On January 22nd, an individual contacted me to share her criticism of Yandere Simulator. She seemed to believe that Yandere Simulator contains depictions of underage characters in “sexual situations”. There are no “sexual situations” in Yandere Simulator; there are characters who make vague statements which imply that they are sexually active outside of school, but there are no characters who engage in sexual activity anywhere that the player can see them.

This individual, who I will refer to as “N”, expressed her belief that Twitch chose to ban broadcasts of Yandere Simulator because it contains “sexualized” underage characters.

If you’ve been keeping up with Yandere Simulator, you should be aware that I’ve been searching for a firm, solid, concrete reason why Twitch chose to ban Yandere Simulator from it service. Banning the game because of “underage” characters in “sexual situations” would be absurd for two reasons: first of all, there are no sexual situations visible anywhere in the game. Second of all, age of consent is different everywhere in the world. In some countries, it’s as high as 20. In other countries, it’s as low as 9.

I believe it would be ridiculous to ban Yandere Simulator because of an arbitrary number that changes depending on what country you’re in. I pointed this out, and “N” responded by accusing me of being a pedophile.

This is where I should have just rolled my eyes and proceed to ignore all future communication from this obnoxious individual. Instead, I made the mistake of responding to them.

I attempted to explain that it’s pointless to assign an age to a fictional character, because fictional characters can be clones, vampires, robots, or any other type of character whose age doesn’t reflect their physical appearance. I pointed out that, when it comes to fictional characters, ages are completely arbitrary.

“N” interpreted this as evidence that I’m a pedophile. (Actually, throughout our entire conversation, she interpreted literally every statement I made as evidence that I’m a pedophile. I could say “the sky is blue” and she would hear the words “I rape children!”)

At this point in time, I asked her why she demonized pedophiles. A person does not choose their sexual orientation. Sexual preference is not a choice. No person chooses to become a pedophile. It’s involuntary. Pedophilia is a defect, an illness, a disorder. A pedophile has something broken inside of them, and as of now, there is no cure. A pedophile lives with a curse. I look upon pedophiles with a deep degree of pity, but not hate. I cannot bring myself to hate someone who did not consciously, deliberately choose to be the way they are.

Now, child molesters and child rapists, those are a completely different story. It’s unforgivable to deliberately violate another human being, especially someone who is too young to defend themself or even comprehend what you’re doing to them. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if a child molester or child rapist is given the death penalty, I would gladly serve as their executioner.

I asked “N” to explain the difference between someone who is 18 years old, and someone who is one day younger. There is no significant difference between those two people. On your 18th birthday, you do not open a box that contains maturity, wisdom, and responsibility. A person who is 17-years-and-364-days-old is practically the same as a person who is 18 years old.

Unfortunately, “N” did not comprehend the nuance of my statements. She insisted that all sexual contact between minors and adults is inherently abusive. She was absolutely obsessed with the idea of exposing me as an evil, demonic pedophile. She demanded that I tell her what I think the age of consent should be.

This should have been my cue that “N” completely lacked even the slightest degree of reading comprehension skill, because I had just explained that someone who passes the age of consent is not magically “ready” for sex just because they have had a certain number of birthdays.

I pointed out that there are many people under the age of 18 who have had sexual experiences without being traumatized. I pointed out that some people aren’t “ready” for sex even after age 18. All human beings are different from one another, thus one “age of consent” will not work for all humans. I attempted to propose the idea of finding another way to determine whether or not someone is “ready” for sex, such as a passing a test that grants a “sex license.”

Regrettably, these concepts were simply too complex for poor “N” to grasp. Intent on forcing me to answer a question that would allow her to brand me as a pedophile, she demanded to know if I would permit a 14-year-old to have sex with a grown man if the 14-year-old had passed the “sex license test” that I had proposed.

Well, obviously, if there’s a test that objectively proves that a person is ready for sex, and a person passes that test, then that person is objectively ready for sex. This is simple logic, but “N” lacked the mental capacity to figure this out for herself.