I'm pretty uncomfortable (understatement) with the lion's share of the loli/shota stuff that's out there, but I feel like the incendiary nature of the entire issue has taken the debate away from what the real issue is, as it was explained to me while I was growing up: Paedophilia is wrong because of the massive power imbalance between the child and the adult. Because the adult has such vastly greater life experience, and can remember what the world was like when they themselves were children, even claims that it was consensual are effectively meaningless. This is also why consent laws are even tighter when other power imbalances are involved, such as a teacher/student, boss/employee or guardian/charge. What I personally find significant about all this is how the same concept of power imbalances can be applied to morality in other aspects of life, and it bothers me that the dumbing down of this issue could be making it harder for people to recognize exploitation and abuse in non-sexual situations as well, such as youth engagement on social media.

I'm pretty uncomfortable with the lion's share of the loli/shota stuff that's out there, but I feel like the incendiary nature of the entire issue has taken the debate away from what the real issue is, as it was explained to me while I was growing up: Paedophilia is wrong because of the massive power imbalance between the child and the adult. Because the adult has such vastly greater life experience, and can remember what the world was like when they themselves were children, even claims that it was consensual are effectively meaningless. This is also why consent laws are even tighter when other power imbalances are involved, such as a teacher/student, boss/employee or guardian/charge. What I personally find significant about all this is how the same concept of power imbalances can be applied to morality in other aspects of life, and it bothers me that the dumbing down of this issue could be making it harder for people to recognize exploitation and abuse in non-sexual situations as well, such as youth engagement on social media.