Relax, they are just trying to scare you
By Eolake Stobblehouse

[Disclaimer: The author is not a lawyer, and nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice. If you have doubts or questions, talk to a lawyer.]

The annual convention for Responsible Journalists Of North America is held in a hotel room in Boston. Rumor has it that the attendee spends the day reading old Doonesbury collections.

When I was a child, and the big kids were mean, my mother would say to me: "Don't worry, Honey, they are just trying to scare you." Gee, you think? Well, they are succeeding!

OK, first I want to show you a couple of things.

1. This wonderful photo book by Sally Mann
2. This excellent ditto by Jock Sturges
3. This classic book by David Hamilton

Why do I show you this? Well, it all comes out of frustration with our "wonderful" media. Every year tens of thousands of articles are published in mainstream media about the great evil of child pornography, and how you will go to jail if you even so much as look at a single picture of child pornography. Without even going into how insane that law is in itself, I just want to point to the fact that I have never ever, in all these years, seen a single article that defined what they are talking about!

Imagine you said to a child: If you ever touch a bogglywoggly, you will die instantly. And you said this every day, and you never once told him what a bogglywoggly is. Do you think you would have a scared and nervous child? This sounds insane, but nevertheless this is being done all the time, not only to children, but to all of us, in many areas.

The U.S. law about child pornography is pretty simple, and you can find it here and continued here. And most of the western world follows the Americans these days, so that law is pretty typical.

The reasons I pointed to the books above is 1: They are all sold in all major bookstores. 2: They all contain nude pictures of minors or children.

Many people are so worried and confused by the media's "information" (read 'scare campaigns') that they think that a nude image of a child is 'child pornography'. Yet look at those books. If they were illegal, do you really think that all the big book stores would carry them? Big companies are very, very careful with legality.

The fact is that a picture of a merely nude child is not 'child pornography'. What is, then? Well, pictures of children in sexual situations definitely are. If you have any of those, get rid of them now. Pictures with "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area" as the law states are also bad. Lascivious means:
1: Given to or expressing lust; lecherous.
2: Exciting sexual desires; salacious.

The "wonderful" thing about the law is of course that many things are open to interpretation. Like what exactly is "lascivious"? If you are in doubt, read the law, and ask a lawyer! (Don't ask me, I can't give legal advice.) Yet it is clear that most people have much less to be afraid of than they are led to believe.

Is it on purpose that the big media are scaring people by giving them just enough "information" to frighten them, but not enough to be actually informed? Well, look at it this way: if a customer comes into a store and walks away with a candy bar in his pocket that he did not pay for, it may be a mistake. If he does it twice, you have your doubts. If he is doing it continually and consistently, well...