Art or Paedophilia?

[Rapscallion]

The UK has laws about making images that appear to be children in provocative poses etc, so the legislators over here - things like grafting a child's head onto an naked adult's body.

Rapscallion

[the_std]

Illegality may not change art, but does art not need to conform to legality? Is there something about art that raises it above legal conformity?

I'm sure as hell not going to advocate an artist killing some innocent passerby to use his intestines in an applique mural. An artist who oversteps the boundaries of the law is also a criminal. Just like an accountant who runs someone over in his car is also a criminal. They do not stop being an accountant just because they hit a dude, do they? Neither does an artist.

You can't stop criminals from being criminals. If an artist believes the only way to express himself artistically is to staple someone else's skin to a piece of plywood and he's really fervent about being an artist (or mentally deranged), he's gonna do it. Governing bodies might not recognize criminally-involved art as art, but that's where the whole "subjective" thing comes in to play again.

[AFPheonix]

What exactly is the law? Is merely being naked enough? Or does a sexual act have to be involved?
Does the medium matter? What about all those Rennaissance paintings depicting young children in the nude? How about all those paintings and sculptures of the infant Jesus without pants?

Simply having nudity shouldn't be illegal. If we are this afraid of our own bodies, something is wrong. Being afraid that a pedophile is going to look at it isn't enough of a justification. Should that stop people from photographing animals because someone who's into bestiality could be aroused by it? How about hand or feet models when someone viewing has that particular fetish?

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think that as long as it's not actual children, it doesn't count as child porn. For example, there's a subset of hentai called loli (I think, or something similar) that features little girls. That doesn't count as child porn apparently, cuz it's not real kids. Same goes for erotic fiction featuring kids from books. You could write a rape scene featuring the kids from Fame and not get punished for it; altho, it might be different in different countries or states.

[anriana]

What about all those Rennaissance paintings depicting young children in the nude? How about all those paintings and sculptures of the infant Jesus without pants?

Did those painters have actual children doing nude modeling for them?

Simply having nudity shouldn't be illegal. If we are this afraid of our own bodies, something is wrong. Being afraid that a pedophile is going to look at it isn't enough of a justification. Should that stop people from photographing animals because someone who's into bestiality could be aroused by it? How about hand or feet models when someone viewing has that particular fetish?

This doesn't seem to be an issue of "is it wrong to show nudity?" It seems to be more "is it wrong to use young teenagers as nude models?"

[AFPheonix]

Did those painters have actual children doing nude modeling for them?



This doesn't seem to be an issue of "is it wrong to show nudity?" It seems to be more "is it wrong to use young teenagers as nude models?"

I imagine at least some did. Why is it wrong to have younger people be nude models?
Are the parents who take pictures of their babies without diapers all of a sudden pedophiles for having naked kiddie pictures?
How about photos that I'm sure all of us females had where we were at the beach in only a diaper, no swimsuit?

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Ok, as someone who has turned in someone for the thousands of child images on their computer, I know that it depends on the content of the images.

I was doing a hard drive transfar from a small hard drive to a larger one when my co-worker noticed a file name that caught her eye.

9yogrlbj.jpg

When the transfer was done we looked for that file and found out that her hunch was right. 9 Year Old Girl Blow Job. And yes, it was in a folder with about 2000 more images.

Police are called and they look at the images with me. Most of them couldn't get the person in trouble as they were little kids naked running around at a nudist camp, or just naked in general. The police also couldn't do anything about any picture where the subject had pubic hair or breasts as it could be argued that it was a very young 18 year old, or at least 16 if it came from a british site.

However, the ones that were enough to nail him for was the pictures of children engaged in sexual acts that were clearly underdeveloped.

Mind you this was back in 2000 so I'm not sure what the laws are now, but that was what they looked for previously

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Now here's a question for you. What about the drawings of children in sexual acts? There are numerour computer programs out there where one can create 3d models of people of all ages and can pose them in any number of positions. Not to mention the fact that a talented person with a pencil and paper can render detailed images of whatever the minds eye can imagine.

Should those be or are the considered an arrestable offense?

[Lace Neil Singer]

Now here's a question for you. What about the drawings of children in sexual acts? There are numerour computer programs out there where one can create 3d models of people of all ages and can pose them in any number of positions. Not to mention the fact that a talented person with a pencil and paper can render detailed images of whatever the minds eye can imagine.

Should those be or are the considered an arrestable offense?

I mentioned lolicon earlier, that's pretty much what that is. It's hentai starring young girls. But it's all over the net, especially on anime sites; would that be pedophilia?

[the_std]

I don't see why works of fiction or fantasy would be considered illegal. You should be able to draw anything you like, it's called creative license.

How those drawings are used is another thing. If they're used to bully or harass someone, then they can be considered illegal. But the act itself of drawing the image should not be.