Book Review: Child Pornography: An Internet Crime

Published date01 January 2004
Date01 January 2004
DOI10.1177/026975800401000311
Subject MatterBook Reviews
292
CHILD
PORNOGRAPHY:
AN
INTERNET
CRIME.
Max
Taylor
and
Ethel
Quayle,
Brunner
Routledge;
Hove,
New
York.
2003.
236
pp.
£16.99;
ISBN
1-58391-244-4.
At
the
close
of
the
second
millennium,
one
of
the
social
issues
most
vexing
to
governments,
social
work
and
criminal
justice
professionals
across
the
world
had
emerged
as
that
of
child
sexual
abuse.
As
the
third
millennium
gets
under-
way,
this
issue
is
not
only
unsolved
but
has
increased
in
complexity
through
the
availability
of
vast
amounts
of
child
pornography
on
the
internet.
Because
of
its
relative
newness,
this
subject
has
been
historically
under-researched
but,
in
recent
times,
more
attention
has
begun
to
be
paid
to
it.
Max
Taylor's
and
Ethel
Quayle's
book,
which
investigates
the
use
and
functions
of
child
pornography
on
the
internet,
is
a
welcome
addition
to
the
literature.
The
book
provides
a
comprehensive
picture
of
this
controversial
topic
and
throws
light
on
little-known
aspects
of
the
surrounding
issues.
The
authors
rightly
make
the
point
that
the
process
of
trying
to
understand
an
unpalatable
phenomenon
brings
with
it
the
accompanying
danger
of
appearing
to
condone
it;
they
refer
to
a 6
year
old
child
victim
whom
no-one
could
actually
remember,
and
this
is
reminiscent
of
the
victim
'grid'
which
depicts
a
victim
submerged
and
faceless
under
a
density
of
psychosocial
projections.
They
also
note
the
pervad-
ing
tension
of
official
reluctance
to
censor
on
the
internet
versus
obvious
child
protection
issues,
both
set
against
the
increasing
sexualisation
of
childhood
in
the
media.
A
central
question
for
the
authors
is
whether
child
pornography
on
the
internet
actually
contributes
to
the
sexual
abuse
of
children.
They
divide
related
activity
into
production
and
viewing
and
point
out
that
the
first
may
require
coercion
of
a
child
to
smile
and
pose
during
photography/filming,
which
may
be
commercial
or
private.
The
second
may
involve
possession,
collection
and/or
distribution.
While
any
of
these
activities
may
constitute
an
offence
in
itself,
there
is
seem-
ingly
little
evidence
to
suggest
that
the
use
of
pornography
for
fantasy
purposes
leads
to
later
contact
abuse,
though
those
who
do
commit
child
molestation
have
been
found
more
likely
than
rapists
to
have
used
these
materials
prior
to
and
during
the
offence.
An
excellent
up-to-date
literature
review
is
provided
and
some
useful
theore-
tical
perspectives
offered,
though
there
is
slight
dismissiveness
of
the
relevance
of
victimization
in
the
lives
of
perpetrators,
and
no
discussion
of
the
mediating
factors
that
may
intervene
to
account
for
some
victims
recovering
while
some
others
go
on
to
abuse.
In
respect
of
female
perpetrators,
no
reference
is
made
to
the
potential
for
a
surrounding
male
culture
of
coerciveness.
However,
these
are
minor
criticisms.
A
further
strength
of
the
publication
is
that
it
draws
for
illustration
upon
13
semi-structured
interviews
with
men
convicted
of
possess-
ing
illegal
and
obscene
computer
images
of
chidlren.
(This
reseach
was
con-
ducted
as
part
of
COPINE
-
an
EU-funded
research
programme
entitled
'Combating
Paedophile
Infonnation
Networks
in
Europe'.)

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