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from the You-say-tomato-they-say-promoting-child-exploitation dept.
What does it mean to "promote child exploitation"? When it's figurines that have been sold for years but now violate Amazon's statutes about promoting child exploitation which resulted in listings being removed. Chuck Gaffney has run a successful Amazon store for years selling anime-related products, up until recently when Amazon started cracking down on anything that could be perceived as "promoting child exploitation".
While it can be difficult for online retailers to represent themselves as selling genuine merchandise — meaning reputation means a lot — this type of behavior from the market owner is very discouraging. In response, the seller blames a "neopuritan crusade" against anime figures.
The characters at the center of this disagreement are: Hatsune Miku and Kaitō Tenshi Twin Angel.
It's a wonder that anything anime-related survives importation to the US from Japan.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:11PM (1 child)
Fuck those closet pedo weebs..
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:19PM
Die in an Australian wildfire, you fascist punk.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday March 09 2020, @08:25PM (24 children)
Yes, Anime is animated, like children's Cartoons. No, that doesn't mean it's a children's cartoon.
To what extent would something like that promote child exploitation? That would be difficult to quantify. As far as, how far is too far? That's a crazy line of crazyness, best to err on the side of caution to a certain degree. Especially, if you're a giant corporation with really deep pockets. Nothing like losing a lawsuit over child exploitation to drag the company name through the mud. Unless, they in fact are trying to be a little overzealous when it comes to protecting against that kind of thing. I'm sure there's super creepy stuff out there and I would rather not stumble on it on a normal site like Amazon.
Sound business decision, sucks to be him.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:33PM
In the age of the algorithm, bots run most of the business. The bots will run you off the platform if enough puritans flag you.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 09 2020, @09:56PM (20 children)
All of that Japanese stuff is kinda "icky" to me. Manga, anime, and whatever other names it goes by. The girls all have features that make them look like children, but they have well developed mammaries. That's before you even get into the genuine porn, with very explicit drawings. I've looked at a bit of it a few times, and I've always felt that it flirts with child porn boundaries. If some corporation doesn't want to be associated with it, that's cool with me. If government decides that some, or all, of it violates CP laws, well, so be it. But, government won't do so, because, A: government has never been able to define precisely what porn is, let alone child porn. and B: There's probably enough money in the business to buy enough congress critters to prevent any laws being passed.
For myself, I'll avoid it, and not give much of a damn if it is shut down.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:42PM (4 children)
Then you really don't get it. "anime" is just an animation style. Suggesting it be shut down is no different than saying live theater should be shut down, or CGI movies should be shut down. "anime" encompasses many genres, such as action, comedy, romance, and yes, even porn. (Heck, the original Transformers could be considered anime - if that doesn't fit the giant robots category then nothing does!)
It is unfortunate you may have seen the wrong kind, but the better ones are hardly about sex or sexuality - some can be quite cerebral. Perhaps the real threat here is that it can introduce a different way of thinking.
Shut "anime" down and then what? They will shut some other product down because reasons. Soon you will only be buying products, reading books, and viewing web sites (hint: not this one) that "they" want.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:05PM (2 children)
You missed the point. If your enema has childish features, and huuuuuuge hooters, it's likely to be CP.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:19PM (1 child)
Wait, so like every, Hooters "restaurant" in existence? I don't buy it. "childish features" and "huuuuuuge hooters", so like Daisy on the Dukes of Hazzard. Then there's the many various versions of "The evil baby sitter" films where there's plenty of people doing naughty things with the baby sitter. Oh, but she was supposed to be 18, right. You're attacking something that you don't like, because it's "different". Yet, the media and hollywood is doing a bang up job of sexualizing young females. Amazon wants to fight the good fight, they need to do a whole lot better than pander to the old fogies who think that Anime is "the devil".
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @08:31PM
We all realize that millenials didn't create anime, or child porn, or much of anything, right? They've taken some things and made them their own, by now, they've invented little.
(Score: 1) by slashnot on Tuesday March 10 2020, @08:11PM
^ This, exactly. I'm watching the catalog of Studio Ghibli [wikipedia.org] films now with my children. They are beautifully drawn and the stories are very moving - I highly recommend them. Most "anime" is innocent and harmless. It shouldn't ALL be judged by the few racy pieces of work that exist.
