A “children’s games magazine” that parodies Jesus? It’s wrong

At the beginning of May was published in Spain “El Niño Jesus no odia a los mariquitas“, a satirical work aimed at denouncing homophobia through fun activities. On social networks, many Internet users have assured, with supporting screenshots, that the book is recommended for children”from 6 years old” on Amazon and denounced a “childhood perversion“since the work includes representations of sexual acts. If some online booksellers have actually displayed a description including the mention “from 6 years old“, the publisher of the work explained to AFP that it was an error made when the information from the book was transmitted to a professional database. In addition, the different presentations of “El Niño Jesus no odia a los mariquitas” by its publisher, before and after its publication, all specify that it is a book for adults.

On Facebook, X (1, ​​2) and Telegram (1, 2), Internet users have been deploring since May 19 that “in Spain, a children’s games magazine shows Jesus on the cross with LGBT flags“and that it would include a game”very funny“aiming to find which person is having sexual relations with”a little boy“.

These messages, which have collected several hundred shares, accompany the cover of a book in Spanish and the photo of an illustration comprising several completely naked characters whose sexes form a sort of labyrinth leading to another character, represented in four paws. Some of the drawings are of a sexual nature and their style uses codes commonly used by children’s publications.

“The goal is the perversion of childhood“, comment on some of these accounts.

Screenshots taken on X (left) and Telegram (right) on 05/27/2024

Using the same images, other Internet users write that a “children’s book about Jesus was released in Spain, including a puzzle with penises. […] According to the author, the book is recommended for children ages 6 and up.“

These claims are also circulating in English, Spanish and Italian.

QAnon movement

The book mentioned in the viral publications is called “El Niño Jesus no odia a los mariquitas“, or literally “Little Jesus doesn’t hate ladybugs“. Written and drawn by Julio Serrano, aka Don Julio, it was published (in Spanish) on May 9, 2024 by Fandogamia.

This activity book, whose cover displays a Jesus on a cross brandishing two LGBT flags, was written to denounce homophobia, according to its description (link archived here). The term “mariquita“(literally ladybug)”is one of the most used words in Spain with Marica and Maricón, to insult […] homosexual men“, notes the encyclopedia project of LGBT terms Moscas de colores (link archived here).”However, now these words are also used normally among LGBT people to replace the term gay“, the site continues.

From May 10, the day after the release of the book, we found publications ensuring that this book would be intended for children. Among the first to relay this assertion, Josema Vallejo, former candidate for deputy of the Spanish far-right party Vox and member of the Civil Guard (link archived here).

“I thought it was a joke, but no. Coloring book for children’Little Jesus doesn’t hate ladybugs‘. Pay attention to the description on Amazon. They unfold their plan and the goal is your children; you will see what you will do“, he wrote on X.

His message is accompanied by different images including the cover of the book, a photo of an activity proposed in the book and the description on Amazon of the latter.

Screenshot taken on X on 05/27/2024

“FROM 6 YEARS OLD The new activity book for the whole family. Find out how bad homophobia is by coloring and painting! In this book, you will find many activities to learn while having fun. After the success of BEING FASCIST IS BAD (five editions), we decided to launch a collection of thematic notebooks with LITTLE THINGS that it never hurts to learn. In a simple way. To make things clear“, we can read there (in Spanish).

“And here are the people who say: it’s obviously not for children, it’s a parody, Amazon mislabeled it… But it turns out that in too many places it says: ‘from 6 years old‘. It’s for adults, they say, but the only adults who use coloring books are those with cognitive disabilities“, continues Josema Vallejo.

These comments were widely relayed by accounts following the QAnon conspiracy movement, one of whose main theories consists of asserting that “global elites” are at the origin of a vast child trafficking network.

In Spain, they also provoked a reaction from the Foundation of Christian Lawyers, an organization which “defends values ​​inspired by Christianity in the legal field“The foundation launched a petition (more than 24,000 signatures) to call on booksellers to remove them from their shelves.”these activity books which incite pedophilia, humiliate and attack Christians” (link archived here).

She also announced that she had filed a complaint against the author and publisher of the work for “incitement to discrimination and hatred, and sexual provocation” (link archived here).

