4731022 That music has a really nice sound. I don't listen to anything, but mostly because I want to be quiet and don't like the possibility of someone sneaking up while I have headphones on.

4731022 I'd find doing anything intimate with music would be too distracting for me. Plus as Flutterpony said I gotta keep myears free in case anyone is coming. After all bf might be OK with it but not anyone else.

Also sorry I've not been on chatting in the group much. Things get in the way after all sadly as they always do

But I have good news that I think is OK to say in here. I am currently over in Vegas now to see my boyfriend till mid November. It's really different then living in England but hopefully this will get me more used these things. I wouldn't mind meeting up with people though if anyone is around the area. After all I'm not in the US that often haha.

Sorry for it not being foal related but I thought I'd let you guys know.

4741618
It is nice to hear news from you.

And it is okay, this is General Discussion after all. And I think that some here may have been curious about what you have been up to.

4741618 It's good to hear you're getting to experience the states. Even if it's not often, it's nice to see you.

I'd be up for meeting people at a convention if I can make it. I don't have a lot of time or money lately, but I'd feel comfortable meeting people in that sort of semi-anonymous, could-be-from-anywhere setting. I've met only one online friend ever.
It was a bit awkward since I had him collared.
Good times.

4741881

I'd love to meet people, but, sadly, begin Italian, it's not so easy. Maybe I could do it for my graduation or something.

4747234 The flight would cost a lot, yeah. It would be nice to visit Italy again.

4741881 Shame to hear your only time didn't go so well. Hopefully there will be that chance for you to meet better people in that kinda setting. Dunno what kind of convention you could do though, maybe FoalCon 2015?

4747234
Yeah Italy is a bit out there but at my events in Manchester I've had people from all over appear so never say never.

4747669

Where did you in Italy exactly?

Florence? Milan? Rome? Naples? Maybe Venice or Bologna?

4749065 I toured Roma, Firenze, Venezia, Assisi, Pisa, Pompeii, and Verona very briefly while in high school then, before college, I lived in Caltanisetta, Monreale, and Milazzo on Sicily and in Cosenza, Lecce, and Bari in Calabria and Puglia and visited many of the neighboring cities. After I finished my 2-year college degree, I toured many of the same places I did in high school a second time. E da quale parte vieni?

4748997 I would absolutely love to attend a LoliCon of some sort with a foalcon panel.

4749531

I'm from northen Tuscany, near Lucca. Althought my mother is originally from Rome and my father from Monte Cassino, so I went there a lot.

Also, lived there? Did you study there, in Southern Italy? That's a bit odd, usually they're avoided like the plague due to certain... unsavory elements.

4749552 I didn't study. Nope.

I like the food, paese, and beaches in the south better than in the north, but I like the art and history better in the north, and I think northerners are generally more understanding of foreigners like me.

4749586

Oh, I see. Well, I am not surprised that Northeners were more understanding, considered how things usually go even between Italians.

4753588 I think it was in Cosenza that I met a woman who was trying to divorce her husband, and her husband was levying accusations against her, saying that she had allowed her friend to molest their children. It was a very sad situation, but what stood out to me most was, that, about pedophilia in Italy, she said something like, "By now, it's a trend, a way of life," as though pedophilia is generally becoming accepted in Italy ("winked at," we say) despite being illegal there. I imagine that this varies according to the region in Italy, but I wonder what you and other Italians in our group think.

I'm not sure whether they'll see this message, but I've been curious whether Ragabash and Master Titta are also Italian.

4755497

"By now, it's a trend, a way of life,"

That's the national pastime of "Cry out for Decadent Culture & Superiority of the Nordics."

Now, Paedophilia overall, in popular perception, isn't going the way of direct acceptance in Italy, mostly due to relatively recent cultural scars we had with a certain short pornocrat and his harem of teenage prostitutes.

However, there are indeed differencies between regions/areas.

The North-West (think Piedmont, Liguria and Valle D' Aosta) usually treats it nearly as a joke trait you'd casually put at the end of flaws of somebody else (and, to my knowledge, "paedophile" and its euphemism "orc" were in some areas an equivalent of "lame".) The North-East (Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli, so to speak) has an attitude that can be summed up as "Oh you poor soul, who did molest you? It's fine, not your fault anyways if you're so."

The Center (Tuscany, Lazio, Umbira, Abruzzo and Marche), where I do live, is pretty lax. "Paedophile" is usually used as technical term (albeit sometimes used pejoratively), while "orc" and "child lover" is the slur, and claim you're one will be taken as a joke. However, natrually, Madza help you if prove you are indeed so...

The South has a variety of positions too, but they pretty much boil down to "Kill, maim, burn."

Whenever Carnival and Halloween costumes of the "Sexy X" kind are put in stores, you'll see a store close down really quickly for the mob forming outside (that doesn't stop them from selling patch-sized miniskirts for little girls all around, thought, which is... an hot button for me, to say the least.) "Toddlers&Tiaras" got cancelled mid-airing on the first episode, just like the infamous "Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos," after the equivalent of the entirety of Salerno's population stormed the phones of the TV station airing it. Lolicon material? Pray nobody sees you, because it's gonna hurt.

So, yeah, you might be more tolerated up north, but it's not sure-proof.

I take that the level of tolerance of paedophilia in the USa is reflected on wheter lolicon and similar are allowed or not in the state, am I right?

4755877
That's interesting. I did get the impression that the south is generally more conservative and likely to view pedophilia unfavorably. When she said, "By now..." it did seem like she was exasperated with the culture. Still, the billboard advertisements in Southern Italy were far more suggestive than U.S. ads I've seen.

I take that the level of tolerance of paedophilia in the USa is reflected on wheter lolicon and similar are allowed or not in the state, am I right?

I suppose that's generally true, yes. The U.S. is far more culturally homogenized than Italy or other parts of Europe, resulting in mixed opinions everywhere, but there is still some tendency of areas to lean one way or the other. People in the more conservative states, Texas, Florida, and Utah, might react severely. Extremely liberal regions (like parts of California) seem to be the same, willing to prove they have some sense of sexual morality by heavily prosecuting violent sex crime and lumping pedophilia in with biastophilia, but their bark is worse than their bite, usually.

I think the acceptance or rejection of lolicon isn't entirely linked to attitudes about pedophilia, but more to the willingness of the region to support free speech which is heavily influenced by how open or close-minded people are there. Overall, the nation looks down on pedophilia, even in very moderate and open-minded areas, but it's worse in the more extreme areas. I believe there's greater fear for pedophiles in the U.S. than other places, since we're a rather prison-happy country.

The United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world's population, it houses around 22 percent of the world's prisoners.

4756435

Still, the billboard advertisements in Southern Italy were far more suggestive than U.S. ads I've seen.

Well, that's not all that surprising. The atitude with nudity and sexuality is the reverse of what is the current attitude in the USA, with the same reversal happening for violence (as in, violent movies and videogames are more frowned upon than, say, hentai games).

I think the acceptance or rejection of lolicon isn't entirely linked to attitudes about pedophilia, but more to the willingness of the region to support free speech which is heavily influenced by how open or close-minded people are there.

That makes sense.

4765194 Oh yeah. Violence in media is generally not as big an issue here, and I've heard that violence in Europe is much more frowned upon. Death penalties for criminals are seen as barbaric in Italy, but many still hold firmly to them here, and our gun laws are some of the most relaxed among first-world countries. It's rather interesting to see the differences.