Examples of other words that have become bad, not because of their design, but how they are used: "torrent" and "Kodi". These are legit services that have become demonized by association with illicit activities. I hope this doesn't also happen to "anime".
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:07AM (3 children)
One easy thing would be to change the costumes and anatomy slightly for release to the western market. I mean, it's drawing maybe a total of 5 lines a little differently, if you keep the eyes the same.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:07AM
One easy thing would be to change the costumes and anatomy slightly for release to the western market.
This sounds like a lot of work actually, for the hand-drawn stuff. To make it suitable for the American market, they'd need to make the characters 2-3 times fatter.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @05:02AM (1 child)
For starters, that's quite a bit of effort in an animated medium.
But that ignores the other issue -- it's literally censorship of art to fit a government's ideal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:12PM
why not, the powers in charge (governmental and commercial) have decided the first amendment was a terrible idea and we shouldn't have it anymore. Speech is controlled six ways to Sunday. drawings are really just another form of speech.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mykl on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:35AM (3 children)
That's just the stuff that makes it out of Japan. Within the country, they do have full-blown Manga/Anime CP. That's because their legal definition of CP is that it must include an actual human. If it's just a drawing, then no child was harmed and the material is therefore legal.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:52AM
That’s because their definition has been corrupted to be basically meaningless to the words used. In some places a 20 year old posing for nude portrait charcoal artwork somehow makes the definition. It’s Puritanism gone mad.
At least Japan’s take on CP makes some sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:02PM (1 child)
If it's just a drawing, then no child was harmed
But think of the impact on the cartoon characters!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:29PM
Yeah, they might enjoy it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:56AM
...Mostly because that's about two steps away from ruling that the Second Law doesn't hold, and once they do that, they'll all starve, and then I can move in and steal their shit.
Who wants a slightly used F15?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:03AM
You must be referring to the Internet.
(Score: 4, Informative) by edIII on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:37AM (1 child)
Yeah, look into this a bit more.
There is a LOT of anime out there. I'd recommend looking into Crying Freeman. It's a definite art form, and there is some beautifully made stuff. Did you like any of the Japanese Anime movies out lately? Some really beautiful art. Only until recently did I explore the TV shows at all, because the movies were what I liked. Seriously, see Akira [wikipedia.org].
The TV shows come in some radically different flavors. There is an off-shoot that is definitely explicit, and fully stated to be for young teen males. The 2nd title is maybe questionable, but I'm not sure I see child exploitation. You don't have to twist a young Japanese guy's arm to want to watch those shows :) Still, it's arguable.
The 1st example isn't a show at all, but a software bank. It's just voice software from Japan, built to emulate somebody. In this case, it's a teen pop music princess. Who is real. They have actual concerts and shit. This is just the software to emulate the voice, and other than the graphics on the front, has nothing to do with manga at all.
I'm a little disappointed. Thought I had some links to some naughty fanservice panty show that had the puritans clutching pearls. All I got was some voice software and a lame anime show.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:24PM
Full Metal Panic: FUMOFU has "fans service", I don't think the idea of "fan service" was around when Akira was made. Akira is more of a psychological horror film in the same vein as Firestarter with Drew Barrymore.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @05:07AM
Have you seen what an 18 year old JAV actress actually looks like?
Or hell, just what under-24 Japanese women look like? They look young.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @08:56AM
Don't watch No Game No Life
(Score: 2) by mobydisk on Friday March 13 2020, @05:39PM
ALL of them? If the only anime and manga you have been exposed to looks like that, then that is because it is what you seek out; or what your friends are referring you to.
We should all defend the right of others to say and read (or watch) things that we may not approve of. Freedom of expression is an inalienable right.
(Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday March 09 2020, @10:03PM
Fun fact; originally animated "cartoons" were intended for adults, not children.
Just look at Betty Boop [wikipedia.org]
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:25AM
Given that this is the country that brought is delicacies like ahegao tentacle rape manga, some of it going back centuries, e.g. "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife", it's surprising anything survives importation from Japan.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Snort on Monday March 09 2020, @08:29PM (17 children)
By neo-puritan outrage. Apparently Japanese culture must be reformed from the outside.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:30PM (1 child)
Nuke'em again?
