I was talking to someone and I realized that America essentially has its own loli in the form of Betty Boop.
She’s canonically a minor (based on everything I could find from Google, she’s about 16 at the oldest), and is drawn to be sexually appealing… By all means, she’s the American equivalent of a loli.
Keep in mind she was created by adults who drew a character that is canonically a minor, is meant to be lusted after by the viewer and is considered attractive in-universe… Like lolis can be.
Her creator, Max Fleischer, was never deemed a threat to children despite creating a cartoon where a minor was sexualized. Why is that?
The people who have expressed attraction towards her aren’t usually deemed to be threats towards children… But lolicons are for the same reason. Why is that?
No one, since the 1930s, has had an issue with this minor character existing… Why is that?
In all her 90 years of existence, Betty Boop has not been connected to normalizing abuse towards minors, despite being a loli in all but being created in Japan. Why is that? This one in particular is pretty much the sum of what I’m asking, as you’d think America would be fine with the “normalization” thing if this cultural icon exists and is deemed acceptable (despite, you know, being a fictional sexualized minor).
So, if you’re against lolis, it’s only logical that you’re against Betty Boop too.
From what i’ve gathered. Americans no longer have a fond view of betty boop and younger generations don’t even know who she is. She is now widely recognized as an inappropriate and misogynistic icon however most Americans don’t seem to know that she is ‘‘underaged’’. If they did, it would only fuel further discardment of the character from public memory.
She’s still being talked about and one YouTube comment implied (and indirectly gave me the inspiration) the younger generation is aware of her. It went something like “Our grandparents had Betty Boop, our parents had Jessica Rabbit and now we have…” to the current character.
My mother was a little girl back when Betty Boop first became a popular character. She told me about how the “old men” would tell her to “dance like Betty Boop” and that the idea obviously aroused them. Everyone just thought it was funny in those days.
Yeah, there will always be creepy people like that.
But Betty Boop’s existence didn’t normalize that behavior, as we aren’t living in a country where sexualizing real children is seen as acceptable. You mentioned they were old, so chances are they were already used to that type of behavior before Betty Boop became popular.
