Why This Matters
Under current federal law, a child must be engaged in sexually explicit conduct for the medium to be considered child sexual abuse or what many still refer to as child pornography. Since current law doesn't cover certain types of abuse or exploitive imagery, this discrepancy allows predators to create child erotica such as sexually suggestive photos and videos with children in lingerie, staged in abusive scenarios and other imagery used for the purpose of adult sexual gratification.
Child erotica is often the first step down the path toward greater crimes like possession of child sexual abuse material and child sexual abuse. Closing this loophole and intervening at an earlier stage will protect victims and prevent more heinous crimes.
