[research] Draconian Australian law could target slash fans (among many, many others)

[unjapanologist]

Originally published at Academic FFF. You can comment here or there.

A new Australian law could impose penalties on anyone who views slash fic or other (fan) media that feature fictional minors in a sexual situation. This isn't throwing out the baby with the bathwater, it's also throwing out the bath, the parents, the dog, and a couple of people who were just walking past the house.

James Welker pointed me to the original notice linked above. Dru Pagliassotti worries about the law's impact on scholarship in Australia. An Austrialian government consultation paper has details on the proposed internet 'filter'. The protest website No Clean Feed explains how to take action, and indicates that the law will not only target anything that is deemed child pornography:

The category of material that has been 'refused classification' includes websites about euthanasia, controversial movies such as 'Ken Park' and 'Baise-moi', and many games that are designed for people over16 years of age.

If you don't live in Australia, you can sign a petition or donate to No Clean Feed.

Comments

[fanficforensics.livejournal.com]

I think I would argue, in my trial, that he is a fictional Russian citizen from 2258 and my sentence or fine shouldn't come due until the year of his birth, 2241, when he fictionally acquires protection under Russian and Federation law. :|

Hypothetical years and fictional legal systems are not admissible as evidence in court. Oh, wait.

The idea that writing about the sexual experiences of teenagers should be illegal is just...well, are we going to arrest the cast and crew of Gossip Girl? The Vampire Diaries? The authors of those and similar series of books?

Yes, all of those. And Twilight! They didn't actually have sex until long after Bella's eighteenth birthday, but Edward is eternally seventeen, so that's out too. Or is it? I'm not a legal expert by any means. I'd really like to see a court try to decide if Edward Cullen is a minor.

Ah, the good old days of GW and YYH. I can see how Hiei might pose a problem. If it looks like a minor (as do rather a lot of manga characters to Western eyes) but the author never states that it's a minor, and it has sex, is it actually engaging in anything illegal? What if you write an AU in which Hiei comes on to Kurama in a classroom wearing a school uniform, but you don't actually state that Hiei is of school age in your story? Couldn't you just say that the uniform and the setting were part of some kinky roleplay? Questions, questions. I think the Australian judiciary would come to seriously regret passing that law after the first two or three cases where they're asked to decide how old a cartoon character is :)

(I actually spelled Kurama as 'Kuruma' first. I used to do that all the time when I was a baby manga fan! Ah, nostalgia time. *puts on Fushigi Yuugi soundtrack*)

[calicokat.livejournal.com]

Wh-wha-WHAT?

*snatches and crushes your Fushigi Yuugi soundtrack*

Don't you realize fifteen year old girls are molested, sexually threatened and suffer the psychological aftermath of implied rape in that series?!


e_e ...nevermind that that anime/manga was absolutely foundational in my own life as a 15-17 year old. I am no longer allowed to read it.

[fanficforensics.livejournal.com]

.....For serious, I was not trying to be witty by mentioning FY. It was just the first nice anime soundtrack that popped into my head. But I guess you're right.

Now I can't think of any soundtrack I like from an anime that does not have a minor in some kind of questionable situation at some point. Even bloody Totoro has that bath scene. This is very disheartening.

[calicokat.livejournal.com]

And, frankly, anyone who says the Totoro scene is pedophillic... Well, crap, I've got childhood pictures of me like 3 and in the yard running around naked. I hate to say it, but sometimes kids are naked.

I can't see any scenerio in which this particular law isn't too much, though. >>'