Forum - View topicNEWS: UNICEF Japan Continues Push against Virtual Child Porn
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
neko ewen Posts: 30 |
|
|||
While I'm not in favor of lolicon stuff, I just don't see any legal principle that can justify banning it. "People think it's icky" isn't enough. If someone can show a causal link to something harmful to society--if it genuinely does put more pedophiles into the world--then ban the shit out of it. But if not, it's just kowtowing to hollow outrage. |
||||
|
||||
zanarkand princess Posts: 1436 |
|
|||
| We don't live in japan so I guess we don't really know if this is truely affecting their country or not. I know otaku are social outcasts and all but some things do become a bit creepy don't you think. I have been thinking for a while that they are not so much concerned about the drawn loli girls themselves but all the underage gravure idols that seem like "human lolis" and that type of thing. If you look at it even seiyuu and idols who are popular with otaku get treated badly by fans for things like having a boyfriend, a simple picture on a date at a restaurant can turn fans against them. That has nothing to do with lolicon but it could be said that the market is the same right?
Maybe they think that they whole otaku culture in general is becoming a little too.... I don't know depraved? |
||||
|
||||
Hon'ya-chan Posts: 905 |
|
|||
| http://en.wikipedia.org/ |
||||
|
||||
| Fronzel Posts: 473 |
|
|||
| When loli porn is criminal, only criminals will have loli porn! | ||||
|
||||
| Unmei no Chibi Posts: 2 |
|
|||
| Just slap a "Everyone is 18" label on it; problem fixed.
:/ |
||||
|
||||
| DmonHiro Posts: 395 |
|
|||
| Ban the real thing. Leave the virtual one alone. Why? It might seem wierd, but acording to sociology experts, the virtual loli MIGHT be an outlet to some people, and satify them without the need for real child porn. Now, suddenly cutting off this release MIGHT have some very nasty effects on people who are not mentaly stable.
Also, money talks, so loli manga/anime will never be abnned as long as it brings in THAT much money to the country. |
||||
|
||||
| joshjoshlol Posts: 28 |
|
|||
| As a history buff, in my mind this painfully screams towards the hilariously (in retrospect) over-blown fiasco that surrounded comic books in the 1950's (as a side project for the communist witch hunts) and their dire effects on children... Moral fascists and their drones who claim to be on a crusade to save X demographic usually are riding a nasty tidal wave that hurts a lot of innocent people along the way, and all this I would say comes from the "every chat room is filled to the brim with molesters" mentality that has whitewashed the minds of ignorant soccer moms in America and abroad. Thanks, Chris Hansen...
Anyways, 3 years for consideration and research in a parliament system is all but a death sentence for something as low priority as this... It would take one hell of a contentious election season to push them into action over this anytime soon. |
||||
|
||||
Labbes Posts: 742 |
|
|||
I don't really know much about pop culture in Japan, so this is rather interesting to hear. While this still wouldn't justify banning Virtual Child Porn from my own moral perspective, I don't think the main interest of politicians everywhere is the minorities (read: people who don't think it does any harm), but the majorities (read: people who find hentai/anime/otakus creepy). But I don't think banning it will change the culture, so in the end, it will only stop the production of new loli hentai, but not of h-doujins or even the distribution of old. |
||||
|
||||
GeneralArrow Posts: 223 Location: United States |
|
|||
| Thats nice and all, but shouldn't they be going after the real stuff? | ||||
|
||||
| crilix Posts: 183 |
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
| Labbes Posts: 742 |
|
|||
I think people who lock themselves up in their rooms, watch anime the whole day, buy figures of persons they dream of having sex with are within the boundaries of the term "otaku", and I would say such people definitely are social outcasts, since going "outside" and having friends and social contacts is hardly possible in such a state. One does not become a social outcast if the media says so. I would say a lot, yet still a minority of WoW players or people who don't have a job (at least here in Germany) could be considered social outcasts. It is not a term to degrade or mock someone. Such people exist, there's no denying it. |
||||
|
||||
ikillchicken Subscriber Posts: 2517 Location: Vancouver - Go Canucks Go! |
|
|||
| Sounds like a smart choice to study it. (Assuming they do conduct said study in an intelligent and sound manner). While I find child porn of any sort disgusting, I certainly can't advocate it's banning if it causes no harm. I think in all likelihood it is harmless but if there is some danger perhaps proper study will unearth it.
