The Alaskan Loli Hentai Ban...is worth talking about

|211x300px|Yawarabi Juubee imageBackstory: Aaron Sperbeck, an Alaskan prosecutor who normally deals with crimes against children, recently began pushing for a ban on loli hentai. That's not overstatement; he's literally using as his examples manga and anime that depict sexual activity with pre-teens (and explicitly not including innocent representations of nudity, such as children in bathtubs). He's calling for a ban on lolita hentai.

So. Bans. I'm generally a pretty free spirit; I believe that, in general, stuff should be available to people, without government intervention. The only exceptions are for materials that pose a serious threat to people and have little or no other use, like nuclear materials, chemical weapons, howitzers, etc. Put them in the hands of competent, vetted people using them for historical reference or otherwise reasonable work? Sure. Sell 'em to anyone who happens along? I'm a little queasy about that.

What about loli hentai? Here's my concern:

Loli hentai normalizes sex with children.

Loli hentai shows sex with children as immensely pleasurable and almost always consequence-free. The sexual partners are almost never seen or caught by the outside world. The sexual encounters are portrayed as secrets that the characters "got away with." Often, multiple times.

To which some say: Oh, but it's fantasy! Yes, it's fantasy. It's also a fantasy that espouses a world view. Fantasy or not, it can still affect people.

To which others say: Assuming this stuff's being read by an adult, adults know the difference between fantasy and reality. Agreed, in the short term. Remember, this stuff espouses a world view. That which we ingest becomes a small part of us on some level. A person who reads anti-Jew propaganda every day is eventually going to get a little warped by it.

Reading one loli hentai manga isn't going to make a person go out and rape a child. But reading them over and over, and steadily repeating this message that sex with a child is tremendously pleasurable and that those who do it get away with it...strikes me as a little scary.

Others suggest that this sort of material is a safe outlet for those with this fetish, so they don't have to act it out. On one hand, yes, this stuff definitely is an outlet. But I debate that this is a safe outlet. It's like asking an alcoholic to only drink once a week. It doesn't solve the underlying problem, and it opens up all sorts of attack vectors.

So: should loli hentai be banned? I'm honestly not certain. I can see both sides of the issue.

But I'm definitely open to both of them. This stuff isn't completely harmless.