We’ve had to deal with Christian cultists and Western chauvinists since the inception of anime. It’s why piracy is not only accepted but considered the default way to interact with the medium, it’s why any news about Western interests being taken into account is bad news, it’s why fansubers are god damned heroes. This is a very bad sign, but it’ll be tears on a river for all it actually does (on it’s own).
Why would they put Persona spoilers in the middle of the article? 🫠
People should really read Patrick W. Galbraith. I’ve been reading his publications on moe (The Moe Manifesto) and it’s really insightful. Related to this article would be Lolicon: The reality of ‘virtual child pornography’ in Japan which explains the complexity of the issue. Skip to the sections “Risk and pre-emptive discipline”, “Juridification of the imagination”, “Moral panic”, and “The reality of fiction” (or read the entire thing!).
Excerpt from the conclusion:
Because there is no actual crime committed, it ultimately ends up an issue of how one interprets images, of a person’s private thoughts, and this is not something that can or should be regulated. All forms of imagination, regardless of how repugnant some may find them, are legal up to and until they present a real danger to self or others. The evidence suggests that those producing and consuming lolicon images pose no such danger. They have a nuanced understanding of the relationship between fiction and reality, and desire shōjo characters precisely because they are unreal.
Sexual violence against women and children is an unfortunate social reality, and censoring fictional depictions does not reduce it (Shigematsu 1999: 147). It does, however, make it taboo to even imagine sexual violence and denies a space to represent and respond to it. It positions women and children as “pure,” objectifying them every bit as much as the “Lolita effect” (Durham 2009: 12). […] To the fear that images of sexualized children, even fictional ones, naturalize “cognitive distortions,” the response must be that learning is a social process. This is precisely why the lifeworlds of fans, including lolicon fans, should not be “juridified” out of existence (McLelland forthcoming). It is in these communities, in interaction with one another, that meanings are negotiated. Universal standards will not prevent someone, somewhere from getting the wrong idea, and limiting public interaction may in even encourage it.
It goes much deeper than this though, so I recommend just reading through it.
But I have to clarify that ani.social does have a policy on this which has similar wording, but I personally would not ban or remove discourse surrounding the topic.
A significant number of magical girl animes would also enter the watchlist, Sailor Moon’s transformations always showed their naked, high schooler silhouettes.
Dragon Ball (the original, before Z) would also mean instant jail. Sex jokes and innuendos were everywhere, like Goku scared shitless that Bulma didn’t have balls, Bulma showing her naked genitals to Master Roshi, Chichi being dressed in “bikini armor”, the romantic plot between her and Goku, etc.
Simply because of the collateral damage this law will cause without amendments, I’m disappointed.
Well, for one this only applies to Texas residents. So this doesn’t really matter to anyone outside of Texas unless it spreads.
Additionally, while I can certainly see the potential for abuse (all laws and bills have this by the way), it seems to be good-intentioned in mostly being particular about the kind of depictions it is trying to prevent (including AI generated content). While one small part of the law could potentially be abused via misinterpretation, my counterpoint would be:
Explain why an animated cartoon needs a scene depicting child sexual abuse. Like, why is it important to the art of the animated work?
Its easy to understand with something like Perfect Blue (even though Mima is 21 and therefore not a minor so this wouldn’t even apply), Goblin Slayer, or Kill la Kill, but there are other works that would be more difficult.to rationalize.
Part of the problem is how much of the anime industry in based in Texas. Sentai Filmworks, all kinds of dubbing done for Crunchyroll, etc. So it will radiate throughout the anime industry extremely quickly.
Second, you gotta remember that a group of unhinged people seem to think anime turns people trans. Lots of TERFs and the like point to anime as a bad influence on people and if you haven’t noticed, there’s a hell of a culture war on trans folks right now. Including in Texas, people saying folks with trans parents or anyone supporting their trans kids is doing child abuse.
