This whole thread is a breeding ground of ignorance and intolerance.
I don't think that it's really that bad to own lolicon images, unless they are actual photographs. It's a little bit weird to get off to that stuff, but it's not wrong. The same cannot be said for actual under-age girls. I don't think it's right to possess actual child pornography under any means. There is a difference between the 2. Anime/manga girls do not exist, can never exist and will never exist. They are not people, they are characters who are disproportioned and idealized. There is no real victim in this case besides the person being arrested. Possession of child pornography actually has a specific victim: the child in the images. They are being used to fulfil some person's sick fantasy. In this case, the offender harms the child. The person who possesses hentai images has not actually hurt anything besides the feelings of moral guardians who are too ignorant to see the difference between these two situations.
That being said, I can see where the connection can be drawn. They both depict under-age girls in sexual situations. However, there is one major, MAJOR difference which prevents them from being situations that can be treated the same way: lolicon images are FICTIONAL and depict FICTIONAL girls in FICTIONAL situations. We must avoid the slippery slope logical fallacy. This does not necessarily lead to possession of actual child pornography, and is not necessarily a sign of a budding child molester. This is similar to people's arguments as to how killing people in video games leads to killing people in real life. I understand that being attracted to little girls is a taboo, and one for a good reason, but this isn't the same situation.
That's just my opinion on the issue. Make of it what you will.
I don't think that it's really that bad to own lolicon images, unless they are actual photographs. It's a little bit weird to get off to that stuff, but it's not wrong. The same cannot be said for actual under-age girls. I don't think it's right to possess actual child pornography under any means. There is a difference between the 2. Anime/manga girls do not exist, can never exist and will never exist. They are not people, they are characters who are disproportioned and idealized. There is no real victim in this case besides the person being arrested. Possession of child pornography actually has a specific victim: the child in the images. They are being used to fulfil some person's sick fantasy. In this case, the offender harms the child. The person who possesses hentai images has not actually hurt anything besides the feelings of moral guardians who are too ignorant to see the difference between these two situations.
That being said, I can see where the connection can be drawn. They both depict under-age girls in sexual situations. However, there is one major, MAJOR difference which prevents them from being situations that can be treated the same way: lolicon images are FICTIONAL and depict FICTIONAL girls in FICTIONAL situations. We must avoid the slippery slope logical fallacy. This does not necessarily lead to possession of actual child pornography, and is not necessarily a sign of a budding child molester. This is similar to people's arguments as to how killing people in video games leads to killing people in real life. I understand that being attracted to little girls is a taboo, and one for a good reason, but this isn't the same situation.
That's just my opinion on the issue. Make of it what you will.