So, does outlawing the depiction of minors in art prevent actual harm to individuals? The only evidence that the Committee presents in this regard comes in the form of references to the the Luxembourg Guidelines, an advocacy document developed by ECPAT that we have previously criticized. The Luxembourg Guidelines misapprehend or misstate the existence of a connection between the availability of fictional representations of minors and the sexual abuse of real minors, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child repeats this error by referencing that document and failing to question its unscientific and sex-negative assumptions.
Last week we spoke to Masayuki Hatta, associate professor of Economics and Management at Surugadai University, Japan, and who broke news of the United Nations plans within the online communities of fans of Japanese manga and anime (comic book art and cartoons). Although the scope of the ban is much broader, these artforms are particularly at risk because they often feature “kawaii” (cute) representations of characters who appear underage, sometimes in sexually suggestive situations (called “hentai”). Those that feature female characters are known as lolicon, and those with male characters are called shotacon. Masayuki pointed out that the Committee’s theory that the banning of these art forms is necessary to protect children is not backed by current science:
I think there are two possibilities. One of them is the gateway theory, that if you see simulated child pornography, maybe you will abuse real children. The simulated virtual child pornography might be something like a gateway drug. But as far as I know, it’s not proved. … Virtual pornography, cartoons or manga, might [also] be a substitute for real sexual conduct, but as far as I know it’s also not proven. So the gateway theory is not proven, and the substitution theory is not proven. So from my understanding, simulated child pornography is not connected to real child pornography at all.
Akemi Mokoto, an American fan who leads the Lolicon Defense Task Force, said when he also spoke to us last week:
It’s bewildering how they can just continue to do things like this without first at least trying to study the impacts of it, because the majority of studies that are out say that it’s not harmful. So I don’t know if they don’t know this or they just act like it doesn’t exist, but the fact is that they’re not going to help children by censoring fiction; they’re going to hurt them.
An amateur lolicon manga artist Artyom, who also spoke to us last week, agreed:
There's no evidence to back up this claim and with an enthusiastic community involving thousands if not millions of people, it's hard to believe. Hentai, loli or not, can be expressed through various forms just like any other form of art: as an illustration, an animation, a piece of writing, an idea or a concept. It doesn't necessarily have to be erotic as there's much much more to the loli community than mere pornography. The difference between actual porn and drawn, animated or written one is that the second requires an artist to produce it. It requires skill, perspective theory and anatomy. It's the fruit of the artist's labour, of human imagination and creativity while no living being is exploited in the process.
In the absence of any evidence that the sexual representation of minors in art increases the risk of actual minors being harmed, there can be no justification under international law for the imposition of a ban of such representations. Instead, the Committee on the Rights of the Child ought to be supporting research into the relationship between such artistic representations and actual harm to minors, and refocusing its efforts towards the elimination of actual photographs and videos of minors being sexually abused, which remain widely available online.
If you agree that a United Nations commtittee has no business passing these unwarranted limitations on artistic freedom into international law, we ask that you take action to tell them so. You can write to the committee until March 31 with your views. Or to make it easier for you, we will be collecting signatures for a petition that we will be presenting to the committee along with our own detailed written submission on this topic.
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