14th March 2022
What is Hentai?
Hentai in its broadest form can be categorised as adult pornography. It is a subgenre of manga or anime, utilising comic book-style images featuring overtly sexualised characters and sexually explicit plots.
Although broadly speaking, this material features the pornographic depiction of adults – some of this content can depict images of children (sub-genres known as Lolicon and Shotacon) and therefore may constitute child sexual abuse material.
The INEQE safeguarding group have created a very useful guidance document (see below) which explains what Hentai is, where students are finding it, areas of concern and safeguarding tips.
The Law
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (sections 62-68) was extended in 2010 to include computer-generated images of child sexual abuse (including cartoons and graphic illustrations).
Whereby the law previously applied only to cartoon imagery where images were ‘realistic and indistinguishable from photographs’ – the new law extended to any picture realistic or not.
Section 65 of Coroners and Justice Act 2009 states that images depicting someone under the age of 18 (section 65, part 5) or where the predominant impression conveyed” is of a person under the age of 18 (section 65, part 6).
Accessing prohibited images of children is an offence and according to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 this applies to computer-generated images whether realistic or not.
Safeguarding Risks
Sexualised and pornographic content can have negative impacts on children and young people. This is particularly harmful when the content is beyond their comprehension and sexual development stage
The animated depiction of sex in cartoon form (anime or manga) may mean that children and young people see characters they know depicted in sexual acts. For example Misty from Pokemon has been redrawn and is presented in a sexualised manner.
The role of pornography in the abuse of children
It is well understood that abusers can use pornography to ‘normalise’ abuse during the grooming process. Therefore, it is likely that hentai and cartoon pornography could also be used to target younger children. There are also concerns that children’s relationships with familiar animated characters (e.g., My Little Pony) could be exploited by abusers when these characters are depicted in sexualised or suggestive acts.