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The phenomenon of child pornography
1.4.3 Victims
Victims of child pornography are often victims of sexual violence. 299 The child is first of all a victim due
to the sexual abuse that he or she has experienced, and in some cases this abuse may actually increase
in duration and severity for the purpose of producing child abuse material. 300 This state of being a victim
acquires a second dimension when this sexual abuse is recorded, in which case the child is also a victim
of the fact that images of the abuse exist. 301 The victimisation exists in the fact that the child experiences
the consequences of having featured as an object in the material. A great deal of research has been
conducted in relation to victims of sexual abuse. A detailed study of the characteristics of sexual abuse
of children in general, however, lies beyond the context of this report. By contrast, little is known about
victims of child pornography. 302 This sub-section will focus upon what is known with regard to the aspects
of victimisation that arise from child pornography. These include the situation in which the child
is also a victim due to the fact that images were made of the abuse and are available. The consequences
of the fact that images of the abuse exist can be severe and traumatic for the child and his/her family, and
also result in a violation of their privacy. 303 With the advent of the Internet, this facet of the condition
of being a victim is exacerbated further. After all, once the images have been posted on the Internet,
victims and their parents must live with the permanence of the images, 304 in view of the fact that material
that has been posted on the Internet is practically impossible to remove again for certain. 305 The
activities entailing distribution, possession and viewing of the images produced victimise the children
who feature in them due to the fact that they will continually figure as a sex object, and therefore these
activities serve to continue the victimisation. 306
Virtual child abuse material and victimisation
As we have already described in §1.4.1.1, images can also be manipulated using digital techniques,
whereby an ‘ordinary’ image of a child becomes child pornography. Taylor et al. argue that this form
of pseudo-photography constitutes a form of victimisation and must also be tackled as such. 307
The Dutch legislator refers to these methods of production as ‘virtual child abuse material’ 308 and
criminalises it as such. The basic principle behind making the production of virtual child abuse
material a criminal offence is its capacity to cause harm. 309
299 Not all victims of child abuse material have been physically sexually abused. An example would be
minors who voluntarily produce sexual images of themselves that are subsequently distributed on the
Internet. Similarly, physical sexual abuse does not have to have taken place in the case of manipulated
material that is composed of different images and have been ‘pasted’ together using digital techniques
(see §1.4.1.1). See also Nyman, 2008, p.34.
300 See also §1.3.
301 Leary, 2007, pp.9-10; Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.24; Nyman, 2008, p.6.
302 Van der Zee & Groeneveld, 2007, p.240.
303 Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.24.
304 Nyman 2008, p.51; Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.24.
305 Save the <strong>Child</strong>ren, 2006, pp.9-10; Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.24.
306 See also Ost, 2009, p.118.
307 Taylor et al., 2001, p.104; Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.38.
308 Parliamentary Papers 2000/01, 27 745, no. 3, p.4.
309 Lünnemann et al., 2006; Implementation Provisions concerning child pornography, Article 240b of
the Dutch Criminal Code, Dutch Government Gazette 2 December 2010, no. 19121.
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