Description modified

At its output, “Little Jesus doesn’t hate ladybugs“was actually offered on Amazon with a description recommending its reading”from 6 years old” as this archive shows.

This same description was also used on other online sales platforms: we still find it on these two sites as well as on this archive and this cached version of other online booksellers (archived links here, here and here) .

Screenshot from the archive of the Amazon page of the book “El niño Jesús no odia a los mariquitas”

The text is significantly different from that used by Fandogamia Editorial, Don Julio’s publishing house.

In a presentation made for Barcelona Comic, the annual Spanish comics fair, the publisher makes no mention that the book is suitable for young children and even specifies that it is a work “for adults” (archived links here and here).

The various archives of the publisher’s official page, dated April 26, May 14 as well as the version currently online contain the same precision.

Comparison between the description of the book “El niño Jesús no odia a los mariquitas” among some online sellers and that published by the publisher Fandogamia

According to Fandogamia, this difference between the official description of the activity book and that present on certain online sales sites can be explained by an error made on a bibliographic referencing site.

“Spanish publishers have two platforms where they can register their published books for marketing purposes: ISBN, which is general and free [International Standard Book Number, NDLR], and DILVE, where publishers can enrich their book information with additional data (cover image, summary, etc.). To be able to enter data into DILVE, the publisher must be registered by means of a subscription“, explains (in English) to AFP the Federation of Spanish Publishers (FGEE) (link archived here).

The two services are then used by booksellers and e-commerce sites when putting books on sale.

According to FGEE, Fandogamia made a mistake when registering his new book, clicking on the option “from 6 years old“, information automatically transmitted to booksellers. On the other hand, the publisher does not have a subscription to the DILVE service, “the summary of the book published on certain websites does not come from DILVE“, assures the Federation.

For his part, Fandogamia refutes any error to AFP. On Amazon »Little Jesus Doesn’t Hate Ladybugs was in the comics category before being deleted, and not in children’s coloring books or children’s comics“, explains (in English) the editor. “No code automatically enters the phrase ‘FROM 6 YEARS OLD‘ in the description, and don’t remove the phrase ‘for adults‘ of our original synopsis, sent to distributors, press and bookstores“, he continues.

The Spanish company explains that until now, it relied on distributors and points of sale to add the description of its works via the Cegal system, complementary to DILVE.

“When putting the book on sale, a distributor manually filled the description with this horrible age recommendation and removed the phrase ‘for adults‘ from our original synopsis“, assures Fandogamia.

“To avoid future problems, we have requested to pay the DILVE quota and are now full users of the metadata insertion system“, specifies the editor, ensuring that the information in the activity book has been modified”in most databases that send their information to online stores“.

In a message published on May 19 on surprised by the content of the work (archived link here).

Screenshot taken on the Fandogamia website on 05/27/2024

Concerned associations

Child crime is regularly exploited by followers of conspiracy theories, who claim that “elites” maintain and protect vast child criminal networks. This trend alarms child protection associations, as explained in this AFP article (link archived here).

In 2023, false claims that the Davos Forum called for “legalize pedophilia” had circulated. Not only had the Forum said nothing of the sort but several experts interviewed by AFP had explained in particular that, on the contrary, French law was moving towards greater repression of child crime.

“Since the law of April 21, 2021 [lien archivé ici], who said that in cases of rape against victims under the age of 15, magistrates no longer need, for example, to establish the existence of violence, coercion, threat or surprise to characterize rape, it is enough to prove the existence of a sexual relationship to qualify as rape when there is a difference of at least five years between the adult and the minor. This does not go in the direction of decriminalization of violence against minors.”had thus exposed on January 10 Océane Perona, lecturer in sociology at the University of Aix-Marseille and author of a thesis on “Sexual consent seized by penal institutions” (link archived here).

This exploitation by conspiracy of the fight against child crime worries the associations invested in this cause.

Not only do these theories do nothing to help the cause of children, but they distract from the real issues by sending a misleading image of what child crime is, denounces Laurent Boyet, president of the child protection association Les Papillons , recalling that the overwhelming majority of sexual violence takes place within the family.

They contribute “to devalue and discredit all the actions we carry out“, he laments.

Worse still, “the victims do not want to be caught in the same trap as the people who spread these theories“, what “contributes to blocking the release of speech“, still regrets Laurent Boyet.