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Clinical Psychologist Suggest Connection Between Moe Characters and Sexual Offenses

The world of otakus and weaboos have been shaken up as their favorite moe characters have been suggested by a clinical psychologist to have a link in various sexual offenses.

            In a news report from Anime New Network, clinical psychologist and psychiatrist Rika Kayama have suggested in her Tokyo Shimbun column, Fuwatto Life ("Fluffy Life") that constant exposure to moe character may lead up or encourage sexual assault.

            In her article entitled "Are Girl Characters Blameless?" Kayama wrote that moe character is now the common fixture in Japan. She sees them on her lecture tours as towns and regions promote themselves through cartoon mascots. Kayama acknowledges that majority of the population view them as 'cute' however, there are times that they are portrayed with a degree of sensuality or sexiness.

            Municipal officials who used moe characters as mascots told Kayama that moe mascots "won't attract attention if they're not a little sexy." These left Kayam to wander if the eye-catching sensuality of the moe character would have any psychological effect to both on the young girls who grow up with them as models, and on older men.

            Kayama also wrote that she knows that majority have realized that moe characters are just fictional "but quite a few will think it's fine to look at little girls and think they're sexy. Girls will accept me with a smile no matter how I look at them,' is the expected reaction from a flirtatious girl characters.

            She also stated in her article that indulgence in moe characters would make people think of girls as sexual objects and may lead to sexual assault. "You might laugh and say, 'There aren't people like that. Moe characters are totally different from crime,' but I get uneasy whenever I see the moe characters overflowing in each region," Kayama writes.

            The article of Kayama has gathered many reactions from all over the world but most of them are negatives. The article were also criticized because the idea of some kind of connection between  anime or manga fandom with sexual assault is not based on any substantial evidence and most of the accounts written in the article are from Kayama's personal views.


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