Of course, the problem that it comes down to regardless is how you determine what is and isn't an underage character. By nature, a fictional character's age is only what the author chooses it to be. Is a girl in elementary school who looks 10 illegal? But what if they briefly mention she is actually 18 and just failed 8 grades? For that matter, do they even have to give an explanation at all? Is poor, contrived or convoluted plotting now illegal? (Well now there's an idea with some potential.  ) So where does that leave you? Do you base it on how they actually look? Obviously that doesn't work in real life and it would seem to work even worse in animation in which characters are stylized. Unless someone can offer a workable criteria of enforcement, I don't see how this kind of thing can ever be effectively banned.
You do realize that they are talking about Japanese otaku though. Yeah, here in North America, "otaku" has been watered down to simply mean somebody who likes anime, but in Japan it isn't so. Generally speaking, those who call themselves otaku are more or less outcasts. Or at least that is the impression I have gotten, not just from the media but from pretty much everywhere else. Do you have some basis to claim that is false? |
||||
|
||||
| Onizuka666 Posts: 169 Location: South East |
|
|||
| With that guy who's into manga and anime getting an important seat in the japanese government, I really think this will go nowhere in the end. Unicef's agenda is just to impose its will on others and while I'm all for getting rid of proper child porn, they are reaching a bit trying to get manga/anime under that lame virtual label.
Sure, japan is not without its creepy fan stuff, a lot of which should be sorted out, like that bizarre junior idol stuff, but again while I don't agree with that stuff, japan is its own nation with stuff outsiders won't agree with. Push to clamp down on proper child porn, where kids are being hurt. Something drawn though is very hard to justify, especially when japan has such a low rate of crimes that are high in the west. Three years from now, I bet the japanese government will just say 'no' to Unicef on the 'virtual' angle, as anime and manga are sources of high income for them. If Unicef wanted to clamp down on Hollywood, for all its depictions of murder, rape etc in its films, tv shows etc, I doubt if they would get anywhere with that either, which is why we've heard nothing about that side of things. |
||||
|
||||
| johjohz Posts: 18 |
|
|||
| “Now, something else I’m getting tired of is all this stupid bullshit we have to listen to all the time about children. It’s all you hear in this country. “Children; help the children, what about the children, save the children.” You know what I say? Fu** the children! Fu** ‘em"
- George Carlin |
||||
|
||||
| Kaioshin_Sama Posts: 338 |
|
|||
Pretty much my viewpoint on the matter. In Canada we have laws that punish the possesion of material depicting the "explicit" sexualization and abuse of children and this includes virtual children as well. There's the matter of protecting real children from abuse which is an obvious concern, but there's also the issue of the idea that such material might condone as well, which is where I believe the virtual image laws came in in Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin's decision for R v. Sharpe. The idea is that while it's not directly hurting anybody per se, such material promotes the idea that the deliberate sexualization and abuse of children is okay and socially acceptable, and that's an idea that I as well as many think is socially harmful. Now I myself will admit that I'm something of a lolicon (Okay, not something), but I don't disagree that a line should be drawn somewhere when it comes to how younger female characters are portrayed in anime and manga. I think the show Moetan is pretty much where the limit is hit. The show exploits it's younger looking female characters for ecchi purposes, but doesn't enter the realm of anything like rape, incest, pornographic content or anything like that. I think that something like that show probably wouldn't be covered by any such law. It also speaks to the character of a person that agrees with and supports adult themes and the depiction of fictional children in an explicitly sexual manner as well. I think at the very least such a person should, forgoing a prison sentence be sentenced to seek psychiatric evaluation and counseling to see if they are a potential danger or could commit any crimes of sexual deviancy in the future. In short, a precautionary measure such as this is something I can get behind. Though I have to wonder if it's conceivable that if publishers of such material that has been called into question really want to fight this that they could simply pull the claim that most eroge producers do to get away with it. That all characters despite appearances are above the age of 18 in theory. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Anime Castle
Robert's Anime Corner Store
AAA Anime Distribution
Big Bad Toy Store