(Score: 5, Funny) by DannyB on Monday March 09 2020, @08:33PM
Unlikely.
All your base are belong to us.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:39PM (13 children)
Neo-colonialists are also trying to impose Western values on Japanese games and anime. Fansubbers, patchers, and pirates can address that, but they are trying to get influence at the source in order to destroy it.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 09 2020, @09:51PM (12 children)
They're not even doing it right. Have you seen the Halloween costumes marketed to 9 year old girls lately? Compared to those, Kaitō Tenshi Twin Angel is Victorian-era modesty.
This isn't the first bumblefuck thing Amazon has done, like when they banned Confederate Navy flags on the whims of Grand Emperor Baraq Hussein Soetoro but buying Mein Kampf and Turner Diaries was totally okay.
What probably happened was some dick-kneading pervert Californian Democrat in congress wanted to prove how much of a pervert he wasn't and whispered into Amazon's ear, perhaps with a little tongue.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 09 2020, @10:00PM
Huh? They actually SELL the Turner Diary? I downloaded from one of those "scene" sites, years ago, and presumed that no one would actually publish the book. Never even looked. Imagine that . . . some of our more liberal friends should read the damned thing. They run around calling normal people Nazis and fascists, because they haven't actually read anything that is Nazi or fascist.
(Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 09 2020, @11:41PM (10 children)
Why would you assume it was a Democrat pervert when it is way more likely to be a Republican?
If child porn is involved it will always be a Christian. That is just a law of nature.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:51PM
DrPizza and other male feminists beg to differ.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:55PM (5 children)
Hollywood would like a word with you.
Sexual perversion is more Jewish than Christian, apparently.
Muslims of course have everyone else beat by a long shot, but usually that's in their own countries like Afghanistan.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:26AM (4 children)
Are you serious?
It's almost like you've never heard of the Catholic Church. Or Jehovah's Witnesses apparently.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:34AM (1 child)
Yes, cuz those Jehovah's Witnesses are total anal sluts, as we all know.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @06:10AM
More like Jehovah's Witnesses have a disproportionate number of sexual abusers in positions of authority, like with the Catholics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:22PM (1 child)
I will definitely grant you the Catholic Church. The homosexual pedophile situation is however peculiar to their denomination. It's completely because priests are not allowed to marry. Catholicism is not all of Christianity though.
And people on this site are still not acknowledging the Hollywood problem which in recent years has had the lid blown off it of passing around children at sex parties. People must acknowledge this. is it anti-Semitic to do so and this is why people won't touch it? Their control is apparently strong even here.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:44PM
The Jehovah's Witnesses treat child sexual abuse in much the same way that the Catholic Church does, including requiring "two witnesses" and covering it up if they can.
You know as well as I do that when some politician is found in a hotel room with a rent-boy and a pile of coke, it is always some anti-gay, hard-core Christian Republican.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:12AM (2 children)
As far as our national politicians go, sex scandals cross the aisle. However, when it's a Democrat, it's usually about an extramarital affair (or blowjob). But when it's a Republican, it's something like playing footsie in the men's restroom stalls, or having gay sex with a Congressional page boy.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday March 10 2020, @11:59AM (1 child)
Plenty of high-ranking dems visited Epstein island.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:31PM
Good point. But I think we can assume there that the Dems were engaging in hetero sex with Epstein's trafficked women. Whenever the sex scandal is gay, it's always Republicans, and they're the party that is generally anti-gay.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:25AM
Heaven forbid different countries do things differently
Age of consent [wikipedia.org] varies dramatically.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Monday March 09 2020, @08:33PM (14 children)
Google for: japan culture of groping
I recently saw a video [youtube.com] about this. Women afraid to speak up because it is culturally accepted.
From the video:
* [in video store] "cartoon films showing young school girls as helpless groping victims have a large fan base."
* "gropers are perceived as being completely normal"
* "it goes so far that the victims fear the train will be stopped by their cries for help, and their fellow travelers will arrive late for work."
Trump should visit Japan to do something about this groping.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:44PM (4 children)
Even if they didn't invent it in Japan, what keeps them from adopting it?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @09:13PM (1 child)
Because social norms are not easily changed. Slapping someone in the face would disturb other people on the train, and the prospective slapper doesn't want to do that, however much the slapee deserves it.
