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Transnational Thursday for February 12, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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The Guardian: An Australian woman has been found guilty of producing, possessing, and distributing illegal child pornography for writing and distributing (for pre-publication review, not yet actually selling) a 210-page book in which an 18-year-old woman engages in sexual "ageplay" (pretending to be a toddler) with an older man. It does not appear that a transcript of this local court proceeding is available in Australia's judicial database. But the article indicates that, in the judge's view, the author's descriptions of this "18-year-old woman" were just a sham intended to evoke the visual image of a child. (See also the "9000-year-old loli" meme.) Reddit comments indicate that, in addition to what is described in this article, the book also includes a passage in which the man fantasizes about the future woman while she is only three years old.

Australian AO3 users in shambles (1 2)?

Given that Iolanthe is described as looking 17 (despite being an immortal fairy, and the mother of 25-year old Strephon), does this mean that Iolanthe is now banned in Australia as simulated CP? I suspect not, but I know that G&S would want to set the resulting lawyer jokes to music. Perhaps you could add a comic dance number after the Fairy Queen turns the Australian Parliament into kangaroos.