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Originally Posted by Rausch
So am I...
LOOK IT UP.
Even in Kalifornia THAT IS ILLEGAL...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography
In the United States, child pornography is prohibited under both federal and state laws with some state laws including more or less restrictive definitions compared with federal law. Under federal law, child pornography is defined as visual depiction of minors (i.e. under 18) engaged in a sex act such as intercourse, oral sex, or masturbation as well as the lascivious depictions of the genitals. Various federal courts in the 1980s and 1990s have concluded that "lewd" or "lascivious" depiction of the genitals does not require the genitals to be uncovered. Thus, for example, a video of underage teenage girls dancing erotically, with multiple close-up shots of their covered genitals, can be considered child porn.
Questions arose in late 1990's as whether the depiction of mere nudity of minors could constitute obscenity. After the U.S. Customs Service seized in 1998 over 200 Nudist magazines sent from Europe that featured nude depictions of minors, a court case ensued in which an appellate court ruled in 2000 that depictions of nude minors engaging in activities otherwise normal for their age, cannot be held obscene [1]. The court based it rulling partly on a previouse Supreme Court rulling that had concluded that mere nudity in and of itself does not constitute obscenity.
Further complicating the issue in the U. S. is that there is no clear legal definition in federal or state law as to what exactly constitutes a "lewd" or "lascivious" exhibition. In addition, these terms are often to be interpreted according to "contemporary community standards." Defining the standards of a community where residents come from a wide variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and where moving from place to place is commonplace so that the nature of a community is continually changing, has proved extremely challenging.
In United States vs. Knox, the court ruled that a picture a minor's clothed sexual organ could constitute a 'lascivious exhibition.'
Texts are not considered child pornography in USA, because, legally, any text has artistic merit.