We combine these things together and quickly see it could easily not be only applied to things that actually display any kind of child abuse. So shows like Skip and Loafer, Wandering Son, Senpai is an Otokonoko, hell Ranma 1/2 and even stuff like Princess Knight could fall under fire.
You say it would be difficult to rationalize, the problem is the folks making and enforcing these laws aren’t rational people.
This is an example of how conservatism and creative arts don’t mix.
Everybody loves the arts, but conservatives don’t respect the freedom that the artists and entertainers need to create. To them it’s just “shut up and stay in your lane” even when it’s the conservatives expanding their range of their repression.
Sentai Filmworks needs to move out of Texas, and stay clear of any other red states for that matter.
While one small part of the law could potentially be abused
It’s Texas. The law was written like that so that it could be abused.
Why does anime need to exist? Why does entertainment need to exist? things don’t need a reason to be legal, they need a reason to be illegal.
I see nothing wrong with this law. It literally says we are banning cp in anime.
I wish I had your confidence in the Texas judicial system to only apply this law in an appropriate and measured way.
You just know that they’ll ding anything lgbtq both way more often and for way less explicit material than anything they will for straight content.
A) this is Texas. It’s a guarantee this will be used to increase jail time for the unwanted of society that are arrested on other charges. Got an of age anime character as your phone background when you’re searched? Congrats that minor theft a racist cop pinned on you is now a felony sex crime. Enjoy getting shanked in prison.
A pt2) this is Texas, the land of the mega church pedophiles and the second largest concentration of Mormons(read pedophiles). This is not a serious bill to help children when rich religious people can rape away.
B) it’s a drawing. What age is a drawing? Police literally cannot discern age in human beings (see the little Lupe trial among dozens of others), on top of that age science in humans is pseudo science at the best of times. Everyone matures at different rates. Some people’s body aren’t done until their thirties. What age is a drawing, given there’s no standard way to tell what age a human is?
C) violent video games do not cause violent behaviors, in fact the correlation is consistently the opposite. Porn availability does not cause sex crimes, in fact the correlation is consistently the opposite. Therefore even if we accept the idea that this is VCSAM, that this is a legitimate bill that will only be used in the best scenarios, that somehow police start to divine the ages of fictional beings correctly at all times, banning it likely does more harm than good.
A & A2 is a good example of how laws are pushed to 11 in many cases. Easy to agree with, for sure.
B is a rough argument and one I do not agree with. Depiction of CP, intentional or not, is not healthy and using the maturity argument for a drawing is bizarre, at best.
The artists should know goddamn well what they are attempting to portray. Saying, “Nope! That drawing of that person is actually a 40 years old but is wearing a school girl dress for the lulz” is kinda odd. We do see that scenario in actual porn, but age is usually easy enough to approximate.
By extension, C is bullshit and draws a false dichotomy between CP and violent video games. I actually believe that legal porn is mostly healthy and satisfies temporary needs. There is nothing wrong with legal porn as it supports what is normally a healthy activity. Violence in video games is a totally different argument, IMHO, and tying it to sexual attraction is simply not the same.
I am fully aware that some laws are overreaching, but your arguments after that are just bad. Depiction of CP (or any porn, for that matter) as a stop-gap for a real addiction usually means a person should seek professional help instead.
(We just got through similar discussions with AI generated CP, ffs.)
C is not bullshit at all. the subject matter being more distasteful does not change the way it interacts with our brains. And we especially shouldn’t make this already pointless concession when dealing with Christian cultists, they’ll use this inch to go for miles if you let them.
For b and c you can like it or not, but given pedophilia is a sexuality that most people think deserves the death penalty, and the state 100% agrees, you’re not going to get people getting professional help. Instead, given the fact unlike even ai CSAM no child is harmed; and given all studies show that there is at worst no link between the media we see and the crimes, and at best a negative correlation, maybe just leave it.
Given how especially US prisons are formatted, it is a death penalty offense if you make something like this jail time.
