This is certaintly not true. I have some fundamental reasons why anime porn is just as bad as real porn that I think is pivotal for those who struggle with porn and use hentai as an alternative to live-action.
For starters, let’s define what anime porn or hentai is. So, let’s break it down; anime is just animation or cartoons. The term comes from Japanese cartoons (DBZ anyone?) that typically come from comics (manga). Essentially, anime would be an animated Batman series based on the Batman comics. Obviously, we know what porn is, so, to put it together, anime porn is animated sex scenes.
Since the porn is animated and not containing real actors, some people think that it makes it less harmful or less addictive than regular porn. They argue that anime porn is not as bad because it is not as degrading to women, and there isn’t any real violence because there aren’t live scenes.
So, they are saying that because it is cartoon porn, it is free from the negative aspects of actual porn.
Can this be true?
1. Less bad does not equal good.
Nicotine patches aren’t as bad as cigarettes, but they still propagate nicotine addiction. Hitler is way worse than your run of the mill serial killer, but you wouldn’t consider a serial killer good would you? So, why do people think that this argument applies to porn? Anime porn may allow us to leave some of our morality behind because it isn’t an actual person, but that does not make hentai a good thing.
2. Hentai is still degrading towards women.
Anime porn does not dumb down degradation to women. If anything it promotes it even more. Hentai embodies the idea that women are meant to please the man and often employs concepts of rape and violence in its scenes. Does that sound like uplifting to you?
3. Just because it isn’t live action, doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect our perception of reality.
For most, this is their primary arguing point. Anime porn isn’t real, and therefore it doesn’t affect how we think. However, this logic is incredibly flawed. If that were true, then porn itself would not change our marriages, relationships, and lives since porn in itself is not “real.” It is a fictional movie created by actors, just like anime porn.
4. It is still addicting.
Just because you are viewing cartoon porn, doesn’t mean that the same channels in your brain are not activated. You are still getting aroused and feeding your brain dopamine from stimulating images, and then, odds are, progressing to satisfying yourself via masturbation. This is in no way, shape, or form different from the process that leads people to become addicted to porn. Anime porn is addicting–don’t be deceived.
5. It is even MORE unrealistic than live-action porn.
There is no limitation to what can happen in hentai. The characters are drawn entirely to the creator’s desire, the acts, the proportions, the sounds, and everything else in the scene can be meticulously drawn to create fantasies that are beyond most of our wildest dreams. Think about it, part of the harmfulness of porn is the perception of beauty that it creates because the actors and actresses are “made-up” and computer edited to look “perfect.” In anime porn, the characters aren’t limited by the actresses portraying them which allows for it to create expectations–or desires–that are even further from reality than live porn.
On top of the five reasons above, the basis of what hentai is should be enough to show that it is equally harmful as live porn. Hentai is short for “hentai seiyoku” which literally means “a perverse sexual desire.” Hentai is created to represent the perverse, not the natural. It is meant to showcase ideas that are not reality, for the sole purpose of people to “get-off” to it.
All in all, don’t be fooled. Porn is porn, regardless of how it is consumed.