The Shota Case
Two twins who downloaded a variety of shota materials have been jailed for possessing “virtual child pornography,” with the judge condemning them for “victimising” imaginary children. The men, both 20 and residents of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, were reported to police by a sister-in-law after she came across “distressing” images on their computer. Police searches soon found a substantial collection of shotacon material on their computers, saying 90% were “cartoon drawings called Japanese Anime.” The pair, one of whom is said to be an active homosexual, were subsequently charged with possession of child pornography, both for the minority of real images and their manga collection, which under Canadian law is considered “virtual child pornography.” The state prosecutor insists that victimising fictional children is a very serious offence:
“Every one of these images involves the victimization of children. The victimization wouldn’t happen in the first place if there weren’t people there to look at this material.”
More details can be found here. So, looking at images of drawn boys is “victimising children”? Does that mean you can get child allowance for drawn kids too? No? Too bad. And children wouldn’t get raped if shota wouldn’t exist? That’s interesting because 1. I heard (just a rumour) that children were victims of sexual abuse before manga existed and 2. Japan – where all the shota manga come from and are legal – has one of the lowest sex crime rates of all industrialized countries.
about 4 months ago
I assume the Canadian government is arresting people who possess murder mystery novels, watch violent crime movies or movies where children are victims of crime. Logic is the same isn’t it – “The victimization wouldn’t happen in the first place if there weren’t people there to look at this material.”
about 4 months ago
Sounds like some local bias to the issue, there have been lots of cases of regilious school abuse coming out so I don’t wonder if the judge is affected by that. The supreme court has said that he charter of rights and freedoms allows for ‘Art’ to be exempt from this law so I hope can appeal.
V.
about 4 months ago
Hey, I was just in Halifax…
Good thing airport security didn’t check my laptop ^^;;
about 4 months ago
Sad, very sad and they call it justice. I think that law and that judge are insane.
Is nudism also in danger as you could happen to see an underage kid playing in the nude, if so I think we could arrest almost 95% of human society. Hope these twins will be freed soon.
nala.
about 4 months ago
This is ridiculous. Shota isn’t real, it is imagined.
Nobody is getting hurt except for these twins, who will spend 3 months in jail and be put on the sex offender’s list for committing a victimless ‘crime’.
So this judge reckons if someone likes to draw and they decide to draw shota they should be put in jail? That is a gross violation of freedom of expression. I could sketch (very badly drawn) shota right now on a piece of paper. What are you gonna do, arrest me? Or do my pictures have to be of a certain artistic standard to be considered illegal?
All drawn art is essentially a projection of one’s imagination or fantasy on to paper. If we’re going to arrest people for their thoughts, not their hurtful actions, then we have truly become an Orwellian society.
about 4 months ago
They’re just scared. And apparently they had 10% real images, so the charges would be filed anyway.
Which isn’t to say I’m justifying the stance on the “illustrated abuse”, cause I’m not
about 4 months ago
This I find interesting,
“In a final twist to the case, the court accepted arguments that the pair, having been branded pederasts for the rest of their lives, would likely be in danger if housed amongst the general prison population. As a result they get to serve their sentence only on weekends, and in protective custody.”
Does beg the question what was the point.
about 4 months ago
Just noticed that the wikipedia page on the PROTECT Act (not applicable to this case, as PROTECT is USA), it says “See Also: Totalitarianism” wooo
about 4 months ago
This is another manifestation of the kind of ideology that developed into the WW2 Japanese “Thought Police” who persecuted citizens for dreams, notions or wishes about losing the war. Every straight teenage boy on earth has doodled young naked girls and these abusers must be stopped! Arrest them all! Throw away the key! No doubt about it – Canada must be run by liberals.
about 4 months ago
“virtual child pornography” – Yepp. And as soon as the found some sort of paedo-String on the DNA it becomes even possible to jail you for your thoughts.
There is just one little problem left: Most child-molesters are not pedophiles but “normal” gay or hetero men who just took a child because they could not “persuade” a stronger person to make sex with them.
about 4 months ago
Indeed, many people don’t realise that the most cases of abuse happen in the families of the kids without any pedos being involved.
about 4 months ago
And not to be forgotten: A “coming out” is not an option for a pedo. So most pedos do live a life undercover as nice normal nighbours. Those pedos appearing in public are those who actually do or did commit serious crimes.
