And it's still not the same as pedophilia where the sexualizing of the subject is the problem.
I don't see what can be done about that though. Pedophiles are going to have fantasies about children, no matter what. Sexualizing children is what makes them pedophiles. That doesn't make even fictional material along those lines OK, but neither will criminalizing said material help prevent children being harmed if whatever portion of pedophiles decide to act out their urges. Orayn brought up a good point there as well.
It's an unsolvable issue right now and if it ever becomes solvable a major ethical conundrum (read everyone's mind, sexuality screening come puberty, or whatever science-fantasy you can come up with). The most productive way to deal with it right now is to recognize problematic urges at every level (ideally before anybody gets traumatized) and get those people into therapy, but how are we going to get past the built in breaking points there? Will every parent send their children to therapy if they notice worrying tendencies, or will they ignore/cover them up because of the stigma they carry? Provided that they even do notice them and have access to, say, their children's computers. Will pedophiles themselves seek help? Should we educate children about sex much earlier than we do so that they themselves notice advances and can warn their parents? Is that going to make them speak out about a family member, or even their own parents? Blah. It's a difficult topic.
It's a can of worms.
Yup. Rather cringe inducing as well, thought through to its logical conclusion, i.e. stand-ins that are real enough to satisfy, physical or virtual.
