we assume this needs to be spoilered
to get it out of the way:
so like, the argument we hear is that watching it supposedly makes ppl more likely to start watching real material (which is made by harming and exploiting children, and is obvsly bad because of that) or harming kids irl. supposedly there are studies that point to that being the case, and other studies that point to that not being the case. personally we dont rly buy that, because it just sounds like the same exact argument ppl used/use to say that “violent video games” or BDSM or whatever would do the same, or even like the old “weed is a gateway drug” stuff that also had a number of (extremely flawed) studies to “prove” it. what exactly makes this different from any of that other than just feeling more yucky and “wrong”? are there other arguments, are we missing something?
we dont personally watch that stuff tbc (tho if u already think were a filthy pedophile for even asking all of this theres no way were gonna get u to change ur mind lbr) but we dont want to base our feelings on this on just “that feels gross therefore its bad”, we all know where that logic leads, and were struggling to come up with a legitimate reason
Edit: ty for the replies everyone 
Short answer is there is no provable direct harm in it but at the very least it’s weird and off-putting for anyone who isn’t into it. Critics say creating or viewing it indicates existing pedophilic impulses and/or reinforces them and that this is reason enough to regulate it, supporters usually respond by saying that’s not necessarily true and/or that having an outlet for pedophilic impulses reduces the likelihood of pedophiles harming actual children. I haven’t seen particularly convincing evidence from either camp despite hearing this argument for decades, but it’s not the sort of thing that’s easy to study. You’re right to compare it to the argument regarding violence in video games and movies, and even more so BDSM, similar specifically in the ways in which BDSM is used as a coping mechanism by people who have been abused. There are definitely people who use loli content in the same way for coping with their own sexual abuse, same with age play/“little” stuff, and do so harmlessly without ever actualizing these fantasies against real children, which seems like a halfway decent argument in favor of at least withholding judgement until we have more data, but for some reason it rarely gets mentioned.