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What Is Child Pornography?

Child pornography is not pornography that is made available to children, it's pornography that uses (or appears to use) children in sexual acts or in a lewd manner. It is illegal throughout the United States & in many countries around the world.

While the age of consent differs country by country & often state by state, most agree that using children under the age of sixteen qualifies as child pornography.

Child pornography was deemed to be a separate unprotected speech category under the First Amendment in the US. Instead of having to determine whether the child pornography is obscene, the courts now can simply focus on:

Exclamation Mark whether the depiction focuses on the child's genitals or pubic area
Exclamation Mark whether the setting is sexually suggestive
Exclamation Mark whether, taking into consideration the age of the child, she or he is depicted in an unnatural pose & inappropriate attire
Exclamation Mark whether the child is only partially clothed or nude
Exclamation Mark whether the depiction suggests sexual "coyness" or is designed to elicit a sexual response.

The SPAM you receive that claims to contain "teens" having sex usually actually contains eighteen-year-olds having sex, not underage children. Child pornography is too illegal to be advertised in SPAM

You should also know that it's not illegal to produce or distribute photos of nude children, unless they are posed in such a way as to suggest a sexual tone. The laws define this differently at the state & federal levels, but depictions of a nude child, without more, aren't illegal in the United States.