Shotacon

Illustration of an adult female character, attracted by the "shota". The main feature of the shotacon.

Shotacon (ショタコン< span class="t_nihongo_comma" style="display:none">, Shotakon ^?), sometimes abbreviated as Shota (ショタ, ''Shota''^?), is a Japanese slang contraction of the phrase Shōtarō complex (正太郎コンプレックス, Shōtarō konpurekkusu^?) used to denote attraction to pre-pubescent or pubescent males, or to an individual with such an attraction. Outside of Japan, the term is used less frequently with this meaning. The term refers to a genre of manga and anime in which pre-pubescent or pubescent male characters are depicted in an erotic or suggestive manner. An age of "around 10-12 years" has been suggested as the dividing line between shotacon and shōnen-ai. younger than they are, generally short in stature. The phrase is a reference to the young character Shōtarō (正太郎 , Shotaro^?) by Tetsujin 28-go The equivalent term for attraction to young girls is lolicon.

Comparison with other genres

Elements of shotacon, such as yaoi, are comparatively common in shōjo manga, such as the popular translated manga Loveless, which features an eroticized but unconsummated relationship between the 12-year-old protagonist and his "fighting unit" 21 years old,^{[citation needed]} or the young-looking character Honey in Ouran High School Host Club.^{[ citation needed]} Seinen manga, particularly those aimed at the otaku audience, occasionally also feature eroticized teenagers in a non-pornographic context^{[citation needed]}, like the 16-year-old transvestite from Yubisaki Milk Tea, there is also another but different genre of shota which represents a woman or adolescent having sex with 12-year-olds, 10, 8, 6, etc., these shotas are called straight shota.^{[citation needed]} Series with shota content are published in adult manga magazines and magazines specialized in the genre, some men's pornography magazines publish occasional content with stories involving pre-adolescent characters.

Criticism and controversies

Some critics claim that the shotacon genre contributes to child sexual abuse, while others point out that there is no evidence for this, or that there is even evidence that the effect produced is actually the opposite of the one mentioned above. The BBC report mentioned that despite the existence of laws against child pornography, there is a vacuum for the creation of virtual content of minors in explicit scenes or in sexual situations, detractors seek to stop this type of content while those who support it they claim that it is a taste that does not harm anyone and is seen in the manga industry that publishes content of the shotacon genre, being observed in the adult sections of manga stores.