If you’ve been directed to this thread, it might be because you encountered one of the Google ads in our CP campaign, directed at those who may have been searching for information about child abuse on the dark web. Prostasia Foundation supports the free and open Internet, including tools that allow you to be secure and anonymous. But we don’t support child abuse imagery, and we want to hear what you think about this. You need to create an account to reply, but your reply can be anonymous: just click on your profile photo and click the “private eye” icon directly underneath it.
I was originally going to make a longer post, but this is a very complicated problem with no simple solution. It’s hard for me to say something which might not just end up making the problem worse or escalate things to contact which is the absolute antithesis of what I want, so I’m being very careful with my words here.
I can understand why someone might decide to look at the images, especially if they consider them to be relatively harmless ones and I talk to both people who are ferociously against it in all forms and ones who say that CP is not CSEM. But.
Be very careful about whether you really want to look at those images, there are more nets and traps that you can imagine and it is very easy to get very badly burned. Don’t listen to those people, if they go on about how “everyone does it” and “you can get away with it easily.”
A single image can bug you for months, whether it’s not wanting something beautiful to be destroyed (whch can lead to collecting images which put you at serious liability) or just plain sexual desire.
There may be safer (and legal) alternatives depending on your country, although there isn’t really any long term research as to their impact, other than personal statements (things may vary from person to person) and relatively low quality research.
Also, try not to screw with your body, if possible. No self-harm or the like. And employ a healthy dose of skepticism when talking to over-idealistic people who say that age is just a number. They are usually very nice people, but it is usually best when their views remain that, just views rather than acts.
MAP Resources also contains a variety of support resources, including self-help tools, support groups, and a list of referrals to safe therapists and treatment programs. We also have a Guide to Reporting CSAM , which, in addition to what the name suggests, contains tips and resources for those who may be struggling to stop viewing illegal content.