Recent discussions concerning Manga drawings are challenging the debate around what constitutes child pornography. A few days ago courts wrapped up a hearing involving a man possessing over fifty drawings of Manga which depicted children in pornographic and sexual settings. The case went to the highest court in Sweden where the man was freed from charges of possession of child pornography on the basis that the drawings depicted fantasy characters and not actual children. The debates have since been on going with many people supporting the verdict.

Manga is a Japanese form of drawings that are usually presented in the form of comics. If one does a Google search for Manga the drawings that are shown very often depict young and childish looking girls dressed in revealing clothing. The women, men, boys, and girls appear extremely stereotypically created; the women and girls are very feminine while the men and boys are depicted as traditionally masculine. It is not difficult to understand why erotic Manga has been under discussion since it appears that the characters often seem very young while being sexualized in a manner that can be interpreted as inappropriate.

So can drawings of children in sexual situations or children being depicted performing sexual activities be labeled as child pornography?   [Read more...]