New Bill Seeks to Change ‘Child Pornography’ to ‘Child Sexual Abuse Material’
By Movieguide® Staff
A new bill presented to Arkansas Senate committee would change terminology in Arkansas code from “child pornography” to “child sexual abuse material.’
State Rep. Charlene Fite, who sponsored the bill, noted that the old terminology does not properly classify the severity of the crime.
“Using [child sexual abuse material] would put the emphasis on the crime committed against the child,” Fite said. “A child cannot consent.”
Fite added that the new bill would also mean changes to criminal sentences.
“When we convict people who do this, we want the emphasis to be on the child, not the term pornography,” Fite said. “I’m hoping this will make prosecution of those who commit these heinous crimes easier.”
Fite’s proposed bill is another piece in the puzzle in protecting children online.
Movieguide® previously reported on the recent increase in CSAM and the need for media discernment:
A new report titled “Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material: Youth Attitudes and Experiences in 2020,” found that the number of nude images shared amongst minors ages 9-12 doubled during the pandemic.
The share of minors ages 9-12 who are sharing self-generated nude images online more than doubled in 2020, and advocates involved in combatting online child sex abuse are worried about the trend, a new study shows.
Thorn, an organization dedicated to combating online child sexual abuse, released the report in November. Thorn compiled data based on a 20-minute online survey from Oct. 26 to Nov. 12, 2020, and received responses from 2,002 children across the United States.
Thorn targeted research on Self-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material, also referred to as SG-CSAM, which they identified as “explicit imagery of a child that appears to have been taken by the child in the image.”
According to the report, the number of 9-12-year-olds who shared explicit self-generated photos rose from 6% to 14% in 2020.
“Self-generated child sexual abuse material has become a vital area of concern for those combating online child sexual exploitation. … [It] presents distinct risks for kids and unique challenges for the communities committed to protecting them,” researchers noted. “The interventions we pursue must be uniquely tailored to the experiences of young people and the offenders who may target them for victimization.”
One conclusion that Thorn notes in the study from the numbers are that “minors may be operating with less supervision in online spaces, particularly among 9-12-year-olds, compared to 2019 numbers.”
“Use of secondary accounts … intended to keep content private from some groups like caregivers or friends, was up most significantly among this group and 9-12-year-olds reported the most significant drop in their frequencies for following set online safety rules,” the report explained.
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