I Think If I Were To Make A Small Correction To That Post, It’s That I Would Emphasize That Pedophilia

i think if i were to make a small correction to that post, it’s that i would emphasize that pedophilia is already normalized and that’s why writing about it for titillation does not invent the issue of societal pedophilia, but rather is the manifestation of and contribution to it.

for example, it is also true that “bury your gays” is not the cause of cishet voyeurism towards lgbt suffering and death, but it’s one way for cishets to stoke their own desires for seeing it; and minimizing characters of color in a narrative doesn’t create the problem of poc being overlooked off-screen, but rather characters of color are overlooked on-screen because poc are overlooked irl.

so it’s correct that if we got rid of every piece of fanfic or fanart featuring underage sex, the problem of pedophilia would still persist because it is built into our system and society, in the form of widespread child abuse, victim-blaming, and lack of legal rights for minors. images that normalize pedophilia would still proliferate in the form of "art,” in the ways that underage celebrities are sexualized and adultified (as well as their less-known peers on insta or tiktok trying to look older and sexier), in modeling, in marketing, in off-handed comments about “jailbait.”

by and large, societal abhorrence toward pedophilia goes only as far as an abstract concept—like trying to dismantle the wayfair conspiracy—rather than taking actual substantive measures that would actually protect children. that would require we didn’t live in a society that largely condones child abuse and abuse in general.

the expansiveness of the issue, however, doesn’t mean anyone should brush off fictional pedophilia because it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. part of being against pedophilia means being vocal against its normalization in all respects, it means supporting systemic changes that give children power to leave dangerous situations, and it means watching out for the minors around you. it means you have to do all these things simultaneously, and not just shrug your shoulders under the illusion that you are somehow not part of any system because you fancy yourself that way.