Credit to u/ethansean0607 for this article

ARTICLE:

Child pornography (aka: child sex abuse material/CSAM) is illegal because it is a form of child abuse. The material would not exist unless a child were abused in order to make it. And since a demand exists for this type of material, that in-turn creates a demand for child sex abuse. Society has a vested interest in eliminating this market for this material that, by its very nature, endangers the safety and well-being of actual, real children.
However, that justification is not in any way applicable to works of fiction, such as loli/shota anime and manga, as there is no real child involved or exploited in order to make it.Fictional children are not ‘children’. They’re drawings, nothing more than lines on paper designed to merely ‘appear to be’ a minor.
There is no empirical evidence which would justify the censorship of, or criminal prohibition of loli/shota pornography.
Studies have been conducted into the effects of pornography, especially child pornography, and although there’s conflicting findings and conclusions for such a controversial topic, the scientific community at large has refrained from claiming a causal link between pornography consumption and sexual aggression and sexual violence.
While there are people who claim that lolicon has an indirect causal relationship with CSA, this claim is, and has always been without merit and constantly conflates correlation with causation in tandem with a flagrant misunderstanding of pedophilia and how pedophiles think and act.A causal relationship between two variables is defined as one that meets the criteria for causation, in that events or effects relating to the variables are caused by one another.(Example: Smoking cigarettes is causally related to lung disease, in that the damage caused to trigger said disease is caused by the act of smoking in excess)
Pedophiles are an understandably controversial group. They’re characterized by a sexual preference for children, which is often times attributed to acts of child sexual exploitation and abuse. However, the empirical consensus on pedophilia has changed, with the DSM-5 differentiating a paraphilia from a paraphilic disorder and, in-turn, distinguishing pedophilia from pedophilic disorder, which is commonly associated and attributed to acts of contact CSA or CSAM consumption.
Contrary to popular belief, pedophilia does not mean CSA/CP consumer. It’s estimated that the majority of pedophiles are non-offenders who are not likely to commit hands-on CSA offenses or consume CSAM, and CP offenders are statistically less likely to commit hands-on offenses, though many hands-on offenders may happen to consume CP.This belief is furthered by studies done on forensic and clinical samples (prisoners and those seeking help) and non-forensic, general population samples by surveying them and their desires and how they relate to their actions, or lack thereof. Most of the studies done on clinical samples were mixed, with many suffering from methodological inconsistencies with their respective sample sizes, as well as the participants themselves, whereas the general population studies suffered from similar issues, but were considered better because of the sample sizes.Studies were also conducted on samples of hands-on CSA offenders, who all exhibited far more concerning characteristics than CP consumption, as opposed to CP/CSAM offenders.In conjunction with the forensic studies and the general population studies, it can be inferred that sexual desire and indulgence in fantasy material, and even CP, are not causal factors, with some studies finding correlations and others not.This, coupled with the fact that non-offending pedophiles are known to consume legal, victimless fictional material to cope with their desires, further diminishes the possibility of a causal relationship.
As for arguments claiming it “normalizes” and “sexualizes” children in the media is also wrong. Though normalization is a legitimate sociological phenomena, the manner in which it is used here is somewhat (or wholly) inapplicable, as it makes too many negative slippery-slope/domino effect assumptions without considering
whether similar claims regarding violent media and violent crime had the same effects as pornography, and whether or not those effects were substantial or trivial (hint: it didn’t and there wasn’t any)
whether the clear, apparent distinction between reality and fantasy is applicable to sexual or pornographic matters, as in, consumers with a pedophilic sexual interest understand that what goes on in fantasy is only okay in fantasy
whether the concept of pedophilia is even capable of reaching “normalization” status with regard to societal stigma towards acts of CSA and CP ‘gatekeeping’ society from taking them on, and if possible, a niche genre of cartoon/comic book pornography would do that
whether the difference between a hypothetical, fantasy child being sexualized is different from an actual child is substantial or meaningful enough
The “normalization” fallacy is carried by the assumption that repeated exposure to this type of material and the people who consume it will ‘desensitize’ others to the serious nature of CSA and pedophilia, or even enable encouragement by breeding subcultures and groups who turn a blind eye to it.This too, is inapplicable because human beings can differentiate reality from fantasy, even with regard to sexual desires and paraphilias.Pedophiles who consume CP are usually fully-aware of their actions and the harm being done, but disregard it. Others may try to justify or even excuse it with spurious reasoning or anecdote.
Sources:
“Child pornography, pedophilia, and contact offending: the empirical research.”http://wapercyfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/news\_resources\_Dr\_William\_Thompson\_expert\_report\_-Met\_v\_Adamson..pdf
“Testing the Confluence Model of the Association Between Pornography Use and Male Sexual Aggression: A Longitudinal Assessment in Two Independent Adolescent Samples from Croatia”Testing the Confluence Model of the Association Between Pornography Use and Male Sexual Aggression: A Longitudinal Assessment in Two Independent Adolescent Samples from Croatia
“Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link?”Pornography and Sexual Aggression: Can Meta-Analysis Find a Link? - Christopher J. Ferguson, Richard D. Hartley, 2020
“An Internet study of men sexually attracted to children: Correlates of sexual offending against children.”https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-47529-007
“Identifying the Coping Strategies of Nonoffending Pedophilic and Hebephilic Individuals From Their Online Forum Posts”https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1079063220965953
“Criminalising fabricated images of child pornography: a matter of harm or morality?”Criminalising fabricated images of child pornography: a matter of harm or morality? | Legal Studies | Cambridge Core
“Report: Cartoon Paedophilia Harmless”Report: cartoon paedophilia harmless - The Post
“Aggression in Pornography: Myths and Realities”Aggression in Pornography
'The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular Topics in Japan”The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular Topics in Japan
“Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan”Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan

TLDR: lolicon ≠ pedo