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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
of the event. 7 Since that time, children have (also) been sexually abused for the purpose of producing
child abuse material. 8 Since the 1960s, the production, distribution and viewing of such material have
increased significantly, and the first studies of the phenomenon were carried out some time later. 9 We
can see parallels between this pre-Internet period and the present digital age. Even at that time, individuals
with a sexual preference for children were in contact with other perpetrators and (potential) victims
all over the world. At that time, people also attempted to conceal their communications, as is the case
now, in order to avoid being discovered.
The late 1960s to the mid-1980s
During the 1960s a more liberal sexual morality developed, which emerged partly as a result of the secularisation
of society, the development of means of contraception and the increase in levels of education.
This decade saw the emergence of movements that proclaimed the principle of “free love”, including sex
with minors. 10 On the one hand, the production and distribution of child abuse images in those years
was the result of the spirit of the age, but it was also made possible due to the fact that technologies
for film and photography were becoming increasingly accessible to the public at large. Although the
quality was still poor, practically anyone could produce child abuse material and view it at home. There
were no efforts to tackle child pornography during the 1960s and 1970s; legislation to that end was not
in place until the mid-1980s.
Developments in legislative history
Article 240b of the Dutch Criminal Code, in which various acts relating to child pornography were
made into criminal offences, entered into force in 1986. 11 Prior to that time, criminal legislation
in the Netherlands did not contain any separate provisions that criminalised acts relating to child
pornography. Initially, it was not deemed necessary either. For example, in the early 1980s, the
government stated, within the context of the policy to tackle sexual violence against women and
girls, that various provisions in the Dutch Criminal Code already ensured that action could be taken
in situations in which there was evidence of threat, coercion or actual physical violence against
women who worked (or intended to work) as models. According to the government, the same
argument held true for those forms of pornography in which minors were used as models. Articles
244 et seq. were deemed to provide sufficient means of taking action against such offences. 12 It was
therefore possible to take action against child abuse images, but prior to 1986 it was only possible
on the grounds of the fact that the distribution of child abuse material constituted an offence, and
7 Ferraro & Casey, 2005, pp.9-10.
8 Jenkins, 2001, pp. 30-32.
9 For example, Burgess, 1984; De Wit et al., 1986.
10 Lünnemann et al., 2006.
11 Dutch Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 1985, 385, entered into force on 21 May 1986 (Dutch Bulletin of Acts
and Decrees 1986, 245).
12 Memorandum: Tackling sexual violence against women and girls, Parliamentary Papers II 1983-1984, 18 542
nos. 1-2. Similarly, in the period prior to the enactment of specific legislation, no distinction existed
between pornography involving adults and that involving children in national legislation of other
countries, and the regulation of the material was based upon arguments of decency. A great deal of
national legislation pertaining to child pornography originated from indecency legislation. Akdeniz,
2008, pp. 17-20 & 94-96.