So the picture of the pedo is only represented and formed by people that did commit crimes. The by far biggest part of the peer-group that would never hurt a child is not part of the immage.
about 4 months ago
These guys have just been outed :P doesn’t sound like they are nasty child abusing pedos to me. Maybe these kinds of “outings” are good – more people will get to see how normal pedos might be
about 4 months ago
Try to not confuse two terms: a pedophile and a child molester. The biggest myth in this child abuse thing is that people tend to believe that you have to be a pedophile ( medical term for a person being attracted to prepubescent children) to abuse children. This is not true. Clinical pedophiles make just 15-20% of people who commited a sex crime against children, but politicians and society call all of them pedophiles if they have sex with underage person. This is not fair. There are many pedophiles who never acts and never hurt kids and they are called monsters because “pedophiles are monsters”
about 4 months ago
all paranoid
Australia:
A Supreme Court judge has ruled that an internet cartoon, in which child characters resembling those from The Simpsons engage in sexual acts, is child pornography.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/simpsonsstyle-cartoon-is-child-porn/2008/12/08/1228584707575.html
about 4 months ago
BART GET OUT I’M PISS
about 4 months ago
Wowsers. The live photos I might understand – “might”: What consists cp in Canada?
Anime/Manga shota? “Slippery slope” falacy” (yes, it’s actually expressed in Latin among the long and tedious lists in Classical logic texts)!
“Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.” (Nietzshe?).
btw – follow the link, read on! (it’s bookmarked on all my machines, now… once more resorting to a foreign colloquialism – wowsers!
Cordially,
Guiland ( ’sorry. somebody has a new pet name for me… :-) ( Platonic – ’same schedule derived state swings ).
about 4 months ago
The moral panic rolls on.
A salutary reminder of where (some?) english-speaking countries are at. If it looks suggestive, and they look under 18, the law classifies it as cp. That covers a lot of stuff. No-one will argue, not the policeman who gets the complaint, nor the prosecutor who gets the brief, nor the judge who sits on the case.
Just keep yourself safe.
about 4 months ago
I better not move to Canada…
about 4 months ago
living australia and being in part with commonwealth laws, a simalar story happend in sydney australia just before christmas, once again a perfect case for a insane prosecution, judges and law makes… http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24767202-2,00.html
about 4 months ago
When will people learn that you can’t suppress some aspects of human nature? Sexual preference has never been a choice but rather something that gives positive results. Each person makes the choice to hurt or not hurt another human being when seeking out that sexual urge, and it sounds like these twins hurt nobody in their path by having shotacon images in their computer.
It sounds similar to the Salem Witch Trials where fear of an alleged sin drives people to break the law and call it justice in the name of God.
about 4 months ago
You should have said “of the developed world” or something like that, Japan is not part of the “Western Civilisations” :)
about 4 months ago
Thank you, gabs.
An assortment of disorders vary in incidence among differing cultures. I shall maintain that violence is a disorder and that a sexual offense is violence. In this case, it was a case of laws in place owing to an hysterical fear ( I really can’t keep count of those :’-(
Thank you,
Guiland.
about 4 months ago
@a sexual offense is violence
Are you saying that sexual offences are violent offences? Or that whar are called “sexual offences” should only be offences if they involve violence?
Because I don’t see how these twins have done anything violent…
about 4 months ago
My mistake, xenopoesis. I do not see any actual sexual offense in the case under consideration. These men only collected shota manga and derivative images, with “some” live photos on which we have no further information.
Even then, they were themselves unlikely to act on their tastes in art – that would invoke the “slippery slope/thin end of the wedge” fallacy (this time, I checked – it’s in my Rhetoric from college).
As Josh was kind enough to point out, most cases of true sexual abuse occur within families. I might add that the danger is related to irresponsible authority or abuse of sentiment.
I’m sorry if I forget things… my last lectures concerned traditional architecture (poor, unfortunate students :-) , not social phenomena.
Peace and out,
Giles Martin (drivers license and one passport), “Mycroft” within the office, I’m sooo tired…)
about 4 months ago
All apologies, xenopoesis. The twins did nothing violent, so this would not be a natural crime. They hurt nobody, nor were they statistically likely to do so. Pictures, in and of themselves are only pictures.
This is a case of public hysteria, moral panic, or witch hunt. They’ve grown popular, once more. As you already know, this wasn’t simply a judge with fleas in his wig.
To imply that image possession leads to a physical act is to apply the “thin end of the wedge”/”slippery slope” fallacy. It’s a very popular, if dishonest rhetorical device in political speech and action.
I’m sorry, put the political spheres are not easy for me to stomach…
All apologies,
Giles, Pauli, Guiland, whatever.
about 4 months ago
You have a point there but oh well, you know what I mean ^^
about 4 months ago
Ah Japan is a western civilisation, if you redraw the world map and have the atlantic ocean in the middle…
about 4 months ago
When this concept of virtual CP was sold to the US public they described it as adult porn with kids heads photoshopped on top. The thought was so repellant that they all went along with it thinking that it was very narrow and specific. The truth is that technically a Rubens painting of naked fluttering cherub, a shota drawing or maybe even a stick figure could possibly be virtual CP.
Since when did Canada take up after The insanity of the US?
