Re: Wishful thinking

In my view there is no really effective way that child porn can be made legal without harming those already depicted or in preventing the future abuse and recording of others.

First off, you could make the same argument about images of murder. In fact, one of my professors used an example from a TV show (America's Most Wanted or something like it) where a family was watching because they were covering a case in which the family was involved--a close family member had been murdered. On the show the bones of the victim were shown, and it triggered extreme emotional reactions from some of the family members. Art, too, can cause negative emotional reactions in those who see it; perhaps that is even the point of it. Is that a good enough reason to ban it?

There is often not a single reason to ban things and we often do get it wrong. I think there are many reasons to ban CP (meaning pre-pubescent sexual images alone or with others) and the common arguments are that they do indeed record a crime scene; the images continue to victimise those depicted; they can be used to 'groom' children; they encourage others to think of child-sex as normal; it would probably encourage others to produce the stuff; and it is irrelevant if apparently (not really hard evidence for this) legalising it actually reduces abuse.

I am not suggesting that because we don't ban some media, that all media should be accessible to us; I'm simply pointing out that it is clearly a faulty argument that you're making, since the benefits are likely to outweigh the deficits, especially in light of the growing evidence that there's a reverse correlation between child porn consumption and hands-on sex crimes against children.

The evidence for this is not that robust and (underlined) you do not know about any future effects any more than anyone else. There have been numerous cases of children viewing porn and then committing assaults on younger children. All the benefits good? I think we need to look at ALL the consequences before deciding to legalise such images.

Pertaining to your second point, you are still on weak ground. As I mentioned in an earlier post, punishing everyone in a society by forbidding them certain media on the basis that some people in the future might be compelled to commit a crime is wrong as well. You cannot punish the whole of society in the present on the basis of what may happen in the future.

Well all known laws tend to do this. If you murder someone and get caught then you will be punished. Where is the punishment in not allowing people to view abusive images, particularly when it affects those depicted in ways far more devastating than any casual viewer.

I think in the future all child porn and child erotica should be legalized.

Wishful thinking.

In the interim, here is a nice compromise: how about in cases where the child victims or participants are known, the government allows the child(ren) to have legal rights to that media once they reach age of majority and to do with it whatever they want, including capitalizing on it? Can you imagine the money they would make?

How about empathising with the victims and asking them? I would think, as I've seen in many comments from victims, they would rather the whole lot just vanished overnight and they could live normal lives. The pornstar mind where they apparently couldn't give a fuck about their lives is not universal to victims of child sexual abuse.

They'd likely be set for life. Of course, there is the possibility that they would want it to remain illegal, but if it's already out there, it would be next to impossible to stop it being spread, so why not let the kids themselves capitalize on it?

This appears to be the old 'most kids in porn enjoy it' fallacy. Yes, the problem is that this stuff simply remains, perhaps forever, so it might be best to include that in one's thinking.

The added advantage of this is, if there is legal child porn available, people will be less inclined to seek out the illegal stuff.

This is a ridiculous argument too. Legal or illegal, it is pretty much irrelevant as most illegal items make it into the share-o-sphere as do all legal items eventually.

Of course, production would still be highly illegal, and that would likely deter most people from producing it just so the kids could capitalize on it later.

Do you really think this is deterring any at the moment? Their desire for sex and stimulation is what tends to drive the production, collecting and sharing of this material.

The cost to the adult producer is too high (they have no legal rights to it and therefore can't make money on it themselves, plus they go to prison if they get caught), and it seems highly unlikely that all but a handful of kids are going to produce it on there own in order to make money later. Teens, of course, will do, and so what if they do?

I doubt those who produce the majority of this stuff - mostly by those close to the child - have any sort of financial motive but there are other motives such as obtaining other material and in sharing children.