As a foreigner, riding the metro systems in Japan (especially in Tokyo) can be a bit eerie. Compared to metro systems in other parts of the world the riders are very quiet and emotionless. Nobody wants to bother other riders (excepting, obviously, the gropers who are taking advantage of this culture). Many trains have "Women-only" cars in an attempt to reduce groping. Some stairways have signs warning to be wary of upskirters...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:46PM
Right back around to: if you're not going to help yourself, don't expect others to do it for you.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @09:18PM (1 child)
Might not be effective. In a book by Lisa [something I've forgotten], a Guardian correspondent in Japan, she describes an event related by a western friend of hers. The friend was in a packed metro car. No-one could move, but hands could. She found a hand where it shouldn't be, so she took hold of it and bit it very hard (western friend remember). The hand quickly withdrew, all in complete silence, no screams or grunts of pain.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @09:33PM
As much as we can believe hearsay of hearsay... the described violence seems to have been quite effective and as a bonus (at least as local cultural norms are concerned), probably nobody other than the groper on the train was bothered by it. I bet that hand was not going anywhere else for a while.
It seems even gropers in Japan have the wherewithal to not make noises on the train that would make the people (at least the ones not being groped) around them uncomfortable.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 09 2020, @09:54PM (2 children)
And Italians are known for unsolicited butt-slapping, and Mexicans and Arabs known for unsolicited beheadings. Meanwhile, the streets in Japan are a gazillion times more clean and safe than those in Italy, Mexico, or Arabia.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:14AM (1 child)
... or America.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:02PM
I visited Toronto (on business) over a decade ago, but I would say it was like America, but cleaner and nicer. Smaller but superior food portions. Much nicer looking currency.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday March 09 2020, @10:00PM (2 children)
whats the relevance of a cultural issue in Japan to Amazon's American leaders decision to pull anime based figurines?
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:03PM (1 child)
Well, gee, I suppose we should also allow importation of products manufactured by child slave labor. It's just a local cultural issue. Just like slavery in the US South.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @05:19PM
Leave my smartphone alone. I need it to virtue signal on Twitter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:24AM (2 children)
Yeah it is considered normal in France but that doesn't make the news.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:05PM
Things are normal in France that are not acceptable elsewhere.
Speaking French is also considered normal in France.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:45PM
Well, I live in France and over the last year or two I can recall several people who have been in court charged with groping or sexually assaulting women. Perhaps it is seen as 'acceptable' in certain places, or perhaps between certain cultures, but it is far from being 'acceptable' throughout France. In one case, the brother of the girl subsequently took matters into his own hands and assaulted the groper. No action appeared to be taken against him but, of course, I have no knowledge of what might have happened behind the scenes.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:39PM (2 children)
Law enforcement officials in parts of the UK like Rotherham have actively attempted to cover up evidence of child grooming rape gangs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:55PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG-l3pOEcYM [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:39AM
How is this a troll in the context of this story?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday March 09 2020, @08:44PM (4 children)
You guys reckon anyone's told Amazon that drawings $foo are not in fact really $foo? I mean if they were I would have been driving awesome cars with spiked wheels and chainsaws, machine guns, and rocket launchers on them to grade school.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mobydisk on Monday March 09 2020, @09:03PM (3 children)
The problem is law enforcement an the courts. In 2008, United States v. Handley, a guy was given 6 months jail time for possessing a comic book. This is despite that fact that in 2002, the Supreme Court largely struck down the COPA. I believe all that stood is the modification of images so that they are indistinguishable from actual CP.
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Monday March 09 2020, @11:41PM (1 child)
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:31AM
"only six months" in jail for an honest man. I sincerely believe the judiciary should have 6 months of jail as part of training.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:59PM
I'm not familiar with that case, but those kinds of images in a book wouldn't be illegal under COPA, they'd likely be illegal under pre-existing statutes. COPA was specific to online activities.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @08:49PM (1 child)
i mean they all look the same to me.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:41PM
That's because you're color blind: every character has it's own hair color, white, pink, blue, green...
e.g.: Hatsune Miku & Co.
https://centralcolumn.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/12_vocaloids__togther_again____by_inverted_music.jpg [wordpress.com]
CYA
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday March 09 2020, @08:53PM (16 children)
Japan has organized sexual exploitation of teenagers, girls especially, in the form of businesses that are considered completely legitimate (e.g. maid cafes), as well as cultural exports such as anime and manga. They aren't unique in this, by any means, but the fact is that in Japanese media there's a general expectation that you absolutely will treat a 14-year-old as a sex object, and sometimes even characters younger than that. For instance, anime characters are far more likely to show most of their thighs walking around town than actual teenage girls will, and that has everything to do with making them sexier.
