It gives me no joy to say this.
Johan, someone I have been following on Facebook for nearly a year and considered an ally in the fight against gender ideology, has been alleged to have been in contact with a then 15-year-old girl, even going so far as to convince the young lady in question to send nudes to him.
Johan is 38.
I should point out that Johan is a Swedish national and, according to Swedish law, what he’s alleged to have done is not a crime and that the girl in question is old enough to consent and that all attempts to contact the Swedish authorities have been underwhelming in their response to inquiries.
As pointed out, I have been following him for about a year and I am only now just learning about what was ostensibly an open secret on Twitter; that he has been alleged to have a penchant for young girls.
I would like to make this very clear: while Johan hasn’t broken any laws in Sweden, what he is accused of I consider to be very dodgy.
There is nothing a 38-year-old man has in common with a 15-year-old girl, regardless of how much that man has the law on his side.
For example, here in my home state of California it is illegal to have any kind of sex with anyone under the age of 18 but you can legally marry said minor and have all the sex you want as the minor is now elevated in status to that of an adult, thus overriding - and undermining - all statutory concerns.
But it’s still a very dodgy thing to do.
Now, I’m not going to suggest that we in GC movement start suspecting everyone we ally with of sexual malfeasance with minors unless, of course, we can conclusively prove it. We should refrain from accusing anyone we find doing this of being sexual deviants or criminals as that could be actionable in a court of law.
For example:
This is @Artofhunger and his account was suspended after breaking the story of Johan to Twitter.
The simplest explanation is that what Artofhunger posted was defamatory as Sweden's age of consent is 15 and that Johan wasn't committing, or had committed, a crime.
In Sweden, you can actually go to jail for defaming someone. The criminal offense of defamation is regulated by Chapter 5 of the Swedish Penal Code. Article 1 of Chapter 5 defines defamation where a person is pointed out as someone being a criminal, or as having a reprehensible way of living or otherwise furnishes information intended to cause exposure to the disrespect of others.
And that Twitter suddenly found itself having run afoul of Swedish law, what choice did they have?
This is exactly the situation we need to avoid at all costs if we’re going to continue to speak out effectively against gender ideology.