Does Libel Dispute About Whether "TheDemonatrix" Comics Are "Lolicon" Belong in Federal Court?

(Lolicon is "A Japanese term derived from the English phrase 'Lolita complex,' lolicon describes a fascination with cartoons of very young-looking girls engaged in varying degrees of erotic behavior.")

All depends on whether the claimed reputational damage exceeds $75,000, Judge Ed Kinkeade (N.D. Tex.) reminds us, in Lamont v. Assaf. (Part of the alleged libel appears to also be that the author of the comics is supposedly a lolicon fan, even apart from the contents of these comics.)

I have a query running that reports on new libel filings throughout the country, and, unsurprisingly, it shows just how pervasive such lawsuits are. Besides this case, I've seen libel cases arising out of disputes within Mensa, the Society for Creative Anachronism, doulas in Hawaii, and much more; and those are just the ones that have been filed in federal court.

Comments

[Brancron]

Unfortunately the link is broken!

[Eugene Volokh]

Sorry, fixed, thanks!

[apedad]

The birth of a lawyer is a national catastrophe. It will kill $5 million in economic value every year it breathes. If a genetic marker can be found to foresee such a national catastro....

Uh oh. . . I've gone full DaivdBehar.

Never go full DaivdBehar. . . .

[Krayt]

He's evolved recently. At this point, he'd recommend not suing the libellers so much as suing the powerful who warped the memespace to think it an evil thing you could be libelled over.

[santamonica811]

Hmm...interesting. He was an immediate "mute" (and my only one, so far) as soon as the feature became available. Are you saying that we should un-mute him? That he is now making non-moronic, non-batshit-crazy, non-repetitive, posts? I'm perfectly willing to keep an open mind. People change (especially if he's back on his meds, or whatever is possibly making him non-crazy).

[Robert Efroymson]

Now I’m curious how one goes about evaluating reputational damage. It seems more complicated than pleading damages in an injury or contract case. Or maybe not? Loss of income calculated by projects Plaintiff will be locked out of?

I’m sure you will let us know how the amended complaint handles it.

[CJColucci]

All you need is a good faith basis, and since reputational damage and its accompanying emotional distress are basically incalculable, and often high, it shouldn't be hard to make a good faith estimate over over $75,000.

[Robert Efroymson]

Didn’t the judge in this case say the opposite of that? Demanding a specific pleading of some sort?

[Dilan Esper]

In some places- most notably the DC Circuit- they don't accept such a pleading and require you to plead specific facts getting you over $75K.

[John F. Carr]

In Massachusetts you are simultaneously prohibited from pleading a dollar amount for intangible harms (MGL 231-13B) and required to make a plausible claim of dollar value if you want to get into Superior Court (MGL 212-3) or attach assets. I don't know how well the system works in practice in defamation cases.

[dwb68]

I had to google lolicon, I wish I had

"Hypersexualization of minors is a continuous problem prevalent in Japan. This particular brand of hypersexualization is known as Lolicon which is the attraction to prepubescent girls, particularly in anime and manga. "

Seems to me, child porn by any other name is still child porn.

[Dr. Ed 2]

"Seems to me, child porn by any other name is still child porn."

Is it????

As I understand it, the rationale for laws against child porn is to protect the actual children -- to dry up the market so other children aren't involved in making more of it.

Well, if actual children aren't involved, then???

It may not be something I wish to watch, but I wouldn't want to watch gay porn either. But then society once frowned on gay sex.

We are maybe 5 years away from fully-functioning sexbots, including child sexbots, and what then???

[Krayt]

Dangerous words, buddy. Someone should track you down and get you fired.

This, from the "we're the anti-Nazis" side.

[Krayt]

There's a Twilight Zone episode that would whoosh right over the heads of the Cancel Culture.

[Queen Amalthea]

I'm pretty sure it's not just the Left that is strongly 'anti-simulated child porn.'

[RabbiHarveyWeinstein]

If I can't buy a Japanese schoolgirl's used panties out of a vending machine, do I really have any rights? Let the free market decide how much soiled undergarments are worth.

[apedad]

Dr Ed, you're right.

IIRC, even posting a child's face on a legal model's body (photoshop), is legal since the actual child is not harmed.

And this cartoon stuff is all legal.

Not sure about the libel aspect though.

[John F. Carr]

It is now illegal to photoshop a real child's face onto the body of somebody else if the result is sexual. It may have been legal 20 years ago.

[dwb68]

I am a libertarian on most things, but I get off the bus somewhere before child porn. Even when its a cartoon. You can call it a fantasy, or an outlet, I call it normalization, and repugnant. And its still child porn.

[RabbiHarveyWeinstein]

Lolicon is plebeian. Straight shotacon and futanari girls are what real patricians enjoy.

[Dr. Ed 2]

"I call it normalization, and repugnant"

And there are people who say the exact same thing about gay sex, and a decade ago, that was also felonious....

