Interest

Australian Senator Calls For Review of Anime Depicting 'Child Exploitation'

South Australian senator Stirling Griff is calling for a review of all anime and manga currently accessible in Australia, expressing concerns about media depicting "child exploitation." In a speech to the Australian parliament on Wednesday, he highlighted anime and manga depicting "wide-eyed children, usually in school uniforms, engaged in explicit sexual activities and poses, and often being sexually abused."

In particular, he highlighted the Eromanga Sensei anime series, describing it as a show that "heavily features incest themes" and features "many scenes are so disturbing I just won't, I just can't, describe them." The series is rated MA15+ in Australia.

He criticized the Australian Classification Board for rating media in isolation from criminal law. In Australia, it is illegal to produce, possess, or distribute pornography or abuse material depicting a person under the age of 18. In 2008, a New South Wales Supreme Court judge ruled that a pornographic cartoon depicting characters from The Simpsons was child porn.

Under Japan's current child pornography laws, fictional depictions such as anime and manga are exempted from the law.

Senator Griff represents the Centre Alliance, a centrist political party that currently holds two seats in the Australian Senate. Senator Griff will move a motion calling for an urgent ban of anime and manga depicting child abuse, and has written to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher about the issue.

Source: Canberra Times (Matt Coughlan)