Ewwww

[layla]

I just found out what "shota" is.

Japanese fandom is really creepy sometimes, you know that?

At least it's equal-opportunity in its ickiness. There is something to be said for that ... I guess.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Wellllll...Normally I'd be against pedophilia, but considering that most children in anime ACT like little adults, it's understandable.

I guess I'm coming around to the idea that any two people who have the mental reasoning abilities to make an informed decision to have a relationship should be allowed to. So if a child is mentally mature, then why COULDN'T he fall in love and pursue a relationship with an adult?

I realize that my definition of what's allowable has a major flaw: the mentally handicapped. Many are mentally children, so should we protect them from the possibility of being coerced into a relationship? I really don't know; Haven't given it enough thought yet.

I don't mean this post to sound like I'm jumping on your opinion, btw. It just got me to thinking about the issue.

~Harmony

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

I'm genuinely not opposed to depictions of "taboo" relationships in media. In fact, several of the Diana Wynne Jones books that I've been reading over the last few weeks have had actual or implied relationships between adults and underage people (usually with some mitigating circumstances, such as it's a one-sided crush, etc). I think the aspect of shota that bugs me is the sexualizing of it. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing a story about an adult and a child or teen, or two teens in a sexual relationship -- it happens. I don't even think it's necessarily a problem for the story to get fairly graphic. It's the idea of writing about underage characters in sexual situations strictly to give adults sexual gratification that creeps me out.