And that should seem creepy for people substantially older than that 14-year-old. I mean, yeah, they're drawings and not real people, but surely if you're 25 you can get off looking at characters and/or people who are 25, right?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @09:04PM
Loli, 25, GILF, tentacles, fur, it's all good.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @09:48PM (10 children)
Calling a maid café, a place where people in costumes serve you food and drinks, "organized sexual exploitation of teenagers" is beyond ludicrous.
Why not talk about the practice of enjō kosai instead?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday March 09 2020, @10:40PM (8 children)
It's the low end of the sexual exploitation scale, I'll grant you, but saying that maid cafes are about the food is like saying that Hooters is about the food.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:51PM (5 children)
Yes! Hooters must be banned too! Or at least reformed: the new uniform shall be SACK CLOTH with a piece of old rope as a belt! And thick black framed glasses so we can all admire how SMART the waitresses (excuse me, "servers") are. 😍
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:03AM (4 children)
Sack cloth? Sorry, some pervert could burn a hole through that with the male gaze, or get off on having downtrodden servers attending to their needs.
All food must be served by conveyor belts, drones, or genderless robots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:10AM
Japan's on that too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:53AM (2 children)
Said the parent:
"All food must be served by conveyor belts, drones, or genderless robots."
As an engineer, such a marvel of automation would give me a HUGER hard on. Your attempts to curtail my erotic reactions are not working. :-(
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:18AM (1 child)
"All food must be served by conveyor belts, drones, or genderless robots."
As an engineer, such a marvel of automation would give me a HUGER hard on.
Then you just need to go visit Japan, where this stuff is reality (well, the conveyor belt part at least). There's a restaurant chain in Tokyo called Sushiro where you sit at a bar, and either pick dishes off the conveyor belt, or if you want something fresher or not on the belt, you use the tablet computer in front of you to order it. Then it's put on another conveyor belt by the chef, and goes automatically directly to your seat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:44PM
i live in a suburb of chicago and the run down sushi joint has had that for years. so much that sometimes the conveyor belt at the local strip mall sushi place is disabled so they can pull something that smells like it shouldn't have been left unrefrigerated for very long that got smooshed in the rollers due to a careless customer.
the place is called sushi train, and it's one of several locations.
the last time i visited, they did not have tablets, but they did have chefs that listened directly to what patrons wanted to order.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:50AM (1 child)
Maid cafes are about the service, which is generally not sexual, since that would be illegal. I know service as a concept is foreign to Americans, but good service doesn't mean blowjobs, it means a smile and conversation, even if some of the patrons may be a little socially awkward (and only some; believe it or not people with social anxiety are deathly afraid of public areas like cafes).
The fact that you seem to be so eager to vilify sexual exploitation where there is none says more about your own subconscious insecurities than Japan's.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:08PM
FWIW there are also butler cafes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtR7m-Fl-F0 [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juBjI5P5cMI [youtube.com]
As for sex related jobs, if they're adults, it's consensual and they're not tricked into it, then how more exploitative is it compared to some minimum wage job?
All I'd say to people thinking about such work -
1) Do you ever plan to have kids? Would you be fine with them and their friends finding out? How about the other people you know?
2) Don't undercharge.
BTW even in non-sex related jobs many people have to do things they don't like and work with people/customers they don't like or even find disgusting. Does that mean they're being exploited?
p.s. Plenty of robot and human exploitation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHRh8HNOC14 [youtube.com] ;)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:18AM
Fucking pervert. We know why you frequent such places. We know you will never have a girl-friend or get married. You are Himote [melmagazine.com], you are Otaku [wikipedia.org], you are Incel. But you do not realize that these actual young girls, which all this sick fantasy will inevitably push you toward, have actual male relatives, fathers, brothers, uncles, and cousins. We will take your perv action as an insult to our family's honor, as a crime against all Women in the Month of the Woman, and a crime under international humanitartian law. So, we will find you, and we will cut off your balls, since you do not deserve to be male. Eunich is better than incel, we always say! And, we are correct.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:50PM
...have you been to a mall in the last 25 years?
