However, that said, I assure you now that I intend this to be an objective, cause-effect, pros-cons, benefits-malefices discussion.
I bring to SEN's SD forum a topic that some of you may have read me shouting about once in a while. The topic up for discussion is the legality of cartoon child pornography, and by this I mean fictitious depictions of (underaged) minors that are of sexually explicit nature, though I am specifically focused on the areas of lolicon and shotacon. Besides the legal factors, I would also like to discuss other facets such as morality, social implications, and other.
For information, check the links I have provided. Most of the links I have provided I have decided to be of intellectual value but are of pro-loli/shota in derived form, as I have yet to come across any convincing argument that is anti-loli/shota.
To make these discussions more interesting, I would like to introduce a subjective factor to it; I would like to observe your personal opinions on this issue to, though I would like to warn us now that we should definitely not be trying to impose our views on others.
To begin are the legal rammifications of this virtual, fictitious form of pornography which depicts minors or even those charcters that merely appear as one, and such.
Already, this is an issue that had diverse handling across different jurisdictions. As far as I know, the USA protects such work as freedom of speech, though I am uncertain as to certain situations that may regard such works as obscene, and commercial importing and exporting. I am fairly certain though that in USA, personal use is legal, and loli/shotacon is not regarded as actual child pornography.
This is in contrast to from where I hail from, THE GREAT WHITE NORTH (Canada). In Canada, loli/shotacon is illegal in virtually all circumstances, being interpreted as child pornography (AFAIK). However, I may be mistaken, as recently I have come across the statement that purely personal creation and consuming is legal, though any form of dissemenation is illegal (homebrew loli/shota is fun if only the creator keeps it to him/herself).
Morality on this subject is, of course, touchy and delicate. I can see reasons for why one should and one should not ban loli/shota, and even reasons to support it.
We may not support this as we may believe it to be harmful in the development of a child, though extrapolating data from video game research, those children who are harmed by this material are frequently those who are psychologically vulnerable anyway. However, AFAIK, there is no solid claim for a purely harmful nature of loli/shota, especially seeing as how those claims that have been made are not supported by empirical data and are frequently criticised for being garbage (and in cases I have read, appear to have been merely staged anyway so that a conclusion satisfactory to conservatives has been reached, baselessly).
For support, we may have that it is a right of one to be able to consume any media s/he wishes, though in this case, it may be wise to include "for private use only," as flaunting this sort of material in public would undoubtly be naïve, rude, and stupid.
Also, refer to the article describing how sexual crime rates may have actually lowered in correspondence with an influx of such material, in Japan in detail.
This issue impacts society as a whole as it affects a huge field - media consumption. It is my personal belief that so long as appropriate measures have been taken and warnings emplaced that private use and even some dissemenation should be legal (again, so long as at least some effort is put in place to restrict media to those who are specifically seeking it).
Related cases include video games, movies, music, visual art, even books, etc. in which all have experienced moral panics over some specific genre.
Apparently, sex on TV has yet to ruin society.
Now, on the borders of law, morals, and society, is the case of human rights.
Should it not be one's rights to be able to consume any media of which s/he specifically desires, especially when it is harmless to those around and the person themselves? It would seem to be a perverse invasion of huma rights to force or punish one in thinking in their own minds, fantasizing such depictions of even minors, so long as such fantasies remain fantasy.
However, it must be considered that those psychologically vulnerable to such material may react negatively in such circumstances.
In any case, this is all I have the energy to formulate for. Already, I suspect I have made multiple communication mistakes, as I am quite exhausted. Forgive and forget those mistakes, as I hope that they have been mostly able to incite some discussion from you on the topic of loli/shota, though cartoon child pornography discussion in general is welcome too.
Be sure to be specific in what you're speaking of. As a reminder, I am trying to focus on lolicon/shotacon.
BTW:
I'm not actually a lolicon (yet????). I'm more interested in what will be derived from it, such as the discussion I hope to have with the readers of this post.
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http://comipress.com/special/miscellaneous/down-the-slippery-slope-the-crime-of-viewing-manga
Support for loli/shota as free speech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon
General info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_cartoon_pornography_depicting_minors
General info.
http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&context=artspapers
Focus on yaoi, Australian origin. Introduces some fairly amusing contradictions within Australia. Interesting ideas for research.
http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1999-pornography-rape-sex-crimes-japan.html
Loli/shota lowers or does not change crime rates.