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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Feelings of shame occur even more often in cases such as these, due to the fact that in many cases,
the victims produced the images themselves. 329
In contrast to young children, older children are more aware of the significance of the existence of
images of their abuse, and this consequently makes them more concerned about the images. 330 This
awareness is accompanied by feelings of shame and anxiety 331 and forms a heavy burden in cases where
the victim wishes for closure with regard to the events. 332
Gender of victims of child pornography
As was described above, little is known of the victims of child pornography. However, it is possible to
deduce a number of physical characteristics of victims from child abuse material of which the existence
is known. The COPINE 333 archive contains 150,000 child abuse images, of which more than half feature
girls. 334 At the beginning of this century, 7% of the material featuring girls – amongst the images that
depict an explicit sexual activity (category five according to the Implementation Provisions concerning
child pornography) 335 – could be designated as new, 336 compared with 26% of the material featuring
boys. 337 We have therefore seen a relatively greater increase in child abuse images involving boys as
victims, compared with that involving girls. This finding is consistent with the claim that the majority
of images previously involved girls, but at present they increasingly involve boys. 338 In the case of commercially
produced child abuse material, the supply of material featuring boys is said to be now even
greater than that involving girls. 339 This increase in boys becoming victims is also related to the advent
of the Internet. 340
Ethnicity
The large majority of children in the images in the COPINE 341 archive involving content of category five
of the Implementation Provisions concerning child pornography were white children. Asian children
appeared more often in images featuring erotic posing. 342 The year 2002 saw an increase in images
featuring erotic posing that originated from commercial websites from South America and Eastern Eu-
329 Nyman, 2008, pp.36-37.
330 Nyman, 2008, p.22.
331 Muir, 2005, p.41.
332 Von Weiler et al., 2010.
333 The ‘Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe project’ is an EU-funded research programme
in child pornography and the actors involved.
334 Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.41.
335 See §1.4.1.1 of this report for an explanation of the different categories.
336 Images that are less than ten years’ old are classified as ‘new’.
337 Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.41. Taylor & Quayle adhere to a different taxonomy, whereby categories seven
to ten inclusive correspond to category five of the Implementation Provisions concerning child pornography.
See also§1.4.1.1 and Appendix 1.
338 Van der Zee & Groeneveld, 2007, p.242.
339 Van der Zee & Groeneveld, 2007, p.242.
340 Muir, 2005, p.33.
341 See §1.4.1.1 and Appendix 1.
342 Taylor & Quayle, 2003, p.41.