The Alaskan Loli Hentai Ban…is worth talking about
Backstory: Aaron Sperbeck, an Alaskan prosecutor who normally deals with crimes against children, recently began pushing for a ban on loli hentai. That’s not overstatement; he’s literally using as his examples manga and anime that depict sexual activity with
So. Bans. I’m generally a pretty free spirit; I believe that, in general, stuff should be available to people, without government intervention. The only exceptions are for materials that pose a serious threat to people and have little or no other use, like nuclear materials, chemical weapons, howitzers, etc. Put them in the hands of competent, vetted people using them for historical reference or otherwise reasonable work? Sure. Sell ‘em to anyone who happens along? I’m a little queasy about that.
What about loli hentai? Here’s my concern:
Loli hentai normalizes sex with children.
Loli hentai shows sex with children as immensely pleasurable and almost always
To which some say: Oh, but it’s fantasy! Yes, it’s fantasy. It’s also a fantasy that espouses a world view. Fantasy or not, it can still affect people.
To which others say: Assuming this stuff’s being read by an adult, adults know the difference between fantasy and reality. Agreed, in the short term. Remember, this stuff espouses a world view. That which we ingest becomes a small part of us on some level. A person who reads
Reading one loli hentai manga isn’t going to make a person go out and rape a child. But reading them over and over, and steadily repeating this message that sex with a child is tremendously pleasurable and that those who do it get away with it…strikes me as a little scary.
Others suggest that this sort of material is a safe outlet for those with this fetish, so they don’t have to act it out. On one hand, yes, this stuff definitely is an outlet. But I debate that this is a safe outlet. It’s like asking an alcoholic to only drink once a week. It doesn’t solve the underlying problem, and it opens up all sorts of attack vectors.
So: should loli hentai be banned? I’m honestly not certain. I can see both sides of the issue.
But I’m definitely open to both of them. This stuff isn’t completely harmless.
Poor analogy.
Alcoholism is based on a body’s chemical dependence. If you break that dependence, if you don’t drink, it’s not an issue.
Without chemical castration, you can’t just not be attracted to what you like erotically. So an outlet is needed, and you don’t really have proof that it is an unsafe outlet. There are plenty of people who enjoy loli porn/rape porn/big breast porn, and they don’t go out and try to have sex with children, they don’t actually rape women, they don’t objectify women with large breasts.
Maybe people who are stupid and weak willed should have different restrictions, but that would be extremely difficult.
Fiks
21 Dec 09 at 7:00 pm
I’m afraid that’s not how addiction works. Alcoholics who haven’t sipped alcohol in years are still attracted to it. They don’t just stop wanting alcohol after they stop drinking it. The urges are often just as strong as they were when they were getting drunk every day.
Here’s one alcoholic describing his journey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA
Brent
21 Dec 09 at 7:51 pm
I see. I would still argue that the analogy is poor. Getting drunk and having issues with that is almost guaranteed, you can’t just have an “outlet”. But with erotic desire that desire evaporates for most after masturbation. Being drunk has real world impact, getting off to something is not shown to have to have a similar, major negative effect.
Point is that you can’t ban things without having definitive proof of issues. Being drunk ruins your judgment, you do things that are not good. Until a study proves causation, until there’s proof that lolicon gives someone who is attracted to young women(whether only drawn or not) a reasonably difficult urge to have sex with them, bans are dumb. I suspect it’s about the same as any other sort of porn. Watching pornography of your fetish doesn’t just make you suddenly treat women like non-humans if they are related to those fetishes, except for people who were already crazy or extremely weak-willed and dumb, but you can’t base laws around them.
Fiks
21 Dec 09 at 11:37 pm
I like your blog I’ll beback soon.
David C. Ringler
15 Jan 10 at 10:55 pm
I completely agree with you, 100%. This is what I’ve been trying to get at, and you formed the words greatly. The only difference is I do not sit on the fence, I am all the way 100% against “Loli-con”.
In response to all everyone, the analogy with addiction may in some way make sense. People who are addicted do not know they are, and if they do, just as Brent says, they keep going to it knowing they have a choice not to but still choose the latter.
In response to the ‘safe outlet’ I agree with you. It does not eradicate the problem that there are people out there enjoying this, it only masks it.
What disturbs me the most is people who call this ‘entertainment’. What is so entertaining about demoralizing children and disrepecting them? This includes anyone under 18. It is gross and if you have this fetish, I honestly think you need to seek counseling. No child deserves to have their innocense taken away, to be disrespected or taken advantage of.
No Loli-con, human rights all the way!
-CKL
CKL
5 May 10 at 3:25 pm
Just to leve here my opinion:
Alchohol is a bad analogy, so I thought of horror movies. In most of them the antagonist torns apart many people in cruel ways, but no one has ever thought of banning them. Politicans are often fall into the extreme, but there is absolutely no reason to ban lolicon stuff for any reason. Just as horror and any weird kind of porn is r18, this should be too…
I wonder what next… animal lovers will try to ban manga with bestiality???
E.D.
30 Nov 10 at 9:59 pm
i am not sure where the line is with regards how mature the characters in hentai should be. all i know is that loli porn by definition systematically attributes the characters in erotic acts with childish characteristics… this is not something i can understand nor do i think it is okay. what i am trying to say is… i am not sure where the line between okay and not okay is but i can clearly see when it is crossed. i will say that i have grave mistrust for anyone that finds this sort of material stimulating.
Erik
9 Sep 11 at 6:21 pm
A big thanks for your post.Thanks Again.
Floyd Dubuc
23 Feb 12 at 2:58 pm