Greg's Camp

Note: This is just an opinion piece, there aren't any sources or anything like that, just take it as it is. Feel free to agree or disagree. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So I hear these a lot from antis, “shota/loli [1] is just pedophilia! pedophiles use it to cope with their urges! They use real child models!” So I thought I'd address them, along with some.

Shota is just pedophilia

I can see why this would be something you could argue but that's just simply not the case. There are a lot of shotacons who are not interested or sexually attracted to real-life young boys. The simple fact is that they are not real children. No child is being sexually abused, coerced, or manipulated. They are drawings or 3D renders, they are not real children.

Pedophiles use it to cope with their urges!

Okay, first thing's first. “Pedophile” is only one group who are attracted to minors. There are also ephebophiles and hebephiles. These are more pre-teens to teenagers rather than “children”[2]. These ages can also be considered “underage” but are typically not called shota (usually shounen [3] or otoko no ko [4])

Ephebiophilia : Ephebophilia is the primary sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19.

Hebephilia : Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 [...] It differs from pedophilia (the primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children), and from ephebophilia (the primary sexual interest in later adolescents, typically ages 15–19)

I also have to wonder why it's so bad for MAPs [5] to be able to find a coping mechanism that does not lead to real-life children being abused.

They use real child models!

I haven't seen any concrete evidence that they use an actual naked child as a reference for shotacon art, maybe it's an image of a fully clothed child occasionally but I haven't seen any evidence that this is the standard in any way. Again, there are many shotacons that are not attracted to real-life young boys at all. Conflating the two is quite ignorant.

It's “degenerate!”

Oh boy, here we go again with this word. If we go back in history until relatively recently anal sex — even between heterosexual married couples — was considered sodomy. Even before that, sex that wasn't in the missionary position wasn't for the sole purpose of procreation, or a combination of both was considered “degenerate.” You weren't procreating, which is traditionally the primary purpose of sex, so therefore it's “degeneracy.”

From my point of view, if you use this word, you're just showing a very ignorant worldview.

Endnotes

[1]: For the purposes of this article I will mostly use “shota,” “shotacon,” or “young boys,” you can read it as “loli/shota,” or simply just “loli” if you wish. [2]: You could argue that teenagers are still “children,” but it's undeniable that they're at a different stage of development both mentally and physically than children. [3]: Written in Japanese as 少年 [4]: Written in Japanese as 男の子 [5]: Minor attracted person, often abbreviated to “MAP” is a more inclusive term of people who are attracted to individuals under the age of 18.