The U.K. is trying to pass a bill banning all “erotic” comics featuring “children”.  (link via Journalista)

What’s the difference I wonder?  Why are we so afraid of visual images?  Is it because the privacy is gone?  That we can sit on a subway and read Judy Blume without any glancing over our shoulder and being able to see into our mind’s eye?

Look, I’m not defending child pornography.  I’m just seriously questioning if an artist’s expression can be considered as such.  Who is harmed in Alan Moore’s Lost Girls?  Can we track down Wendy Darling and ask her to testify against the evil man who gave her a sex drive?

The article states that “The Ministry of Justice claims that the Bill is needed to clamp down on the growing quantity of hardcore paedophilic cartoon porn available on the internet, particularly from Japan.”

Ok…so this is about the internet?  Good luck clamping down on that.

I’m not a big fan of sexual explicit comics.  However, I believe that free speech allows creators to draw what they want and readers to read what they want.  I’ve personally never seen a “hardcore paedophilic cartoon” but I’m sure they exist.  I will never buy one.  I would never purchase on for the library and yes, I might think differently of you if I caught you reading one.

If fact, I might worry that reading those sorts of comics might lead to actual criminal acts.   But this isn’t 1984 and we can’t prosecute artists for the effect they may or may not have on someone.

Am I missing the point?  Should the bill pass?  Maybe not in it’s current state but should the country of England find a way to ban hardcore erotic images featuring children?