If you don’t know that word, it refers to a genre of entertainment that puts children characters in romantic or sexual situations. Some of you are scratching your heads in confusion because most anime and manga protagonists are young. I should clarify. Lolicon characters are typically pre-pubescent girls – children in every sense of the word.
Some authors attempt to sidestep the stigma Lolicon attracts by placing older women in children’s bodies. They want you to ignore the naked 30-year-old man sharing a shower with an 11-year-old girl because she is actually centuries old.
The online debate I mentioned began when one viewer ranted about La Brava and Gentle from My Hero Academia. La Brava has the physical appearance of a nine-year-old girl, while Gentle is closer to 50.
Naturally, many viewers have taken issue with the romantic relationship between the characters. Lolicon is controversial because it feels like outright paedophilia, which is why some governments oppose the importation of anime and manga from Japan.
Child pornography is illegal in most countries. First, most people are disturbed by the notion of an adult male or female coveting sexual or romantic relationships with pre-teens.
Secondly, child pornography exists because an adult somewhere is abusing children. Therefore, consumption of child pornography encourages child abuse.
Thirdly, those who consume child pornography are more likely to defile children, the same way people who watch regular pornography are eventually tempted to replicate the acts they see on porn sites.
With that in mind, why is child pornography illegal in a world that accepts or, at the very least, tolerates the distribution of lolicon anime and manga?
You can walk into a Japanese store plastered with pictures of pre-pubescent anime characters in provocative poses, and no one will bat an eye. You can leave that store with life-sized dolls of those characters, and some passersby may frown at you. But you don’t have to worry about law enforcement kicking your door down and dragging you to prison for possessing potentially illegal paraphernalia.
Why is that?
To be fair, most Ugandan anime and manga forums despise the genre, and members will tease you to death if you show a preference for Lolicon. So why discuss Lolicon today? Because the debate I mentioned above introduced three variables I had never considered.
First, some experts argue that paedophilia and Lolicon are entirely separate. With pedophilia, the perpetrator is attracted to real pre-pubescent boys and girls. Lolicon fans are primarily drawn to fictional children.
That rationale is easy to dismiss until you realize that Fictiosexuality is a thing. Fictosexuals can only lust after fictional characters. The New York Post wrote about Akihiko Kondo, who married Hatsune Miku in 2018.
Hatsune is a fictional pop idol. So, what did Akihiko marry? People like Akihiko lend credence to the idea that Lolicon fans lust after fictional kids. They have no interest in real children.
Secondly, Lolicon is not as consequence- free as you think. Countries like Ireland have strict laws that also penalize virtual child pornography. In Mexico, drawings of child pornography can get you a 12-year prison sentence.
I never understood why some communities could overlook the moral concerns surrounding Lolicon until one online comment highlighted a vital component I had not considered: age of consent. Many of us were raised with the understanding that 18 is the age of consent. But visit ageofconsent.net/world to get a detailed breakdown of the ages of consent in different countries.
For example, the age of consent in Japan is 13 (according to the Penal Code of Japan, established in 1907). In some places in Japan, an adult can sleep with a 13-year-old, and his neighbours won’t bat an eye. So, why would they care about your Lolicon obsession? And before you assume that Japan is the exception, Germany’s age of consent is 14.
In France, the age of consent is 18 only if the sexual act is between relatives (Uhm… what?!) In other cases, that figure falls to 15. Basically, don’t be surprised if your foreign friends are not quite as disturbed by Lolicon as you expect. Their cultures and traditions may diverge dramatically from yours.
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