be construed as "Statutory Rape" should be stricken from the bookshelves. And, I might add, that Ms. L'Engle is revered by many as a Christian writer in theme.
Sex is not a dirty word. Nor is 'slash' "morally reprehensible", regardless of your personal religious beliefs. What I find "morally reprehensible" are close-minded people who believe that sex is sin and homosexuals are immoral sinners. And that is MY personal belief. I do not ask that you change your views or even accept my beliefs, but I DO ask that you respect that others do not share your views. To be honest, it's hypocritical to denounce a story about two homo- or bi-sexual boys kissing when a similar story about a young teenage boy and girl kissing would be considered acceptable.
Teens definitely need to be educated about the dangers of pornography on the web. I agree with you wholeheartedly there. But your 'all encompassing' (or more accurately, rather mutually exclusive) view of what constitutes 'pornography' is not a universal definition. And for you to threaten a community like Jix, which has done NOTHING but take every possible measure to ensure that only adults have access to the stories it hosts, I find that deplorable. Like I stated earlier - if you have a problem with me and wish to discuss it, you now have my e-mail address and I am always willing to discuss this matter without threats or accusations.
Please do not threaten Cathy and the Jix administration any further. To proclaim they are "the model of responsibility in a way that is all too rare in online communities" and threaten them in your next breath - That was completely uncalled for and I think you are well aware of that. I have removed the link (to ffnet) from my post on the message board as a courtesy to the Jix administrators since it so greatly offends you. It was not my intention to offend anyone, but you should know that your threats to them have offended me.
For the record, publishers and authors like J.K. Rowling are WELL aware of every fanfiction community, and many even encourage it. If you have doubts, I suggest you visit Ms. Rowling's website (http://www.jkrowling.com/) where she bestows awards to various
websites on a monthly or bi-monthly basis knowing full well that some of the stories archived at such sites are slash stories.
I think perhaps you need to readjust the focus of your crusade. Again, I apologize if my personal views have offended you, but I will not apologize for believing them.
Yours sincerely
Lisa L. (LI Lisa)
I didn't bother to address her threats to LJ because I couldn't stop laughing. I was actually rather tempted to direct her to communities like pornish_pixies and hp_rimming. *snort* What I feel badly about is her threats to Jixemitri - that's totally uncalled for, and they take these things very seriously over there.
Damn, I'm pissed.
edited 4/4/05 to un-flock