[Q] [X] The harmful normalisation of certain types of content within the fandom

Hi all, I wanted to start a discussion here to see if this sentiment is common or if I’ve just gotten the opinion of a small echo chamber on the internet.

I’m posting this not to generate rage, or sensationalise. I genuinely want to get a general assessment of most furs opinion on this outside of the smaller echochambers I’ve seen. I’ve tried my best to not violate subreddit rules by being suitably vague, but if a mod deems this to still be breaking the rules please do reach out in what way would be best to phrase this?

I’ve seen a few times now that on some 18+ furry websites, the staff decide to restrict NSFW depictions of cub art, young human art and feral art.

I’ve strongly supported those decisions, I think it’s important that while these drawings are not illegal in every country. (They are in the UK, quoting Wikipedia: „n the United Kingdom, the Coroners and Justice Act of April 2009 made the possession of fictional p———- involving minors illegal.“ That we take a moral stance against them.

Yet, when I look in the reply threads, and while trudging through art on these websites- this kind of stuff seems alarmingly common. Below the articles announcing these restrictions are often tens to hundreds of people complaining.

My stance on this is that I don’t think it’s healthy for us on a societal level to allow those images, if it is depicting something that looks like a real dog, or a real child- even in cartoon form- it’s wrong. Normalisation inevitably leads to more problematic behaviour.

The common counter argument I see is „But what about violence in video games, we know that doesn’t cause action in the real world, why would this?“, which is true. My rebuttal is, you don’t „play“ images, you see them. You aren’t pretending to be someone else who does like xyz problematic thing, you do. Would you make the same argument about real CSAM?

Thanks for taking the time to read a random furs post, please let me know what you think.