GUILTY IA - Christopher Handley for child pornography, Glenwood, 2006

[Thelma]

An Iowa man was convicted of possessing child pornography last week because some of the books in his vast collection of Japanese manga (comics) appeared to depict minors engaged in sexual acts.

http://io9.com/5272107/manga-collection-ruled-child-pornography-by-us-court


I wonder what people think of this- while I have heard of the description of the manga's in question and they are indeed horrific-I wonder about the scope and reach of this law.

I noticed a few titles of both manga and anime on amazon.com that would be in violation of the protect act if this were the case-should we see who ordered these titles and arrest them?

 

[Tichad3]

It's a cartoon drawing? How do they know the drawing is under age? Is it drawn to look like a small child?

As you can see, I have too many questions to decide what I think about it. LOL

 

[Kat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon

Example of what the characters might look like in this type of manga. IMHO yes they are drawn to look like children with adult sexual characteristics while still looking like children if that makes sense.

Don't know what to think about this, I have no experience with Manga or child pornography.

 

[IslandGirl]

Where is the artistic freedom of expression in all of this? It seems to me that many of the manga characters are childlike looking even if they are portraying "adults".
Where is the National Endowment for the Arts and all of those who supported (both on principle and financially) the right of one of our more famous artists to place a urinal in a museum as part of a display?

This is sort of getting out of hand how the "thought police" are interpreting art, now.

Do you think they would like to come into my kitchen and delete out my "extra virgin" olive oil?

It is ludicrous to think that they can determine the "age" of a manga character. My own kid, well into her 20's, was given a kiddie menu and crayons when we went into a popular chain restaurant with her, her husband, and their two kids. Do you think that judging by appearances alone he could have been charged with child pornography had he been carrying a nudie cartoon image of his own wife? It stands to reason...

Fiction, no matter how absurd or dirty, is fiction.
I still get asked if I am my own daughter's sister...friend...etc...maybe I should change my online name to MangaPorn....

:Banane48::bananapartyhat::Banane36::bananalama: :Banane21:

 

[wandering]

IslandGirl, it's really not that easily dismissed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/10/japan
Japan is one of the world's biggest suppliers of child pornography and the second biggest consumer after the US, despite a 1999 law that banned the production, sale and distribution of images of children under 18.
The government decided to act following scathing public criticism by the US ambassador to Tokyo, Thomas Schieffer. "The term 'child pornography' misrepresents the heinous nature of this crime," Schieffer wrote in a recent newspaper article.
"Unlike some people in adult pornography, children are not willing or paid participants. The majority of images and videos depict the violent and brutal sexual assault of children, most of them younger than 12 years old. We are talking about child rape."

Manga belonging to the popular "lolicon" - Japanese slang for Lolita complex - genre are likely to escape the ban, as MPs are concerned that outlawing them could infringe on freedom of expression and drive men who use them as an outlet for their sexual urges to commit more serious offences.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/10/japan-manga-anime-recession
The cultural affairs agency has reportedly requested 12 billion yen to create a national centre for media art that would promote Japanese pop culture overseas. The manga genre encompasses every possible theme, from tales involving lovable characters for children, to historical and political themes, sports and pornography.

 

[Mr. E]

The law is fuzzy. This guy faces prison time, yet that guy who died with Jacob Wetterling videos in his house was told by his therapist that drawing boys in sexual acts was a safe outlet for him. Didn't the police even say they didn't think he was a threat?

Some manga is weird and disturbing. I run an Anime Club at my school, and you have to be very careful about what is shown and shared. But was the "lolicon" a huge part of the collection?

 

[OkieGranny]

From February 2010:

http://www.wired.com/2010/02/obscene-us-manga-collector-jailed-6-months/

A U.S. comic book collector is being sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to importing and possessing Japanese manga books depicting illustrations of child sex and bestiality.

Christopher Handley was sentenced in Iowa on Thursday, almost a year after pleading guilty to charges of possessing “obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.”

The 40-year-old was charged under the 2003 Protect Act, which outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and which lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Handley was the nation’s first to be convicted under that law for possessing cartoon art, without any evidence that he also collected or viewed genuine child pornography.