A serious post in Riff-Raff? Aw, hell naw!
tl;dr before I start: There are two discussions happening here and they are actually separate things. "Websites shouldn't ban MY content, even if other users find it distasteful or wrong" and "Is lolicon actually bad?"
"Is lolicon actually bad?"
Now fellas, I am not saying you guys are wrong when raising the point that drawn images of fictitious minors is not a direct act against a real minor. There is even some (limited and controversial) research done in places like Denmark and Japan relating to this. But it is curious to me how often this topic comes up on KYM, and it always seems like the Lolicon Defence Force come out in full, lmao.
@Evil Thing:
So…how many real children is this supposed to save from being raped?
There is a can of worms to get into such as whether or not lolicon enables or normalizes the idea of involving minors in sexual acts or "thinking of children in a sexual way". I think that it's very difficult to judge without a lot more research.
"Websites shouldn't ban my content."
I think there is a conflation in this thread of what individuals want with what websites want. Reddit is not located in the United States of America. Its physical headquarters might be. But not the actual bit of internet it's on. No website is. They are privately-owned corners of cyberspace, and are not honour-bound to protect freedom of expression. If it's their own wish to make a point of doing so, fine (see: 8chan).
Reddit's content policy (here) says: "Content is prohibited if it is sexual or suggestive content involving minors". No distinction on real or fictitious. That means if you upload loli to Reddit, and Reddit bans you, they have not infringed upon you. You have infringed upon them. It is Reddit's right to decide whether loli is allowed on the bit of the internet they own – before we get into the various laws of various countries and how they apply. If you want to post loli art, you must find another website. Even 4chan expressly forbids loli "outside of /b/", although I believe that was not always the case.
On this note, @Some Buddy:
Artistic depictions of fictional characters (lolicon and shotacon) technically aren't illegal, and this is coming from someone who doesn't even like them.
It depends where in the world you live as to whether or not drawn pornography of fictitious minors is legal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_drawn_pornography_depicting_minors
US law isn't everyone's law, and on the whole, it is still up to individual websites to prohibit technically legal things if they so wish.
Now you might be thinking of the tumblr porn ban thing. I consider that to have been a silly move on their part because they turned around and tried to force a massive change in the culture of their site overnight. Whereas Reddit has never actually expressly allowed loli, so it's not as though this is a sudden change. So I don't see it as quite the same issue.