Universally, the pushback I see against anime stuff is "this is foreign and icky". Emphasis on "this is foreign".
Bonus points when the actual material in question is nowhere near pornographic (or even better, the characters are of-age in the work and portrayed as of-age -- none of that "she looks 9 but is actually 1000" shit).
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:20AM (2 children)
For instance, anime characters are far more likely to show most of their thighs walking around town than actual teenage girls will, and that has everything to do with making them sexier.
Girls wearing short skirts is pretty normal in Japan, and not considered overtly sexual. However, it is considered very risque to wear a shirt that doesn't have sleeves or cover the shoulders. So it's very common to see girls wearing long-sleeve shirts with short skirts.
It's almost like different cultures have different standards about what's risque or "sexy".
In Afghanistan, under the Taliban, women were stoned to death if they showed their *ankles*.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:45AM
I should also add, over in the richer Arab countries, it seems to be OK for women to wear skirts and show off their legs, just as long as they have their hair covered with a hijab.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:38AM
More likely than not, those girls are LEA decoys packin' semi-auto handguns under those long-sleeve shirts. Watch where you point your eyeballs.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday March 09 2020, @09:49PM (1 child)
Amazon will ban anime movies/tv seriese like Evangelion [amazon.com] as being child porn since it shows some of the officially-15-year-old characters nude and in "sexual" situations.
Then they will start banning other manga, books, videos, and eventually anything else THEY deem "objectionable", always deferring to whatever group is complaining the loudest about whatever the "injustice of the week" is. Or whatever item those who run Amazon think will get them some good PR.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:12PM
It would be good if more people started discovering and using alternatives to Amazon.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by exaeta on Monday March 09 2020, @11:34PM (2 children)
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:42PM
The war has already begun, brother.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:47PM
Amazon, Google, and Hollywood spit in the face of their customers with arrogance and impunity. Once you reach basic monopoly status, they figure you have no choice but to accept whatever they do. Notice the bully attitude comes after they gain market power. They are no longer the accomodating upstarts.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 09 2020, @11:41PM
It's people who used to get their holier than thou fix over others via religion, but since religion is dead in their area (liberal education having killed it), their urges are directed instead by liberal orthodoxy. Convert the heathens and impose blue laws in case the people aren't pure enough still. We all have lapses, and our savage selves must be controlled by those more moral (enlightened) than us. Praise Jesus, I mean Karl Marx! His word (Das Kapital) says his reign is coming and it will be inevitable.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:05AM
The reason woman are doubling down on equality and male privilege is because they are feeling an economic squeeze- they don’t recognize it is coming from the system itself not inequality. Things are more equal than they have ever been.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:39AM (9 children)
There is anime, and there is anime.
Anime like that "firefly" whatsit from the renowned studio is one thing. These pedophile (pre?)teen characters with thigh-high stocking with micro mini "school uniform" is ...
Fess up. You closet pedo weebs are child molesters in the making. It's a disease. Get help.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @01:57AM (5 children)
Moving the goalposts now? Drawings don't hurt anybody. Continue to die in that wildfire.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @02:04AM (4 children)
pedos gonna pedo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday March 10 2020, @03:55AM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:24AM (1 child)
Khallow is my imaginary girl! I just love imagining running my hand up his free market thighs! And, oh, the hardness of his virgin boobies! I would pay a great price to experience a bosum so well versed in Moses von Mises, and the Vienna Circle of pedophilia! Think I just creeped my own self out. Ewwwwww!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:53PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:02AM
we are not talking about muslims and mohammad here
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @04:47AM (2 children)
I always found that people so concerned with pedos are the real danger to kids. They go on message boards shouting about pedos but that cos they just are trying so hard to avoid their true nature.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:25AM (1 child)
Pedo-bear says, what?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2020, @09:56AM
"La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasoolu Allah"
It basically translates to "I believe in god, and only in god, and that the pedophile muhammad said the word of god".
By saying this you become a pedophile walking in the steps of muhammad the betrayer.