Monday 14 September 2015

Child Sexual Abuse Imagery and the fight to reduce it's spread. #childabuse

Another word for child pornography, “child sexual abuse imagery” is the term that those working to put an end to this horrific crime have begun using instead of child pornography. Child sexual abuse imagery is a more widely encompassing term, and refers to content that depicts sexually explicit activities involving a child. Child sexual abuse images and videos are most often documented with the purpose of being shared widely for others to watch, and in so doing, victimising the child many times over.

Last month this was reported in the news. 


Google, Facebook and Twitter step up the fight against child sexual abuse by sharing a digital list of victims' images so they can be removed from the internet


The Internet Watch Foundation can be found here

Whilst many on the internet may not be hands on offenders they are encouraging the production and spread of this imagery and statistics show that this is often a stepping stone to being a hands on child abuser. 

There are many websites catering for those with tastes in "twinks" or "teens" and whilst many may indeed be over the age of consent in their country, the majority do not look it.  It seems to be more about a certain look, a body type, rather than the age itself. I have a friend who's older partner made him shave his body hair (he was young twenties at the time) so that he looked younger. This, I believe, would technically make the older partner a wannabe pederast

The use of the word paedophile is also technically misleading. The word comes from Greek and literally means "one who loves children." Please see HERE for a further explanation.

The Copine Scale which was used to determine the category of offence in child sexual imagery was changed on the 31st December 2013. Please see this link for more information. 

I have reported many Twitter and Facebook accounts over the past few years for having either obvious child abuse images or at best dubious ones . In most cases nothing was done. I know many friends of mine have also done so with the same response.

Perhaps, as was said to me this morning, prison isn't the answer for those who never go on to actually abuse directly. I do believe that anyone who is caught with child sexual imagery should be publicly named and shamed, forced to have long term therapy and also be on the sex offenders register. 

I am sure many will have much to say on this subject and would welcome comments and opinions.

Whilst I applaud the efforts that should be made as a result of the news story above, I fear that it will only be a drop in a very big ocean.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jan, I commend you for having the courage to address this topic. You are absolutely right about viewing child pornography. Ive heard people say they didn't think the images were of real people. The children in those images have been manipulated, tricked, hurt or abused. They do not understand what has been done to them and they did not consent to the activities. Many of the children were kidnapped and trafficked from their own countries. Beaten, starved and forced to endure atrocities that no child should endure. This is the reality of those images.

Peacock Lady

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