We rarely mention child pornography on this site as we focus mainly on legal mainstream pornography and it’s socio-cultural roots and consequences. We see adult pornography if you like, as one of the most important social issues that we face in tackling both violence against women and wider gender inequality, as well as an important personal issue in the lives and relationships of many people. We have noticed that a lot of content that within adult pornography – such as violent, degrading and abusive behavior towards women – is currently accepted as normal in order to gratify men’s sexual “needs” and feel that this is something we want to address. Whilst child porn obviously also depicts violent, degrading and abusive behavior, its illegal status is probably the main reason it is not discussed in much here.
It would be easy here to dismiss child pornography here as a very deviating category of pornography due to its illegal status. A lot of what is considered mainstream pornography however take a punt at child porn with terms like “teen sluts”, “barely legal”, “Fresh Juicy Lolitas”, “busty teen”, “Asian schoolgirl” and “cheerleader” – enticing users even more by pointing out the riskiness of the material. I am convinced that the motives and mechanics behind the use of child pornography are the same or at least very similar to those of adult pornography. Surely this is the reason why a lot of men who have used porn say they find themselves looking for more and more extreme content, which for some does not even end at what is definitely child pornography. 
Maintaining the daily updates on our Facebook page requires me to keep track of what is new in porn-land on a daily basis. To be able to provide the latest news and posts I have signed up for a number of specific Google alerts. Disturbingly I found, soon after I had set the alerts up that about 80% of all the articles I get sent have to do with child porn. Below a selection of child porn related articles from a single day – October 7th 2011:
Brown County man indicted on child pornography charges
Police arrest man for child pornography after tipoff from burglars
Niagara Falls man charged with child pornography offences
Former Thomson teacher sentenced on child pornography charges
New details emerge in federal agent’s child porn arrest
Primera chief resigns amid new porn investigation at work
Music teacher jailed for child porn
If I tell you that every single day I get more than 10 emails with between 2 and 5 links in them – 80% being related to child pornography – we are talking about more than 100 news posts involving child pornography a day. Yes, there will be some overlap and some duplication buut I have made a very conservative estimate here. Child pornography seems on the rise in the US with the number of child pornography cases being filed increasing by 330% in 10 years. In the UK the Internet Watch Foundation found that worldwide the number of individual webpages containing child pornography represents a 89.3% increase since 2009. This trend they say however “must be understood in terms of the changing hosting patterns…with commercial distributers as well as individual offenders increasingly exploiting legitimate hosting services to publish images, we are seeing content being posted to separate locations rather than large collections of images stored within a folder on a single webpage”.
In the Netherlands meanwhile, following major child sex abuse cases a national police unit is being formed to tackle child pornography. They will double the number of officers from to 150 and are aiming for a 25% increase in arrests by 2014.
Police Commissioner Peter Reijnders, who is in charge of the programme to improve the method of tackling child pornography said that “We are seeing…that the material is becoming increasingly more serious. The abuse of young children is unfortunately no longer unusual.” Judging from what has been confiscated he believes that very many men download child pornography.
No matter what these increases can be attributed too, the figures are very disturbing. After long negotiations, involving nine informal meetings in 2011 the Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe (PACE) declared on October 5th 2011 that “images of child abuse on the internet should be rapidly removed where possible”. They ad that “if this is not possible then they should – as a complementary measure, and following transparent procedures that respect human rights principles – be blocked.” PACE unanimously approved a report by Agustín Conde Bajén (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly said Council of Europe member states should, in the long term, criminalise the intentional viewing of child abuse images. In the meantime, among other steps, internet service providers should be encouraged to rid their networks of child pornography material, report illegal content to the authorities and assist the police in identifying its origin. Member states will then have two years to transpose the new rules into their national laws. View the full report here.
Related posts:
What is wrong with men? Can someone answer this, because it isn’t women who are watching child porn!!!
The reason is probably that women are in larger part taking care of real children and thus get their fill of the basic human need to nurture, pet, play and rough-house with offspring of the species. Men too have this drive, but it gets perverted more easily.
Most child porn viewers probably mistake their urge to be a hands-on nappy-changing, feeding, potty-training, apprentice-teaching, occassionally spanking daddy for a sexual impulse.
We must never forget the awesome power parents hold over children and especially babies, even in our day and age. To have a baby is man’s chance to play omnipotent God. No wonder the perversions of this can be equally terrifying.
Unfortunately it is mainly men (more specifically white men) who commit these crimes and thank you for asking why. A question like this requires a complex answer and unfortunately there is not much research published into the motives of child pornography users.
some statistics on child porn use and users:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/fpcseo06.pdf
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/204911.pdf
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/child-abuse.aspx
Some stories in the news focussed on offenders and their families:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/aug/05/childrensservices.uknews
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/jan/23/childprotection
Connections to child abuse:
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/child-abuse.aspx
Björn
What the child porn user Jum Bell says in on the Guardian pieces underlines my point above:
“My experience suggests that men become dangerous when they become obsessional: when they live alone, and their minds are filled with little else but thoughts of what they want but cannot have.
[...]
It is the lack of a normal, healthy relationship with children that makes men dangerous.”
This is a little disingenuous. There are lots of lonely men who do not look at child-porn. It may well be true that like many other behaviours, people who are prone to viewing child-porn, do so when they are lonely or in some other way facing an overwhelming and difficult situation, but if they do then this indicates a desire to view these images of child exploitation.
Others may prefer to get drunk, gamble or play video games. Women also find themselves lonely and distressed but few turn to child porn. Many gay men have little contact with children yet as a category gay men are not more known for downloading child pornography than heterosexuals.
I see child pornography as a sign of someone wanting to degrade others as a way of dealing with one’s own problems and using sex to take your mind of things that are overwhelming. Two habits that men are renowned for.
Very interesting information. Thank you!