I’ve decided I need to write out my own take on this controversial subject, since I seek to be a prominent Anime fan and this is something we get asked.
This is my argument agaisnt Authoritarian Laws and passing Moral Judgment on people over their fictional fantasies. But I do not advise people to engage with any of the Art I'll be defending here, if you're not already into it you probably avoid it.
I’m not a Lolicon. Certainly not if you limit the definition of Lolicon to people specifically into "Loli" content Sexually. The stuff I like that Lolicons might also like are not things I Fap too. I like nothing where the Loli content is actually the only or primary appeal and very few where you could conceivably try to argue it is.
But I will defend Lolicons regardless because of my principles as a Communist.
All of this goes equally for Shotacon obviously.
I want to cover some distinct angles here instead of retreading all the ground already covered in my favorite YouTube Videos on the Subject, from Pause and Select and Sleepy Crest and The Weeb Crew and Shota-Kun's video. And now Trixie The Golden Witch has finally made her serious non comedic take on the issue, followed by Part 2 and Part 3. And here's something important from Tumblr.
On the Wikipedia page for Lolicon, as it reads on June 25th 2024, under the Debate section the first paragraph covers arguments in defense of Lolicon while the second covers arguments against. The first paragraph cites actual studies and research while the second is just people stating and asserting things with no evidence.
[Update May 2025: This new Study was done in Denmark. "Danish Report Discredits Link Between Cartoons and Child Sex Abuse"
I'm not saying anyone has to like it, I don't like it, not when it's explicitly sexual. I've stumbled upon some Loli Content just form it sometimes existing in the same universe as stuff I like for other reasons and it always makes uncomfortable. I understand the knee jerk reaction of disgust. But Art that makes others uncomfortable is allowed to exist.
I want to start by comparing Lolicons to Furries. While saying “everyone hates Furries” is still a bit of a Meme they’ve actually been fairly normalized for a while now. Most understand that the layers of abstraction make it so that there is no relationship to actual Beastiality for those Furries for whom it is even partly a sexual thing. (This Patricia Taxxon Video lays out one angle of it). These Bishoujo stylized representations of children are the same, they don’t resemble real children in the same way Lola Bunny doesn't resemble a real Bunny or Sally Acorn a real Squirrel.
Now I imagine the first response to that from many would be that Sexy Furry characters really just look like Adult Humans with animalistic characteristics merely painted on top of them. Well Loli character designs are the same, they may not have Boobs but other than that they often are mostly just what an adult Anime character looks like only smaller. And not all Furry art even looks anthropomorphic, there is plenty where why it’s different from real animals is not as easy to explain.
And the fact that for some Furries it's not sexual at all is why I included that mild qualifier on if I’m a Lolicon or not. The main thing I may get called a Lolicon for publicly admitting to liking is Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, but there is nothing Sexual about my love for that show. The fanservice in Prisma Illya is purely comedic in my view, a lot of the comedy in Prisma Illya is absurdist. I don’t find it Sexy and can’t understand how anyone would since even the older Characters who are Sexy in other Fate/ Anime are not in this artstyle. But that’s my taste, others may be different. I do take my Shipping of Illya/Miyu seriously (and you can throw Kuro in making it a threesome) but that too is Asexual. What really drives popular Ships are the emotional reasons they work, even with older characters I tend to check out of Shipping based Fanfics when they start trying to describe actual sex.
A lot of the good arguments made in ContraPoints recent Twilight Video frankly should also apply to Lolicon, all the points about how there are psychological reasons people have fantasies that do not correlate to what they would do or even want in real life.
There are some notable public Lolicons that have years later turned out to be Trans like Trixie The Golden Witch. I think that may have something to do with how many Trans people specifically wish they could redo Puberty.
I think a lot of people being so dismissive of the Pro-Lolicon argument probably feel like it’s only where age is concerned anyone would claim what drawn art they Fap to doesn’t correlate.to their real sexuality. That’s partly why I made the Furry comparison but I’m also going to share something about myself now. In terms of real life 3D people I’m strictly Gynophilic, I like Women and Men who look like Women (I place Trans Women in the first category just so there's no confusion) and forms of androgyny where the feminine characteristics are more pronounced. But when watching Anime I have been attracted to male characters, and not just “draw a girl say it’s a boy” types either but Bishonen character designs meant to appeal to Straight Women and/or Gay Men, like Kowaru and his many clones, but also Ittou Asanuma from Sailor Moon Crystal.
