Legal frameworks around fictional pornography depicting minors vary depending on country and nature of the material involved. Laws against production, distribution, and consumption of child pornography generally separate images into three categories: real, pseudo, and virtual. Pseudo-photographic child pornography is produced by digitally manipulating non-sexual images of real minors to make pornographic material. Virtual child pornography depicts purely fictional characters (for example, lolicon manga). "Fictional pornography depicting minors," as covered in this article, includes these latter two categories, whose legalities vary by jurisdiction, and often differ with each other and with the legality of real child pornography.
Some analysts have argued whether or not cartoon pornography that depicts minors is a victimless crime. Laws have been enacted to criminalize "obscene images of children, no matter how they are made," typically under the belief that such materials may incite real-world instances of child sex abuse. Currently, countries that have made it illegal to possess (as well as create and distribute...