"John W." wrote:

> > You "wonder" if child porn "becoming worse" in the US (I had told you of
> > the UN? claim that perhaps 60% of child porn online was based in the US,
> > as opposed to how an older UN report used to claim that Japan was the
> > largest source of child porn online) is not related to the rise in
> > popularity of Japanese animation.
> >
> Please cite me on this. I said something to the effect that the
> portrayal of young girls in movies/tv shows as sex objects seems to have
> gotten worse. You made the leap into child pornography.

Here is a past post, pardon the poor formatting:

Eric Takabayashi wrote:
> "John W." wrote:
>
> > The only problem I personally have with anime
>
> You notice nothing of the wildly inconsistent quality or blatant
> commercialism (of TV series)? I wouldn't watch over 80% of anime even
if
> it were free.
>
> > is that much of it tends to portray teenage (or younger) girls as
sex
> > objects.
>
> Much of any modern Japanese entertainment puts an emphasis on young
> women/students/girls as sex objects, and not only Japanese
entertainment.
> One reason you do not see it to such an extent in American animation
(or
> comics) is because animation is geared to younger audiences. Segments
of
> Japanese anime are geared to adults and mature themes, and the
audience
> appears to be mostly male. You will see, however, many examples of
young
> women or girls of sex objects in American live action movies,
magazines or
> online pay sites such as those with a girl's first name and age plus
dot
> com. This month I read the claim that 60%? of child porn online
originates
> in the US. A far cry from the time maybe 80% was claimed to originate
in
> Japan.

I certainly agree it's a problem here. Lately it seems to be getting
worse, and I can't help but wonder if the anime influence isn't part of
that. But Japan is still home to wonderful shows such as Sailor Moon
that depicts a young girl as a heroic figure wearing an impossibly
short skirt. Have you seen any reports on crimes against children per
capita in Japan and other countries?

[end]

So what exactly are you linking the influence of Japanese animation to? What is
that crack about crimes against children in Japan (vs other countries) supposed
to mean?

> > What did you mean, exactly?
> >
> >>I really think you're stretching things a bit here. Anime is a
> >>definite influence on Japanese and American culture; to even suggest
> >>otherwise is idiotic.
> >
> > I did not deny that. We are not talking about culture, you are talking
> > about crime against children in Japan and child porn in the US, and how it
> > relates to Japanese animation or its rising popularity.
> >
> Again, you're really, really stretching my words to suit your particular
> agenda here. If you like anime, fine. The essence of what I'm saying is
> that it's wrong to portray teenage girls as sex objects; whether that's
> porn or not is up to you I suppose.

Oh, that's fine, but you did more than that. You keep bringing up the Japanese
as if problems in the US were due to them. Japanese also blame the influence of
US entertainment and culture, for numerous unwelcome developments in Japan.

> >>I never once said it is the root of all evil,
> >>though. In fact, relating to the US I'm not sure I said it's the root
> >>of anything related to child pornography.
> >
> > Oh, really? It's not the root of evil, you just focus on its unsavory
> > aspects such as porn and portrayal of young girls, wonder if it not
> > related to how child porn is "becoming worse" in the US lately, wonder
> > about the number of Japanese crimes against children, and talk about how
> > anime is unsuitable for children.
>
> I think you're confusing other people's arguments with my own.

No, you weren't clear in posts like the one quoted, what you were attributing
to the influence of the Japanese.

> I don't think I ever made a direct, unyielding connection between child porn
> and
> anime;

Oh, no, you just "wonder", and say below that "one certainly exists".

> one certainly exists, but I never said anime is the source of this.

Correct, you didn't say it was a "source". You just "wonder" about Japanese
influence on unsavory developments in US culture, despite those unsavory
aspects of US culture already existing; and say a link between child porn and
anime "certainly exists".

> If anything I've insisted it's a contributing factor to the
> continuing sexual deifying of young girls.

Oh, I'm sure there's a link there, at least in Japan.

So what is the excuse for countries which are fairly well known for
exploitation of children, where such entertainment or Japanese animation are
not so popular, or for what went on in the US before the popularity of Japanese
animation in the late 80s and early 90s?