Zel, I think of you almost like a brother on Gaf. You support my favorite football team, you like anime and cute things. You have a family, and you are a responsible hard working citizen. Your art is very nice. I got your back on this.
Cute stuff is cute. There are cute people. There are cute objects. There are cute games, cute characters, and cute pictures. Cute things are what you make of them. Nowhere in the stipulation of finding something simply cute does it mean you are sexually attracted to it. I found a drawing of a girl puking on a little cat the other day and thought the cat and overall picture was adorable. I find certain bugs and spiders cute. Those little jumping spiders? FUCKING CUTE! Does this make us manchildren? Probably. We are guilty as fucking charged there. It is a challenge then to make people understand that we are not sexually attracted to little girls. What are games and anime filled with? Little girls obviously. Do we like these games? Yes. Do we like those anime? Yes. Do we equate little girls in fantasy to our real desires sexually? Definitely not. It doesnt help that these characters are often dressed provocatively. Truth be told these items are marketed directly to a VERY NICHE group of people who do see them that way, but they also attract a larger audience who quite simply just likes cuteness because it makes them happy. I dont really know why this concept above so many others is difficult for people to grasp. You can grasp peoples sexual preference or political bend, or their taste in culture but for some reason the notion that a man can simply like cute things just doesnt register.
On a fundamental level, the brain may or may not see a bit of attraction in a young female, but thats what the basic human desire to multiply is supposed to react to. The difference comes from simply following the id, to going to higher brain function where judgement comes into play. Can people honestly say they havent wanted to steal something? Can they say they never wanted to do something bad ever? Of course not. We are all human. But the difference is people dont follow through with those acts. They use judgement and they SEPARATE REALITY FROM FICTION. Thats the most important part. Everybody has weird fucked up fetishes. Everybody has probably had an illegal thought or two, but all this really just explain the reason why self control and following laws is important. It is only the people who put these thoughts into practice that are actually dangerous, or else WE WOULD ALL BE IN JAIL MERELY FOR THINKING OF THINGS. Minority Report anyone? nobody wants that shit. Thats why people desire to be free. But there are responsibilities to being free such as NOT DOING FUCKED UP ILLEGAL SHIT.
There are however a wider group of people (like you and me) who are just simply childlike. I hold down a full time job. I have very little debt and soon I will have enough money saved up to put a down payment on a home. However I have never been so much as kissed by a woman. The two go hand in hand I suppose as I haven't tried very hard to market myself to the opposite sex, but it is what it is. I like childish things. I mentally live a more youthful lifestyle, but my sex drive is really, REALLY low. I just don't give a shit about getting laid to be honest. Im not obese and I think I look pretty decent to be honest so its not confidence issues, but somehow I missed the testosterone boat. But whatever. I like to surround myself with cute things, characters, objects, and culture. It keeps me happy and entertained, and it keeps me able to deal with the stresses of life. Not in a million years would I even think of inappropriately touching any child or teenager, let alone mistreat a woman. But somehow, in the grand scheme of things, possessing a gun makes you a killer much the same as possessing cute items makes you a pedophile. If you guys want to direct your hatred towards me and leave Zel out of it, fine with me.
My best suggestion to you is to just continue enjoying yourself. In no time that you have been alive have you hurt a child or mistreated one. You havent been on the news with pedophilia charges or threatened such actions. So really, dont worry what others think of you so much, because in the grand scheme of things WE ARE ALL FUCKED UP SOMEHOW.
So embrace those quirky things that make you who you are and as long as you have a firm grip on reality, you will be ok. Plus if I liked RPGs more (working through my first one, Xenoblade) then I would certainly have tried out these games you talk about. If these games were so dangerous and indicated pedophilia, people who bought them would be arrested on the spot. Think about it for a moment.
Well I said my piece so feel free to tear this comment apart. It doesn't really matter to me.
