hentaiFREEfree's position on the H debate

About hentaiFREEfree.

We believe that the activities of groups such as hentaiFREE are at best offensive; they are based on the presumption that not only do they know what they like, they know what is best for everyone else as well - and that the material they dislike is (and the people who do enjoy it are) somehow inherently inferior. That said, it is not necessary to enjoy this material to agree with our aims; you simply have to feel that hentaiFREE have no business telling you or anyone else what they 'should' be looking at.

We have no issue with people who simply do not wish to partake of hentai material, or put it in their Web pages and fanzines; but when it becomes a sanctimonious sermon to the rest of us to do the same, it becomes absurd (as if the authors of this page, disliking Dragon Ball and its ilk, tried to persuade its fans never to watch it again).

At worst, such groups can potentially influence legislators. While it seems unlikely that an organisation as laughably amateurish as hentaiFREE could have any influence, it remains possible; in the UK, the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (a group of elderly bluenoses) have a disproportionate effect on legislation - some of which has a knock-on effect on the availability of all anime (not just hentai or violent material), as detailed in this page on the British Board of Film Classification. Social pressures are such that it is very difficult to stand up and say (in the words of Tom Lehrer) "Dirty books are fun"; conversely, the prude lobby has influence out of all proportion to their size, partly owing to their being more than willing to claim that 'all decent people' agree with them.

We do not believe that governments should, in general, censor material with sexual content. Restricting its availability to minors; yes. Censoring material such as child pornography or material where the real people involved are nonconsenting; yes. (In the case of hentai works, since no real people are actually depicted, the issue of consent is largely immaterial.)

But, beyond that, adults should be permitted to purchase and view or read whatever they please. Organisations such as hentaiFREE could well encourage governments (or other organizations with this capacity) to engage in such censorship (and Web Cleaner 20 does); we feel this can only have undesireable consequences.

(With release 1.0 of the hentaiFREE mission statement, hF claim not to advocate censorship. Surely, if they are to remain consistent with their stated belief that pornography contributes to the acts of serial killers and rapists, they should be advocating censorship; is it not in the best interests of society if pornography is eliminated, by this argument? We feel that this claim is a copout in order to put a more pleasant face on the vitriolic "beta" mission statement; it is patently clear that hF are not interested in personal freedoms so much as they are imposing their own personal definitions of 'decency' and 'morality.' We rebut this mission statement in more detail.)

The STOPwatch section of hentaiFREEfree provides, among other things, more specifics on our position and those of sympathetic contributors.