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Jun. 4th, 2009 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skysailorhttp://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/manga-porn/
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/24/neil-gaiman-on-the-obscenity-of-manga-collector-christopher-handleys-trial/
I'm sure I've posted about this before, but what. the. fuck.
Okay, first of all, why in the hell does this law (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1466A.html) exist? It's a broad-spectrum law that provides no specific definitions of what the hell it means. Not only that, but it's being given an even broader interpretation than the law itself allows - from what these articles say, they're not even concerned if the character is represented as being over 18; they're concerned with if the character looks like they're under 18. Please, name me some manga with a character under 50 that actually looks like they're over 18 (you don't need to, I know they exist, but they're the exception, not the rule).
The important part: I worry that laws like this will expand. I mean, what if they decided art wasn't enough? What if they hit the writing world? Fucking hell, we'd be doomed. And I'm not just saying that because I'd suddenly be unable to write teens having sex. I'm not sure I've ever even written teens having sex, though I've definitely read plenty of it. I'm saying that because this stuff doesn't stay nice and quiet, doesn't stay in its little corner, at least partly because its little corner doesn't have much for specific limitations already. This stuff expands. It expands, and grows, and spreads. Every Handley imprisoned becomes a new precedent, a new launching point from which these laws can be permitted to grow bolder and more expansive. It is because of these precedents here set that convictions like this are violations of the entire idea of art, of writing, of freedom of speech and freedom to scribble things onto paper.
(and back to ranting)
For another thing, I think people need a refresher on what the fuck "minor" means - in this country, it means under 18. Maybe it's just because I only cleared 18 a couple of years ago, but 18 is not that fucking young. I mean, hell, I think Elizabeth and William in Pirates of the Caribbean are depicted as being 16, 17, so does that mean their implied sex scene in movie 3 is implied child porn now?
As a manga fan, and well-aware that characters who are 18+ in manga are few and far between, it wouldn't surprise me to find that I might actually have one or two manga that counts under this ridiculous, far-from-specific law. Fushigi Yuugi volume 9, anyone? And I know for certain that I saw one or two things at Ja-con's Yaoi PJ party that definitely counted. And yeah, they were disturbing, but I'm not about to jail someone for watching them. Hell, I'm almost tempted to buy things that would definitely count under this moronic law so I could fight it tooth and nail in court. They're taking five years of this man's life away because he owns some fucking comic books. What in the living fuck is the matter with these people?
Now, I may not be an artist, but I do write, and that connects into art and comics pretty well. When you're writing, you're representing what you think your characters would realistically do. And, guess what? People realistically (and hella frequently) have sex under 18. Shocking, isn't it?
Is it just me, or does the entire country seem to be under a mass of self-delusion about teen sexuality? They're already prosecuting teens as sex offenders for "transmitting child porn" (i.e. texting pictures of themselves in a bikini). Is it going to become illegal to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror before you turn 18 now? Are they going to start turning all teen sex into statutory rape? (because already, there's some places where it's statutory rape to be a teen and have sex with a teen one year younger than you. though I'll grant I'm not sure if those are in the US).
18 is not a magic number. I did not suddenly grow a new "mature" section of my brain when I hit that age. And it's completely ridiculous to think that anyone else does, either.
And on that note, please enjoy some 3 Panel Soul: http://threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2009-06-04 (don't worry, it's not child porn).
(And by the by, it's issues like these that threaten to dilute the nature of what child porn and child exploitation actually are. It's people who are doing actual things to actual children you should be chasing after, not someone who read the wrong comic book.)
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/11/24/neil-gaiman-on-the-obscenity-of-manga-collector-christopher-handleys-trial/
I'm sure I've posted about this before, but what. the. fuck.
Okay, first of all, why in the hell does this law (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1466A.html) exist? It's a broad-spectrum law that provides no specific definitions of what the hell it means. Not only that, but it's being given an even broader interpretation than the law itself allows - from what these articles say, they're not even concerned if the character is represented as being over 18; they're concerned with if the character looks like they're under 18. Please, name me some manga with a character under 50 that actually looks like they're over 18 (you don't need to, I know they exist, but they're the exception, not the rule).
The important part: I worry that laws like this will expand. I mean, what if they decided art wasn't enough? What if they hit the writing world? Fucking hell, we'd be doomed. And I'm not just saying that because I'd suddenly be unable to write teens having sex. I'm not sure I've ever even written teens having sex, though I've definitely read plenty of it. I'm saying that because this stuff doesn't stay nice and quiet, doesn't stay in its little corner, at least partly because its little corner doesn't have much for specific limitations already. This stuff expands. It expands, and grows, and spreads. Every Handley imprisoned becomes a new precedent, a new launching point from which these laws can be permitted to grow bolder and more expansive. It is because of these precedents here set that convictions like this are violations of the entire idea of art, of writing, of freedom of speech and freedom to scribble things onto paper.
(and back to ranting)
For another thing, I think people need a refresher on what the fuck "minor" means - in this country, it means under 18. Maybe it's just because I only cleared 18 a couple of years ago, but 18 is not that fucking young. I mean, hell, I think Elizabeth and William in Pirates of the Caribbean are depicted as being 16, 17, so does that mean their implied sex scene in movie 3 is implied child porn now?
As a manga fan, and well-aware that characters who are 18+ in manga are few and far between, it wouldn't surprise me to find that I might actually have one or two manga that counts under this ridiculous, far-from-specific law. Fushigi Yuugi volume 9, anyone? And I know for certain that I saw one or two things at Ja-con's Yaoi PJ party that definitely counted. And yeah, they were disturbing, but I'm not about to jail someone for watching them. Hell, I'm almost tempted to buy things that would definitely count under this moronic law so I could fight it tooth and nail in court. They're taking five years of this man's life away because he owns some fucking comic books. What in the living fuck is the matter with these people?
Now, I may not be an artist, but I do write, and that connects into art and comics pretty well. When you're writing, you're representing what you think your characters would realistically do. And, guess what? People realistically (and hella frequently) have sex under 18. Shocking, isn't it?
Is it just me, or does the entire country seem to be under a mass of self-delusion about teen sexuality? They're already prosecuting teens as sex offenders for "transmitting child porn" (i.e. texting pictures of themselves in a bikini). Is it going to become illegal to look at yourself in the bathroom mirror before you turn 18 now? Are they going to start turning all teen sex into statutory rape? (because already, there's some places where it's statutory rape to be a teen and have sex with a teen one year younger than you. though I'll grant I'm not sure if those are in the US).
18 is not a magic number. I did not suddenly grow a new "mature" section of my brain when I hit that age. And it's completely ridiculous to think that anyone else does, either.
And on that note, please enjoy some 3 Panel Soul: http://threepanelsoul.com/view.php?date=2009-06-04 (don't worry, it's not child porn).
(And by the by, it's issues like these that threaten to dilute the nature of what child porn and child exploitation actually are. It's people who are doing actual things to actual children you should be chasing after, not someone who read the wrong comic book.)
