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 The depiction of children engaged in sexual activity, either alone or with others, is prohibited practically everywhere as “child pornography”. Depending on the case, this can also include pictures of nude children in “provocative poses” or even without any obvious sexual connotations. The legal definition of “child” in this context may, once again, include “any person under the age of 18”. The depictions are often circulated with the help of personal computers, either in the form of drawings, paintings, and photos, or as films, videos, DVDs, and live webcams. Producing and possessing such material is a serious crime.
As with “pornography” in general, there is no universal agreement about the concrete definition of “child pornography”, because people with different cultural backgrounds have different attitudes. Indeed, even those with the same background may change their views over time. In the USA and Europe, for example, certain sex education books containing photographs of nude children were recommended by pedagogical experts and widely used in the 1970s. Today, they are considered pornographic and are no longer for sale. Similarly, the nude photographs of young girls taken by Lewis Carroll over 100 years ago were innocently enjoyed not only by their parents, but also by countless photo enthusiasts until quite recently when they became controversial. Finally, as visitors to Italian Renaissance and Baroque Churches can easily discover, some of them contain paintings, frescos, and statues of nude children in poses that today would lead to the immediate arrest of the artists.
Nevertheless, outside a certain large “grey area” there are many sexually explicit photos and films about which there is general agreement: They could not have been made without the sexual exploitation of children. Indeed, some of the children are clearly the victims of sexual violence.
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