[RabbiHarveyWeinstein]

Unlike children, homosexual adults are mentally capable of giving consent for sexual activity. Just read up on the gift giving and bug chasing subcultures of the homosexual lifestyle.

[Kevin Smith]

Psst...cartoons aren't children. They're cartoons.

[DaivdBehar]

Naturally, the laeyer is erong again. Denmark legaluzed adult porn in 1967. Rapes of real women dropped by 40% the next year.

There have been natural experiments in legalizing and then prohibiting child porn, its downloading, not its production. The same Denmark Effect was noted on rates of the sexual abuse of real children. These natural experiments are discussed in Wikipedia.

[dwb68]

Lets do an experiment. I am going to find you, humiliate you (without your consent naturally), abuse you, then film it and put it on the internet. The experiment is to see whether you think your humiliation should circulate forever.

[dwb68]

Of course I am not really going to do that, because the hypothetical answers itself.

[DaivdBehar]

I felt threatened and humiliated by your mean spirited cruel, sadistic Democrat remark. It is on the internet forever.

[dwb68]

Point being, merely downloading child porn perpetuates the non-consensual humiliation of the child. It is not a harmless act.

[DaivdBehar]

What if the porn was produced in 1930? If a real child is not sexually abused, is there any value?

When it comes to production, is sexting the production of child porn. A 14 year old girl come out of a shower and took a selfie of herself wrapped in a towel, showing her shoulders, to make her ex boyfriend jealous. She was prosecuted for the production of child porn. It cost her parents $50000 to appeal and overturn her conviction. The local prosecutor was kicked out at the next election. I agree producing depictions of sex with real children is illegal, but what about recording a girl in a towel covering her private parts, especially when made by herself?

[Dr. Ed 2]

"In particular, Defendant Dean Assaf blatantly accused John T. Lamont of being a pedophile"

That strikes me as potentially libelous...

[RabbiHarveyWeinstein]

Speaking of Lolita loving, does anyone actually believe that Roman Polanski is some sort of sex crazed, child rapist? The girl consented to taking drugs and being penetrated anally and as a sex positive, progressive libertarian, that is good enough for me to say everything was Kosher.

[Dr. Ed 2]

What responsible parent would permit their daughter to be there in the first place?!?

[DaivdBehar]

A single mother, whose patriarchal family has been destroyed by the scumbag feminist lawyer profession. Feminism is not evrn real. It is a madking ideology for the lawyer plunder of the assets of productive people. I used to think the law was biased against males. Then I spoke to a female doctor about her divorce from a do nothing lazy lawyer. She go TV plundered pretty good. The judge then dated her ex after the case was settled, on the female doctor's money.

[rsteinmetz]

Yes having anal sex with a 13 year (male or female or other) is definitely a sex positive, progressive libertarian act especially in Hollywood.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And yet I have met 13-year-olds who were the "grownup" in their house, who were far more responsible and mature than their mothers. I've also met 13-year-olds whom I have no doubt could teach a sex ed course to adults.

I'm not so sure on calling them "victims"....

[DaivdBehar]

I casually ask a 7th grader, what did you do in school. He says, we learned about anal sex. WTF? I look at his mother. She says, she didn't know that. I say, maybe talk to the principal about exempting him from this homosexual propaganda.

I am on some list that cannot stop the Teen Vogue subscription. Think it would be about fashion and teen idols? They are obsessed by anal sex in the articles. Their models are all unsightly Democrats. This anti-family propaganda is disturbing. The new editor will be more depraved and uglier than the America hater she replaces. I have to write them directly to stop sending this horrifying publication. I do not open it before it goes in the recycling, but the covers are now highly offensive.

[David Nieporent]

And yet I have met 13-year-olds who were the “grownup” in their house, who were far more responsible and mature than their mothers. I’ve also met 13-year-olds whom I have no doubt could teach a sex ed course to adults.

No, you haven't.

[John F. Carr]

I knew a woman who was prostituted by her father at age 12 and was still highly sexualized when I met her decades later. They are out there.

[DaivdBehar]

Hi, David. How about this ordinary 7th grader I spoke to? I feel his totally inappropriate sex ed course was actually grooming by the Democrat homosexual into normalizing sex that involves poop. It was OK with the Democrat administration of that city. Poop will end any sexual thoughts I may be harboring, you Democrat degenerate defender.

[DaivdBehar]

Reality of biology, of appearances, of all religions, of 10000 years of civilization says, 14 is adult. Not only adult, but absolutely top performing adult, with rapid deterioration after the teens. Maturity comes from experience, not from time. The infantilization of these superior people by the lawyer traitor is to keep them from competing with the client, to make worthless make work babysitting jobs for their high school teacher union clients.

The lawyer profession is severely damaging our country and must be crushed.

[John F. Carr]

Some of the statements are conclusions based on disclosed facts, like "3D depictions of little girls having sex shows the guy is a pediophilic." Another, "He is a diseased minded f_______ person who should be ostracized from society" is pure opinion, as is “just because Loli is legal it doesn’t mean it not child porn.”