Should manga and similar illustrations be considered child porn? | Japanator.com | Japan Blog & Community for English Speakers

	Should manga and similar illustrations be considered child porn?
	by CyberneticTigerZ, 10/26/2007	36 comments

Should manga and similar illustrations be considered child porn? photo

The Japanese Cabinet Office recently conducted a survey asking people whether they think manga and other illustrations should be subject to child porn laws. Nearly 90% of those surveyed think that it should be considered child porn. The survey was done face to face with 3,000 people leading me to believe in one thing: Of course the majority said this stuff should be considered child porn! I'm sure the numbers would have been greatly different had there been more anonymity in this survey.

90% of the surveyed also felt that possession of child porn should should be banned, 63% think that the government should regulate harmful content in DVDs, games and other similar mediums and that 90% think that the Internet should be regulated as well.

It's a bit disturbing to see that 10% surveyed wanted to keep child porn. It's also interesting to see that Japan wants to clean up their image. What do you all think about this Japanatorians? Do you think this stuff should be considered child porn or just leave it the way it is?

[Via Momotato]

36 comments

Related stories: hentai japan manga Sex

(36) COMMENTS

Miraito

John: "Gia likes shota!"
Gia: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

God Len

who the hell are you?

Bard

I hate to sound like I'm siding with child predators or something here, but this is stupid. It's drawings. Should fiction be illegal, too?

redthehaze

That 90% of people might be similar to those people in the US who don't know a thing about anime and manga and think that all of it is just a perverted tentacle rape fest.

I read the link and it said that "90.9% feel that possession of child porn should be restricted" [in Japan]. So this means that possesion of child porn is legal in Japan?

I think there should be a limit to characters in anime/manga who are very young that are portrayed in a suggestive manner. The last thing I want is to be standing next to a pedo in the manga aisle at Waldenbooks.

Miraito

I'm just reinterpreting what happened in a previous pod cast (minus Gia's line =P)

misterclock

Are the American Pie movies or any other high school sex comedies considered child porn?

The publishers should just print a disclaimer that all characters are 18 years or older, even if they might look young; and if detractors ask why the girls are hairless down there, then the publishers should say the girls shave their private parts.

So I vote it is porn, but it shouldn't be considered child porn.

Nihon Freak

Of course it's child pornography.

However, it's fictional. So no one's being exploited or abused. If anything, this could give a predator his fix without harming any real kids. So, it's a healthy thing socially. Relatively harmless.

Zac Bentz

Fictional child porn leads to real child porn. It should all be banned.

twitter.com/zacbentz

Bard

Ehhh...that same line of thought means fictional anything leads to fictional anything.

Bard

Rather, to real-life anything. damn!

Zac Bentz

Kitsune says: It's child pornography even if the children in question are not real (or not really children). It's not just in the fact but in the intent.

However, I'm not saying that all depictions of children in sexual situations is pornography, but depictions of children in sexual situations purely for titillation is.

twitter.com/zacbentz

Jonikiro

Thank god pedobear's not here.

Akira_h

Eeeeeeh, maybe they'll have an epiphany and be like "gee whiz! drawing people who actually finished puberty can be pretty damn fun!" and then they wouldn't have to worry about any of this nonsense.

misterclock

Hey Zac. Will fictional stories about World War III lead to real-life World War III?

misterclock

Was just listening to a speech by Pres. W. Bush.

CyberneticTigerZ

Jonikiro: WHY DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT USING A PEDOBEAR IMAGE INSTEAD?!

God Len

haha i was not talking about you miraito, you are cool.

I was just poking fun at CTZ because its the new cool thing to do.

Miraito

Ah ^^ No harm done.
Yeah, he's a new blogger it seems as I have not seem him around here..
-Miraito

SpaceKase

I agree with Zac and Kitsune on this. Even if they are just drawings, it is still drawings of a little kids. There really can't be any gray areas on this. A line has to be drawn somewhere. If it's pornographic, it should be banned. If it's something like Negima!, which is non-explicit and silly, no banning necessary.

hypocrisy

So let me get this straight... Jack Thompson is right after all?

Why is graphic violence any more acceptable than sexual abuse?

God Len

When giants look at normal porn they think it's all child porn. And that's why giants don't watch porn.

zsleep6

Call me crazy, but I just don't think someone should be able to go to prison, etc. for simply drawing a picture, no matter how wrong I think it is, and no matter how many assumptions I might make about their intentions or about behavior "it might lead to."

Ivan M.

Legislation, regulation or prosecution based on "intent" destroys freedom and makes criminals out of people who haven't even attempted to do anything wrong. It's tyrannical any way you slice it.