I'm defending all Loli-Content here, even what is genuinely just Fap material and noting more. But in addition to that, there is the potential for genuinely powerful and insightful stories that only Loli content can ethically tell in a visual medium, I don't know if any does already exist, but it certainly can. Take for example Snow Radish Vacation, a Loli game from the early 2000s with no translation (official or unofficial) or adaptions. So I don't know how that game executes it's premise. But the premise certainly has the potential to be an interesting and insightful story about exactly why it's harmful and damaging to have sex with a Child even if she thinks she consented, even if long after the fact she still thinks she consented.
The Japanese Communist Party states in it's Policy Document under the Culture section that it opposes any movement to impose restrictions on Anime and Manga under the guise of restricting "Child Pornography". And then goes on to clarify that their opposition to "depictions of child sexual abuse" is only concerned with harm done to Real Children not abstract moralizing concepts like "obscenity".
There are tactics some fellow Loli-defenders take I consider ill advised. Like for example Rev says desu has this obsession with denying that a Loli definitionally has anything to do with age. Yes there are characters we call Lolis when they are actually older then they look, but Age is still the point of that look, in universe other characters are often shocked to learn their real age. Not every short flat chested "petite" character is a Loli, Setsuna Kiyoura from School Days is not a Loli, she's a High Schooler and looks believable as a High Schooler, in fact I could believe she's collage aged even. Lolis don't look like real children but they still communicate the idea of being childlike. So it does a disservice to the causse because.... 1. it helps those trying to loosen the definition and 2. it makes you look like you're in denial about something.
The Anti-Loli crowd comes in different forms. The most egregious outright refuse to accept the legal fact that you can’t call something Child Pornography unless an actual Identifiable Minor was involved in making it. To be clear this can actually include Drawn or Animated Art, but it has too be depicting a specific real person.
Then there are those who know that but simply believe it should count. It’s hard not to see both of their mentalities as another manifestation of American Puritanism.
The Court Cases Noralties misused in her Problematic Media video only allowed for Loli-Art to be deemed Obscene not CP. Obscenity in U.S. Law applies just as much to depictions of adults having sex with other adults, and have a history of being used to go after Queer Art., so the Left has no business supporting Obscenity laws, especially not the Woke Left.
But also there is the further confusion caused by many Anti-Lolis defining what a Loli is more loosely then most Pro-Lolis would. The proper definition of a Loli is an Anime Style depiction of a girl who is or appears to be Prepubescent or elementary school aged. But a lot of the Anti-Loli people just want a Loli to be any Anime character under the legal Age of Consent, while then accusing pretty much all adult female Anime characters of still being drawn in that same childlike style. The truth is the opposite, alleged High School and Middle School aged Anime characters are usually drawn with the physical development of someone in their 20s.
Basically a large chunk of the Anti-Loli Crusade is a Trojan horse to attack Anime entirely. And that’s why Anime Fans who aren’t Lolicons ourselves do need to speak up in their defense. The Lolicons are just who these Puritans are going after first.
There's also the annoying Xenophobia and Orientalism of when these people ignore the fact that all this stuff is Niche even in Japan, and the Conservative Boomers who run the LDP want to ban it just as much as American Puritans do.. Japan does not have a Pedophilia or even an Ephebophilia problem more then any other country. Their federal age of consent is irrelevant because most prefectures have it locally at 18. And they have lower rates of Sexual Assault against minors then the U.S. or U.K. so in fact if anything they're the example the rest of the world should follow if they actually care so much. Noralities tried to use a chart about Child Abuse statistics rising in Japan to undermine this, but the context she left out is that Sexual Abuse is the one kind not rising and is a tiny fraction of the total.
And the thing is I am very concerned about the exploitation of actual children in Hollywood, in the wake of the Quiet on Set and Jennette McCurdy controversies I think the use of child actors in Live Action TV and Movies should be banned. But Animation is part of the solution, because I don’t want artists to be not be allowed to tell stories with child characters. There are plenty of Adult Voice Actors who are good at sounding like children.
That's the whole thing with the Cuties controversy, it's defenders just focus on it being made to condemn what it depicts, but the use of actual underaged actors in making it makes that not worth it. If it had been an animated movie using older voice actors I might have been willing to give it a watch. The fact that so many of the same people who defend that dismiss all Loliart shows they're motivated by some kind of orientalist bigotry not actual concern for children. To them French perverts can be Artists but not the Japanese.
And Loli Hentai Anime or Games that uses actual underanged Voice Actors I would not defend. But as I far I can tell that has never happened. I know for example that Kokoro Katsura from School Days/Summer Days/Shiny Days has always been voiced by someone over 25.
I also think we should raise the Age of Consent to at least 20 maybe even 25, based on what we now know biologically about how the Brian develops, but also Biblically based on Numbers 26:2-4, Leviticus 27:3 and maybe Numbers 8:24. Also 20 should be the youngest you are allowed to serve in the Military at based on Numbers 1:3.
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