Fictional erotica portraying fictional children is not CSAM. There is no child abuse taking place as there is no child in the first place.
Conflating the two is 1. wrong as a matter of fact and ethics and 2. a great injustice to the victims of child abuse.
This is exactly what I wrote about in the second part of my comment. People see themselves as the victim of CSAM or proclaimed CSAM through being witness to it. In fictional works there is no child who could be the victim showing very clearly what these people are really about. They are not primarily concerned about children being exploited but they do not like the existence of such material as them deem it offensive to themselves.
CSAM is a very real crime; including cases where real children are not physically harmed but get sexualized through the composition of the material. It is a crime because it violates children, not because it is offensive to societal norms.
> Fictional erotica portraying fictional children is not CSAM. There is no child abuse taking place as there is no child in the first place.
That’s your definition, but it isn’t the definition many authorities/activists/etc use.
And I’m not defending their definition, merely pointing out it is a real live definition in active use
To clarify, I am aware you are objectively describing the legal situation. I am not making a legal, but an ethical argument. We seem to be agreeing.
There is even a Wikipedia article about the legality. It's quite complicated in a lot of places because people really like to ban it but it very much is free speech or protected artistic expression in countries that have these concepts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_fictional_porn...
To be clear fictional pornography about real children has to be distinguished from fictional characters. Even when the depiction is purely fictional. Sexualizing real children is unacceptable.