The US has been losing a lot of influence around the world so i don’t the Japanese are going to curtail shota manga anytime soon.
about 4 months ago
Nothing new has happened in Canada in order for this to happen – the chid porn laws were included in the amended Canadian Criminal Code of 1985. This defines child porn as including visual material no matter how it is produced, written material and audio recordings.
Robin Sharpe was prosecuted in Canada in the 1995. In reaching judgment against him, the court relied on a previous case that involved manga.
about 4 months ago
I had to close my Shota Boys site because of the way laws are going. Shota has been illegal in Canada for some time and recently a man was arrested and convicted of childporn in the untied sates for possession of Shota. After that i just had to close my site.
about 4 months ago
I live in Canada. It’s turning very scary. When I was young, the country had a rich and independent identity. Now it’s just a life support system for the USA, which sucks our water, hydro, nuclear, lumber, minerals and crops.
In the early 20th century Canadians were about the richest people on the planet.
Now our prime minister takes his orders from the White house, and we are a beta-testing country for crazy CIA inspired PSYOPS like this ‘virtual pornography’ law.
about 4 months ago
Earth sucks…. period.
about 4 months ago
There are a lot of aspects of this story that are just plain screwy. First, their sister-in-law reported them after snooping on their computer? Maybe she should have talked to them first instead of running to the police…I know if I had issues with something I saw a family member doing, I’d want to talk it over before the police got involved!
I agree that this whole concept of “virtual child porn” is pretty crazy, but if there’s anything you might not want someone (like a sister-in-law that hates you) to see on your computer, either don’t let them use it, or keep things secure and hidden to avoid whatever mess might follow.
about 4 months ago
Another exampe of ‘Big Brother,’ 21st Century style.
Thought crime is when a person is punished, not for what they do, but for what they think. A drawing is just a drawing. You can’t hurt, currupt, or sexually abuse a drawing for gods sake. The whole concept is too stupid and illogical for words.
These twins might think about beating the shit out of their hidious sister in law. You going to jail them for assault too..? because they just might, maybe, some day, some time… knock the sneeky bitch on her arse.
about 4 months ago
Uff
The cartoons are bad?
Excuse me but i think the shotacon is not bad! Its an imaginary kind of liberate the sexual desire of some people.
some things in shotacon cant be real ¬¬
about 4 months ago
Next your imagination will be outlawed.
about 4 months ago
Yep. One day our imagination will be ilegal!
about 4 months ago
Canada must still be bitter about the South Park thing :|
about 4 months ago
That’s nothing…particularily new. Canadian gouvernment has been clamping down on porn Anime at least since the 90s.
about 4 months ago
Hideous Violence OK… Simple Nudity Banned.
Censorship is interesting, because it is, first and formats, a comment on what is and what is not acceptable, by the powers that be, at any given time and place.
War books, comics and movies, by their very nature, require the mass slaughter of men women and children. In every country on the planet you can do a war story, with as much blood and guts as you want. More than that, the most successful war movies have battered, tortured bodies piled to the rafters. Men women and kids sacrificed to the god of war.
This is not a recent thing. Ancient Spartan boys were trained to kill as infants, were billeted with men in fearsome army camps until their twenties. Boys were whipped naked, just to see if they could take it. Homosexuality was compulsory, women were for creating the next batch of fearless warriors, love, kindness, compassion, were all equated with weakness. Think I’m making it all up? Check your history books.
Crime novels and stories have a similar theme, but on a smaller scale. Serial killers are really popular with joe public, ‘Silence Of The Lambs.’ and ‘Psycho.’ were based on a real life nutter called, Edward Gein. He liked to kill local country folk, then use their body parts to decorate his Wisconsin homestead.
Don’t book in at Edward Gein’s hotel when the shrinks let him out of the asylum for being a good boy, or if you do, don’t take a shower.
Modern TV crime stories dwell on the gory details with obvious relish. ‘CSI,” and other morbid crime yarns have at least one dissected corps for mum, dad and the kids to view… ‘What’s on the slab in the lab yarns’ I call them.
When I was a lad, autopsy porn was real heavyweight stuff and only for the seriously perverted punter… Not any more! “Perfectly ok for the kiddies.” say the TV censors…
Have a cute nude boy or girl in ‘CSI.’ and the the censors would go ape shit, have the same kid opened up from top to bottom in some gratuitous autopsy scene and the censors are perfectly ok with it.
The censor’s attitude to hideous, warlike, violence speaks volumes about their modern warrior race attitude. Their hysterical attitude to simple child nudity is even more bizarre, and says more about them than it does about us.
about 4 months ago
i was just wondering how the authorities will determin whether the shota character is underaged (below the age of 18). from my point of view they really can’t.. it’s not real people with a birthcertificat, their age can’t be determined! i also thought that the cp law was made to protect children, because obviously children were abused during the filming.. in a cartoon no children are abused, so what’s the point of illegalizing it? cp is wrong because a child was actually there.. shota is just imagination, thoughts and fantasies.