Your article, its title, and the trails in the paper journal
refer repeatedly to "child pornography". In fact, they are
images of child abuse, and describing them as anything less
than this belittles the seriousness of what a child has gone
through in their making.
Pornography is widely regarded by our society as, perhaps, a
bit naughty, but not, in the majority of cases, something
which is illegal or coercive. I have no opinion to express
here about the rights or wrongs of pornography involving
consenting adults. However, there are no circumstances
under which a child can give consent, the acts are always
illegal, and these are always images of a child being
abused. They should be described as such.
There will doubtless be people who will regard this as
political correctness gone mad, but how we name things is
important, especially if it reminds people about their
underlying seriousness. I challenge the BMJ editorial team
to support the message that these are images of appalling
acts inflicted on some of our most vulnerable members of
society, and to adopt a policy of calling these images what
they truly are: images of child abuse.
Ian Wacogne
Consultant Paediatrician,
Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Rapid Response:
It isn't "Child porn", it's images of child abuse
Your article, its title, and the trails in the paper journal
refer repeatedly to "child pornography". In fact, they are
images of child abuse, and describing them as anything less
than this belittles the seriousness of what a child has gone
through in their making.
Pornography is widely regarded by our society as, perhaps, a
bit naughty, but not, in the majority of cases, something
which is illegal or coercive. I have no opinion to express
here about the rights or wrongs of pornography involving
consenting adults. However, there are no circumstances
under which a child can give consent, the acts are always
illegal, and these are always images of a child being
abused. They should be described as such.
There will doubtless be people who will regard this as
political correctness gone mad, but how we name things is
important, especially if it reminds people about their
underlying seriousness. I challenge the BMJ editorial team
to support the message that these are images of appalling
acts inflicted on some of our most vulnerable members of
society, and to adopt a policy of calling these images what
they truly are: images of child abuse.
Ian Wacogne
Consultant Paediatrician,
Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests