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Notes -
But it is fundamentally a sex (or sex-adjacent) thing, like crossdressing (and its more permanent cousin, transgenderism) is. This is why there is sex stuff for the convention-goers to know of. And sure, things can be both benign and sexual, but that depends on your surroundings (Japan and its relationship with loli works the same way).
And if you accept the above, you run straight into the landmine of "kids shouldn't have a sexual bone in their body until the Approved Age", so discussing the fact that they're related in the open is just giving ammunition to your enemies (and now you know why some countries don't have a truth defense against libel).
On the contrary, this provides a lot of protection for the fandom (it's not about protecting kids). Which, given that the fandom mostly consists of the male gender [the demand for sex crimes from this demographic far exceeds its supply], is something that it requires (as opposed to the transgenderism fandom, a gender who by contrast has the social license to not only freely and openly support, but actively force, child participation).
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