what IS child pornography?

Question

Is it sex with children? How is that even possible? Or is child porn sex
with "children" under the age of 18? I'm not trying to be controversial here. I'm geninunely asking what is child pornography. I think there would be a big difference between sexual contact
with a child, and sexual contact with, say, a fourteen year old.
I've always had the suspicion, though, that it's all lumped
together under the same banner of child porn. But maybe child porn
is just that; sex with children. Still, how is that possible? Children haven't reached
puberty yet so how can they engage in sex, and who are these
children that are being exploited? Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

Without reading the other answers, here's my two cents. Sex and porn are two different things. Child pornography is typically pictures/videos of minors (under whatever the legal age is in a certain country) that are viewed in a sexual manner. Pictures of you're naked kids in the bath tub are not the same thing as pictures of a 5 year old being raped. Also, it doesn't matter if the child "consented" to it. If a twelve year old girl took pictures of herself it would still be considered child porn in America. And to address the last parts of your question, you don't have to hit puberty to have sex, and it seems like a lot of the children who are being exploited are coming from South America, Africa and Southern parts of Asia (that's not researched, but just generally what I've read and heard). There's a rather large trade of humans going around...An ungodly amount of sex slaves being sold in America, though no one talks about it. Hope that helped a little.

Answer 2

Okay, first of all "pornography" and "having sex with..." are not the same thing. Basically, child pornography is pornography (that is, movies or images of lewd or sexual conduct) involving people that are under the age of 18. be it 17-year-olds or 8-year-olds. The definition of "child" varies from place to place as does the definition of "pornography", but that's it basically. As for your other questions, there are some sick people out there. And I think I'll leave it at that.

Answer 3

Yes, it is sex with children. It is hard for a normal person to imagine, but some people do this. The vast majority of it involves a man and a girl or boy. It can be intercourse or other sexual activities. Obviously this is harmful to the children.
Sex with underage teens is also illegal, because these kids are still not mature enough to handle it emotionally, even if they can physically.
You are right, sex with a young child is worse than sex with an underage teen.

Answer 4

anyone under 18

mostly child porn ends up being kids under 10 .. child porn is sex with a child, videos or pictures of kids having sex and a kid posing in the nude ( note the word posing, also can be taken as a sexual pose)

Answer 5

Generally, child pornography pornography featuring minors, is illegal in most jurisdictions. The term "child" is normally defined clearly by each country's child pornography laws, however the definition of "pornography" varies dramatically, and is open to vast ranges of interpretation, even within a single jurisdiction.

The definition of "child pornography" differs from country to country. Most prohibit visual depictions of sexual activities involving actual children under a specified age. Some countries go further and prohibit all depictions of nudity of minors, whether or not the minor is depicted in an erotic pose or as engaging in a sex act. The broader prohibitions have led to controversy over pictures that are considered to have artistic merit; works by several prominent photographers, including David Hamilton, Sally Mann, and Jock Sturges, have been challenged as child pornography and sometimes banned. Still, in some countries, naturist magazines with depictions of nude children (such as National Geographic) do not fall under the definition of child pornography, and are easily available.

Some countries prohibit visual depictions even when no actual children were involved in the making of the image. Such depictions may including paintings, drawings, or computer-generated images. (See "Simulated child pornography" below.) In some countries, not only visual depictions but, also, written works may fall within the definition of child pornography.

The minimum legal age for a depicted person varies from country to country. Some countries set one age for "hardcore" pornography and another for "softcore" pornography.

Most countries' laws provide an exception for materials that have artistic merit. A prominent example of this principle is Lolita (the novel and films). "Lolita" has become a common codeword for child pornography, legal or not. The "artistic merit" exception is most often applied to texts, as well as films and plays, without sexually explicit or arousing scenes. Commonly, scenes are more important than plot in determining whether a film or play constitutes a child pornography.

Answer 6

It's just pictures of kids dressed indecently, or doing indecent things, to euphemize it somewhat.