this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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My bigger concern is the normalization of and exposure to those ideas and concepts (sexualization of children). That’s also why I dislike loli/shota media, despite it being fictional.
That said, I still think it’s a much better alternative to CSAM and especially to actually harming a child for those who have those desires due to trauma or mental illness. Though I’m not sure if easy, open access is entirely safe, either.
The same concern has been behind attempts to restrict/ban violent video games, and films before that, and books before that. Despite generations of trying, I don't think a causal link has ever been established.
On the flip side, studies haven’t come to a single consensus of viewing cp leading to reduced violence by individuals either.
While a full-ban infringes upon individual rights of expression and speech, and may impede in previous victims viewing it as an alternative, I’m not sure if a laissez faire approach is the best option, either.
Especially for material that A) depicts abuse and B) is harder to distinguish between fiction and reality (AI generated content), the risk of psychological harm to individuals without existing trauma or fetishes is very real. I stand by this fact for violent/unethical media as well.
In that regard, with books, games, movies, and drawings it's easy to discern fantasy from reality. With an AI generated photograph that becomes increasingly difficult to do.
I don't think it is easy with movies or books, unless you are certain of the source.
Either way, we don't have a causal link.
I don't think it's the same concern. It's not that people will become pedophiles or act on it more because of the normalization and exposure. It's people will see less of a problem with the sexualization of children. The parallel being the amount of violence we are OK being depicted. The difference being we can only emulate in a personal level the sexual side.
Maybe there's the argument that violence is escapist, sexual desire is ever present and porn is addictive.
That's not entirely true. Some studies have shown that stuff we watch influences our decisions and behaviour.
This article gives an overview over some of the more accepted research done in the area:
Pornography Use and Psychological Science: A Call for Consideration
A teenager who plays a violent video game is not engaging in an act of violence as recognised by his brain. He is not going into a fight or flight response and getting trauma from the experience as he would in a real fight. His brain doesn't think he's in a fight.
When you masturbate, your body goes through the same chemical and neurological processes as if you were really having sex.
For "normalisation of sexualisation of children" go ask the people organizing child beauty pageants.
So you agree? It shouldn't be produced because it can be used to normalise the sexualisation of children or even groom them.
I didn't say that I agree, I just pointed out that there are way more prominent ways this sexualisation is done.
I also don't agree with the headline of the article that this kind of pictures will somehow "flood" the internet. It might flood their hidden nieches for being cheap and plentiful, but I don't think they will pop up increasingly in any normal users everyday browsing activities.