(no subject)

[meganbmoore]

Via woodburner :

Handley, 38, faces penalties under the PROTECT Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1466A) for allegedly possessing manga that the government claims to be obscene. The government alleges that the material includes drawings that they claim appear to be depictions of minors engaging in sexual conduct. No photographic content is at issue in Handley's case.

"Handley's case is deeply troubling, because the government is prosecuting a private collector for possession of art," says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. "In the past, CBLDF has had to defend the First Amendment rights of retailers and artists, but never before have we experienced the Federal Government attempting to strip a citizen of his freedom because he owned comic books. We will bring our best resources to bear in aiding Mr. Handley's counsel as they defend his freedom and the First Amendment rights of every art-loving citizen in this country."

Mr. Handley's case began in May 2006 when he received an express mail package from Japan that contained seven Japanese comic books. That package was intercepted by the Postal Inspector, who applied for a search warrant after determining that the package contained cartoon images of objectionable content. Unaware that his materials were searched, Handley drove away from the post office and was followed by various law enforcement officers, who pulled him over and followed him to his home. Once there, agents from the Postal Inspector's office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Special Agents from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and officers from the Glenwood Police Department seized Handley's collection of over 1,200 manga books or publications; and hundreds of DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks; seven computers, and other documents. Though Handley's collection was comprised of hundreds of comics covering a wide spectrum of manga, the government is prosecuting images appearing in a small handful...

The rest of the article is here.

No words.  Too busy hiding my manga. 

Comments

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

I just want to know, like, how obscene it is.

I mean, Celestial Legend Ceres has minors engaging in sex. Does genitalia have to be shown for people to freak out?

WHAT IF I DRAW 12-YEAR-OLD STICK PEOPLE DOING IT IN MY NOTEBOOK? WILL I GO TO PRISON?

It's pretty impressive that he owns over 1,200, though. Seven computers! How does that even happen?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think we assume either lots of money, or near-bankruptcy to feed habits.

And yeah, that's kind of the thing.

I mean, look at Basara. Early volumes have the 17 year old hero stumbling across the 15 year old heroine while she's bathing in a hotspring. More than once. They're sometimes in the hotsprint together, and kiss there. (A couple times we could assume sex if we weren't told otherwise.) There are 2 sex scenes between them when they're 16 and 18. At one point, an adult male agrees to have sex with another man to protect his younger companions. Later, it flashes back to him when he was a slave and his master would rape him as a child. While none of these are "graphic," (as compared to other things) they do depict sex where one is a minor (by our standards) and rape.

In Samurai Deeper Kyo, the 16-year-old heroine regularly (especially in earlier volumes, less so when you reach the mid-teens) ends up with her cheast exposed, through no fault of her own. Usually, it because of the much older hero, whose favorite passtime is to cop a feel, usually by shoving his hand down the front of her kimono. (He can't help it. They're his favorite things.) They aren't having sex, but it's definitely sexual activity involving a minor.

[usagi-alchemist.livejournal.com]

I'm not too surprised that he has over 1,200, since I'm sure if I counted my dad's collection it'd add up to about that much, but I agree with you on the count of how obscene is it?
I'd be curious to know exactly what titles he had so I can make sure to stay away from them.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I'm all kinds of jittery about this, simply because of the implications it could have. It seems like it ought to be hard for something to completely fail all three points of the Miller test, and yet...I really would not put it past someone so condemn it just on the basis of that "all those weird Japanese comics are full of child porn and tentacle rape" idea that still seems to be hanging around.

I wish there was more info about what exactly was so objectionable about the original manga. I've got an idea, but a little clarification would be nice. :|

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

When my brother (who was all of 17-18 at the time) learned I was getting into anime, he told me to be sure to not get into the manga, because it was all porn. (I got into anime several months after getting into manga.) The subject never came up between us again for several years, but he saw the bookcase full of manga when he came over to look at my computer a few weeks ago, and hasn't said anything then or the other times it's been mentioned the last year or so.

[chomiji]

Yes, this was on Neil Gaiman's blog - he's a big supporter of the CBLDF.

Are they gonna confiscate my Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service? My naughty Fumi Yoshinaga volumes? How about Gaiman's own American Gods, which has at least one scene of mystically weird smuttiness? Or maybe it's only visual pr0n? How about videos - the Mr. has a copy of Short Bus ... .

This is really scary!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

As mentioned in woodburner's post, I kind of want to know how the postmaster even knew to look. Was it the foreign packing and postage? Or was it something about him?

In this case, I suspect it was flipping through and seeing what looked to be youths (keeping in mind that many manga adults are drawn young looking) engaged in sexual activity, or even just nudity, and not knowing what was going on.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Love Monster comes to mind...

Better hide the MeruPuri, too. Minors kissing - 15 & 6 year old!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

MeruPuri? PFT! I read read Kaori Yuki and You Higuri. Incest. Pairings involving necrophilia and pedophilia (technically). Etc.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

It's interesting how freaky things become when you take a step back and aren't just deep in the story. Like Fido, a zom-com that features necrophelia, pseudo-bestiality, and adultery resulting in a pregnancy.

In one relationship.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's like me and wuxia: as I'm watching and posting on it, I'm usually in the wuxia fangirl mode. Then a couple months pass and I go "wait...did it really have THAT plotline?"

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

And . . . overall, I think obscenity is what you make of it. Fun things that soley involve consenting adults? Should not qualify for anything but free speech.

[melanierain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if I'm burning my manga, the Japanese Angel Sanctuary volumes will be the first to go. I mean, the OTP is brother/sister. If it's taboo, it's in Angel Sanctuary.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Brother/Sister that can actually (at vol 11, where I am) be argued as disguised f/f at that...

For that matter, one of the plotlines is essentially how a character introduced sex to the universe and got in trouble for it...

[pikabot]

District Judge Gritzner of the Southern District of Iowa found that subsections 1466(a)(2) and (b)(2) of 18 U.S.C. 1466A unconstitutional. Those sections make it a crime to knowingly produce, distribute, receive, or possess with intent to distribute, "a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting," that "is, or appears to be" a minor engaged in sexual conduct. Judge Gritzner found that those sections restrict protected speech and are constitutionally infirm.

Fuck, about time.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

No f-bombs and the like, please.

(Even if I agree with the sentiment.)

[pikabot]

Yes'm.

Seriously, though, those parts of the PROTECT act have been just begging to be smacked down since they were introduced. I'm frankly appalled it took this long.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

It's pretty worrisome. I mean, it may be that he really did have manga depicting children engaged in sex, either with each other or with adults.* God knows there's plenty of manga (especially doujinshi) like that. But there is also stuff like you described above, with teenagers having sex, and there's stuff where people may be over eighteen, but the style makes them look like minors.


*Though even if he did, I don't think that makes him a dangerous pedophile, and I personally don't believe someone should be prosecuted for owning manga like that anymore than I believe someone should be prosecuted as a dangerous pedophile for reading or writing fic about minors having sex.

[kakkobean.livejournal.com]

...

Well, shit.

I want to think that most of my manga would be considered safe, but I JUST DON'T KNOW DDDDD8

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

It does worry me. I mean I really would like to know exactly how graphic the manga he had was. Some of my yaoi are pretty graphic and definitely consist of underage sex.

I had this argument with my friends lately about whether manga (specifically shotacon) and especially some of my Naruto doujinshi was simply fuelling pedophilia. An interesting comment came from the only other girl in the room, and the only one who doesn't watch anime or read manga. How can they be getting upset about a cartoon where no children are harmed in the making of it and still allow little girls to be paraded around in bikinis in "talent shows" or "beauty pagents".