yeah, thats why these threads are always a minefield for discussion of the topic. Especially with the prevailing idea that if you defend loli you are a pedophile yourself.

To get that one out of the way right now, no I don't like loli shit. It disgusts me and as an anime fan it truly is a blight on the community.

The reason i defend it is because i truly believe someone needs to stick up for the weird shit. Loli is an uncomfortable gray area that we have created with our own laws and perceptions of how things should be. You are right, it is uncomfortably close to pedophilia. But it is also right to say that it;s just a drawing.

and for those who dont like that statement, allow me to elaborate. When i say that, I don't deny what it depicts. It's merely a statment of fact. It is in fact a drawing. It is not a child, it is not alive.

And thats where the problem (at least for me) starts. It is a drawing. Drawings are a form of expression, and we are free to express ourselves however we choose (there are exceptions, like hate speech).

However, its a drawing of some fucked up weird stuff. Stuff that if it were to be depicted in real life, would be obscene and actual child pornography. And naturally as humans we are against such depictions.

Its difficult to reconcile these two ideas, because they directly contradict what we perceive to be correct.

So knowing that its just a drawing, a drawing of things we dont like, I feel obligated to defend it. Why? because we produce "art" of a lot of unsavory things. We are also "turned on" by a lot of unsavory things.

If loli as a form of expression is no good, then what about rape in similar art? Theres a. Whole. Bunch. Of. Hentai. Rape. Of all styles and subgenres. There's a whole bunch of videogames, movies, paintings, etc. about murdering people. (GTA, Saw, art by serial killers). If we draw the line at Loli, we should ideally draw lines at those places too. I have yet to hear a good argument against this, although im interested in discussing it further.

Theres also a lot of fetishes in the same vein. Like, Age play. you know where people put on diapers and pretend to be babies and shit. If loli is bad, i would argue this is worse, as these people get off on actually acting and dressing like a child in the real world. But should this be banned as well?

haha holy hell i did not expect to write so much about lolis tonight. Sorry for the techincalish speech, i just swapped to here from writing a research paper and the style stuck.