Original article (in Serbian) was published on 05/10/2022
These days, among people who fight against human rights and freedoms, especially the LGBT population and their visibility, there are many posts circulating on social networks that manipulate children in some way. In order to demonize LGBT people, they imply that the expansion of the corpus of human rights and freedoms leads to the normalisation of paedophilia. One of these posts was spread by the well-known Facebook conspiracy theorist Sasa Borojevic, who claims that “t-shirts for paedophiles” have arrived in a Belgrade chain of stores, and another is being spread on Twitter and Viber groups, and in it, it is claimed that the Spanish Minister for Equality has declared that “children have the right to have sex with anyone”. None of this is true, but it relies on the discussion about “imposing LGBT values” on children through textbooks, which is in focus in Serbia these days.
Homophobic groups in Serbia won a victory these days. Namely, the biology textbooks for the eighth grade were supposed to contain a lesson on gender and sexual identity, that is, the differences between the two, which should help students to understand identity diversity and transgenderism better.
Apparently, something like this was too progressive and controversial for public opinion in Serbia at this time, so conservative forces, led by the Dveri movement, rebelled against the “scandalous propaganda of homosexuality and transgenderism to minors”. The Ministry of Education then explained that “students of the eighth grade do not have the necessary prior knowledge in the field of psychology and sociology” to understand such things. A decision was made to change the textbooks.
In light of this discussion, there is increased talk on social networks about children and what is allegedly threatening children from the “sick west”, including sex education.
One post from Twitter, which also reached Viber groups where anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists of all kinds gather – states the following:
“Children have the right to know their bodies and to have sex with anyone”. These are the words of the Spanish Minister for Equality, Irene Montero. According to officials, if everything is by “mutual consent” for an adult man and a child, it is not paedophilia but self-realisation”.
The statement, however, was taken out of context to the extent that it is incomplete – key parts where it is said that the Spanish minister spoke about those who are 16 and 17 years old were omitted, and the part about “self-realisation” was added arbitrarily – we failed to find that some official said this.
In this part, in the discussion about the new law on sexual and reproductive rights, the Spanish minister talked about the reproductive rights of women who would have to decide for themselves whether to terminate or continue a pregnancy because these rights, according to the minister, are the basis of democracy. She stated that children, through sexual education, must know that no one can touch their bodies without consent. She also clarified that women aged 16 and 17 are sexually abused and forced by family and friends to maintain the pregnancy.
In other words, as can be heard from the recording, Minister Montero was talking about children aged 16 and 17, not younger. The Ministry of Equality has once again confirmed this to the fact-checking web portal from Spain, Maldita.es.
“The minister aimed to explain that it is important to know how to identify sexual violence that often occurs in a family environment or with adults in whom they have full confidence so that no one can touch you without your consent”, the Spanish ministry said.
In Spain, by the way, the legal limit for consent to sexual intercourse is 16, and in Serbia, it is 14. This limit means that any sexual act – from touching and sending pornographic content to sexual intercourse – under that age limit will be automatically considered an assault and will be punishable by law.
The easiest and fastest way to demonise any advocacy for the equality of the sexes and sexual minorities is by using the label “paedophilia”. Raskrikavanje has written on several occasions about attempts to connect the LGBT population with paedophilia and therefore challenge their demands for expanding rights and freedoms.
Sasa Borojevic’s profile as a breeding ground for disinformation
The famous conspiracy theorist from Facebook, Sasa Borojevic, has also distinguished himself with similar manipulations. At the end of September, he also shared a video of the Spanish minister with the question, “can it be more clear” what is the “goal” of the LGBT population.
In his new post, he stated that “the sexualisation of children is in full swing”, corroborating this, among other things, with the front page of Vecernje novosti from September 25, which states that “LGBT values are also being imposed through reading for children”.
As an argument that paedophilia is imposed on society as normal, Borojevic wrote, among other things, that a chain of stores in Belgrade sells “t-shirts for paedophiles”. The T-shirt has a photo of a young man on the front, above which is written “Sex Education”, while on the back, it says “Sex Kid Saved My Life”.
“The shirt is an invitation to paedophiles, feel free to have sex with educated children”, warns Borojevic.
And this is an entirely wrong interpretation – the T-shirt refers to the popular series “Sex Education”, and the young man on the t-shirt is Otis, the main character who gives sex advice to his peers in the series and becomes highly respected for it. That’s why they give him the name “sex kid”, and in one scene, on the door of the toilet where high school students perform “consultations” with Otis, it says “Sex Kid Saved My Life”. So, the inscription on the T-shirt has nothing to do with paedophilia.
Yesterday, the fact-checking web portal from Montenegro, Raskrinkavanje.me, also wrote about Borojevic’s manipulations.
These days, in addition to misinformation on social networks, you can also read scandals due to certain news, such as the news that Berlin is getting a “gay and lesbian kindergarten” in the spring.
People wonder, “is there an end to this” and “how can we save the children”.
However, no one touches the children – this kind of kindergarten will really open in the spring in Berlin. Enrollment is voluntarily, and on the website of the organisation that runs it, it is stated that the environment will be carefree and pleasant and that the children will grow up respecting people and nature.
“We want children to learn other ways of life and worlds. Educators who are themselves LGBT are perceived here as a natural part of the daycare center, and, thus of society. In this way, we hope that we will be able to break down prejudices, but also to make it easier for individual children who might later come out as LGBT, to understand their difference as normal”, they state from this organisation.