>>3814444>>3814445Shota (and loli) content exists in a vague legal grey zone within the US. Because of this, many sites that host that content (notably exhentai) use American servers, since the content is expressly illegal in Canada and many European countries. At the same time, there is an air of suspicion around said content that keeps it strictly underground (hence the secret club aspect of exhentai in contrast to the more open nhentai and like, which typically like shota/loli content). There is a "war" against such content (as seen with Pixiv Fanbox due to international card companies throwing around their weight), even though the US government itself has remained inert. Essentially, the content is legal but not protected, so it is just as legal for corporations and third parties to attack the content on moral grounds (but not legal grounds).
As for conventions, it has been historically difficult to organize niche conventions in the US due to how ridiculously spread out all the major urban magnets are. LA and NYC are on almost literally opposite sides of a fucking continent. In contrast, Metro Tokyo comprises a large swath of the country's population and is the primary travel hub, so it's easy to periodically host even niche conventions. In the US, several more niche conventions have generally been "opened up" over time to better justify the cost of operations. This is how major conventions like Comic Con and Dragon Con have pretty much become giant nerd/"nerd" catch-grabs instead of their originally more dedicated niches. In general, pornographic content conventions in the US don't really have any clear parallel to doujinshi markets since drawn erotica has remained far more underground in general compared to the actor-driven porn industry. Some anime conventions have held adult markets, but I am not sure if that's still true. Everyone wants to seem "clean" and proper, which has only further pushed such content into the margins.
>>3814282Picrel
