Lolicon

i mean.... https://i.imgur.com/y0S0LCk.jpg

There's no denying lolies are cute. Japan has a very different mindset than the western world, schoolgirls have been basically worshipped there for many years... As others in this thread have said before me - it's okay, as long as it's fictional.

Loli-cons are fine in my eyes, as long as they satisfy their fetishes via methods without real children (eg. hentai and doujinshi). I don't personally mind if you get off to little ones, you do you, just abide by the law and don't let your interests get you into trouble.

i'm ok with ppl liking lolicon looks (dressing up young/looking young/roleplaying to be young) but ehhh liking actual under-aged ppl crosses my boundries it's probably because I grew up in America because I know in other countries the legal age for marriage/consent is different. and I won't try to tell you not to like under-aged peeps (UNLESS U IN MERICA, THEN U NEED TO STOOOOOOOP) but i definitely wont be hanging around to befriend you

Japan has largely declared many subjects to be fair game provided it exists as a cartoon. It would not be uncommon for a young lady wearing a v-neck and showing a bit of cleavage to get some angry looks, all the while she's standing by a shelf of manga with cartoon girls with giant milky breasts flopping out. One is real, one isn't. Also, things like this are incredibly funny in Japan. It is accepted humor to present the older/underage romance dynamic because of all of the embarrassing things that go along with it. In real life, underage people develop crushes on older people and, unfortunately vice versa. In real life you shouldn't pursue those things. For the Japanese, addressing it in cartoon form is very acceptable. In America, we tend to avoid it even in our fiction. You'll even find many erotica publishers who allow all kinds of stuff, but get really uncool with topics involving underage people. Personally, I can appreciate some of the anime that deal with the subject but I have to look at it through the Japanese culture lens. Some of it is just uncomfortable though.

It's a complex topic, as are many things. For me, it doesn't stop at "if they don't hurt real children, then they're fine" because waiting until someone hurts a child is pretty dangerous. That said, it is a fictional fetish and not all pedophiles are interested in actually harming children, let alone lolicons. We can't use lolicon fetish as a reason to suspect someone of having the potential to hurt children, but I like the idea of those in the community of lolicon actively discouraging it. The logic follows: Certainly not all or even many lolicon authors or consumers are dangerous, but those who are dangerous tend to be authors or consumers of the content. I read doujinshi with controversial content and one of my favorite artists usually puts a "please don't try this at home and make the rest of us look bad for enjoying this" comment in his afterword. I guess it's also important to bring up the apparent statistic that most child molestations are not pedophiles, but are driven to the act by intent of power. I do NOT have the statistics or their source on me, but if true, it throws a wrench into the whole legal side of things.