99.99% of the human population is deeply offended by child pornography. But, as the United States Supreme Court ruled in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, child pornography is bad because it exploits children, not because there’s something inherently illegal about being a pedophile. In its judgment, the Court ruled that Congress’ only mandate was to prevent the exploitation of children, and that it could not ban “virtual” kiddie porn, like cartoons, computer-generated pornography, or images where children’s faces have been photoshopped onto otherwise legal adult pornography. In other words, if children aren’t involved, then it’s not child pornography, and therefore it’s not illegal.
Things are quite different in Australia, however… as New South Wales resident Alan John McEwan found out. McEwan was somehow busted for having a collection of images which featured characters from The Simpsons – especially kids Bart and Lisa – engaging in sexual acts. He was taken to Parramatta Local Court and found guilty of possession of child pornography in February of this year. And, this morning, the New South Wales Supreme Court upheld McEwan’s conviction… for child pornography… for having cartoons of Simpsons characters having sex.
Look, I’m not going to defend pedophiles here. I’m as kinky as the next guy, but you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere, and sex with children is absolutely out of bounds. However, simply being a pedophile is not a crime, nor should it be until a pedophile actually acts on it. So this ruling simply baffles me. McEwan had drawings of fictional cartoon characters on his computer.
While I appreciate that the justices were probably trying to “do the right thing”, you should really read their ruling for the tortured logic it contains.