All in all, fictional depictions are nothing more than fictional depictions, no matter how distasteful or downright deplorable you might find them.

lunarmoth

I surprise that so many have posted and no one say the word hentai. Is there that kind of stuff out there, yes. I believe that material that show children in this type of bad light should be banned, that just my ethics. As for normal manga, like Negima or many other there is a sound difference their is no need to do anything, as long as a law dose not interfere with the creativity on the manga market then I'm ok.

Should I sleep or watch more anime.

misterclock

Should schools ban "Romeo and Juliet"? After all, it's the romance between a 12 year old girl and a 16 year old boy.

tehdopefish

I found it ironic that a lot of people will say that the intent of lolicon makes it a terrible horrible thing, and then turn around and say the exact opposite thing about violence in video games.

make up your minds.

mapleleaf

Who are the victims here? Shouldn't laws be about protecting real people from becoming real victims of crime. These drawings are fiction, so there are no "victims" here to protect. Tell me if I'm wrong.

I'd rather have those who like this kind of stuff to look at drawings, in the realm of fiction, than going after real children.

BTW: what about drawings of non-consensual sex? Does reading that make you a rapist??! No matter if it's disgusting to you and me, as long as it doesn't involve real people, I just don't see how it can be a criminal act.

SageShinigami

Ah, the "should manga be called child porn" thing again. The one subject everyone takes the moral high ground on so they can feel better about themselves. But that's all you're doing. Think about it and you'll see the ones saying: "Hey this stuff is fake--why should it matter and who cares?" are making sense logically. Even if we find it disgusting, we can all comfort ourselves by saying its just some ink on a piece of paper. :P

Dixon

The whole point of child pornography laws is that the creation of this pornography results in the abuse and exploitation of children (who are too young to consent) the reason possession is illegal, is because it encourages and/or funds the creation of said material, thereby providing resources to create further child pornography and therefore abuse more children.

if the material is drawn, then there is no child abuse, and thereby no real threat to anyone. it may be offensive, but thats about it, and since it is ones choice whether to view this material (generally in ones own home) then really it shouldnt be counted as a public nuisance either.

the reason laws exist is not to preserve morals (which is entirely religeous and subjective) but to preserve property, human life, and to prevent abuse of humans physically (or in somecases, mentally, where in, it is forced upon another)law should not be created to cater to a subjective belief.

do i like kiddi porn manga? no, i think it appeals to a group of people that suffer a mental condition, and need to be fixed, do i think we have a right to produce and view it? you betcha.

liz631

I found a site with more links and videos at http://www.boxsweeper.com Enjoy! ;)

bluejeans

I'm not a pedophile (I think), but I don't see why it's nessesary to ban a work of fiction. It may be offensive but who are the victims? where are the victims? The 'victims' are nothing more than ink and paper. The creator of Negima! may draw perverted illustrations involving minors but does he rape school girls? No, probably not.
I write smut but the minimime age in my stories is 15. The maximime is 19. My stories are posted on sites like adultfanfiction, and I get positive reviews by adults. I think underaged hentai is indirectly targeted for teens, so I don't mind when teens read my stories. My motto is "Only read this if you are at least 18 years of age, or pretending to be."
I'm 18 btw.

coffee513

I found a site with more links and videos at http://www.boxsweeper.com Enjoy! ;)

DMAN

I believe that anime and hentai no matter how unusual it is should not be denied its right of endorsement, the entire network of pornographic media is fighting anti-liberals day in and day out
and hentai is fiction not real so if in it's self is a message of freedom.

It attracts people of younger ages it sells more and that is the right of the companies that distribute the media and it is within their rights as sales persons to sale and distribute any product that is not explicitly marked as illicit
thus far ending with this remark
"to live is to die, but to create is to live beyond the metaphysical boundaries around us"
and in addition to this
religion is not a true factor here because religious fanatics make worse abominations than those found in these said media "hentai"
this is the U.G.E so get used to it.

phatman618

what type of manga are u all reading that has naked children?

Opalskys

I agree with phatman618 what kind of manga are you all reading?! =.= I feel people who look at child porn are sick... But if its in manga ?? Man who wrote a manga with child porn DX! hentai and child with children dont mix!

Angie

Bashamo

I openly support the 10% that said it shouldn't be considered child porn (as long as I get to stay in my closet of anonimity).
Those weak enough in mind to make the leap from drawings to reality deserve to be jailed. The people who keep their fetishes 2-dimentional and created with pencil and paper aren't the ones with the FBI knocking at their door.

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