So ask yourself, is seeing a drawing worth torture and death? If not, let’s not worry about it. We have actual problems. Like food. And shelter. And water.
I am just saying your arguments are bad and I clearly agreed with you about how the legal system is abused. Trying to drive in the abusive nature of the prison system is pointless.
Pedophilia is not something I would personally give any chances on. Maybe I am biased because I have kids. Any support for any activity, depiction or glorification or CP or pseudo-CP I find personally revolting. What the fuck kind of study or link do you need for that? Have you actually read any of the studies you mentioned? (Anyone that says “there are studies” usually haven’t, and they haven’t done any validation of those studies. You can find a study for anything.)
However, a pedophile isn’t a pedophile until they actually commit the actions. Anyone that leverages psudo-CP to get off should know they need some professional assistance. If those fantasies are ever acted upon, I have zero remorse and that person can live in our version of hell until eternity.
Believe me, I am accepting of a wide range of fantasies. Whatever’s. There is something in this world for everyone, and I would know! Running an online sex shop for a bit really exposes a person to some unique fantasies.
So, with that, your arguments sound less like arguments and more like twisted rationalization. With that, I am just blocking you. There is not much more to discuss, TBH. Your lame description of how people are treated in prison when it had zero point in the discussion was fucking weird and something I would consider borderline manipulative.
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It literally says anyone who watches Neon Genesis Evangelion is a criminal.
From the section on what constitutes ‘obscene’:
representations or descriptions of masturbation,
Shinji, you fucking idiot!
I watched Evangelion. In Texas. When I was 14. Through an illegal RealMedia stream.
:>
Fuck that and you’re stupid. You’re just falling for their bullshit “save the children” nonsense so they can extend their overreach to ban more media they don’t like
Granted someone who jerks off to toddler lolicon is super gross and should probably talk to a therapist. And someone who is making cp deepfakes is way worse and there is probably an argument for government intervention at this point. And both should maybe not pass a background check for jobs like babysitter.
But giving the government carte blanche to “ban cp in anime”, especially by the wording of this proposal? Fuck that
(1) “Obscene” means material or a performance that: (A) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest in sex; (B) depicts or describes: (i) patently offensive representations or descriptions of ultimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including sexual intercourse, sodomy, and sexual bestiality; or (ii) patently offensive representations or descriptions of masturbation, excretory functions, sadism, masochism, lewd exhibition of the genitals, the male or female genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal, covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state or a device designed and marketed as useful primarily for stimulation of the human genital organs; and © taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value.
If you read that and think “oh yeah, Texas is qualified to judge whether something is justifiably obscene” then I go back to my first statement: fuck that and you’re fucking stupid
Someone already brought up evangelion as an incredible work that wouldn’t pass this morality test and isn’t pornographic but others in the same boat just off the the top of my head: oyasumi punpun, chainsaw man (remember Denji is 16 at the beginning), blue period, o maidens in your savage season, etc. all fantastic works (even if the second season of chainsaw man is mid)
Plus even age appropriate characters in ero doujin that don’t explicitly state their age but perform “perverse” sex acts (eg any) will potentially be grounds for deletion.
This law moves to target deepfake style child pornography. This is probably a good idea but the language needs to be explicitly defined and super clear, especially with the government the way it is right now. And Texas, of all states, is not the one to trust
This is so broadly written it can apply to just about anything. Considering how puritanical America is about anything sex related, this will definitely be abused.
They think it’s better to repress peoples natural sex drive if it is anything outside of traditional puritanical marriage. They tell themselves that sex is only for making babies, yet any type of violence is apparently socially acceptable.
The sad part is that repression often leads to some sort of perversion or kink anyway. So this type of legislation often leads to the issue that it is attempting to solve.
If just talking to your kids about sex at the appropriate age is too awkward, have the government pass draconian laws instead! Problem solved. /s
I do not want Republicans deciding what constitutes cp in anime.
Your statement is literally incorrect (and moronic).
