Child Pornography

There was a news report on CNN yesterday about law enforcement officers in Austria busting a major child pornography racket involving over 2000 people across 77 countries. The videos show young kids, under 12 years of age, subject to the worst form of sexual abuse. This set me thinking: can internet child pornography possibly serve a useful purpose? Before outraged readers jump down my throat, let me hasten to explain.

Of all human depravities, the sexual molestation of young children understandably provokes the greatest revulsion and horror. Incidents of sexual abuse appear to have mushroomed over the past few decades, implying that there is some flaw in modern society that breeds and encourages these vile monsters. But is that really the case?

Sexual predators have been around since the dawn of human evolution. In the old days, they found release in committing atrocities on women and children during the pillage of towns and cities conquered after a battle. They were immune from censure, since women and children of the vanquished were considered legitimate spoils of war and, therefore, of no consequence.

As society grew more civilized and laws became stricter, these sickos retreated into their own shadowy world. Their guilty pleasures were taken surreptitiously. More often than not, they found their prey among family members. Up to around a hundred fifty years ago, the average family was an extended unit; with two or more generations cohabiting under one roof. Hence there was no shortage of easy pickings. Even when the transgressions were discovered, they were usually hushed up; since family honour was paramount.

In the modern era, with the family unit breaking up - and society showing less tolerance - things became more difficult for the predators. They had to look outside for their victims. Some gravitated towards professions - like school teachers and day care administrators - where children were in abundance and they had the time an opportunity to stake out their likely prey. Kids were often lured with treats, or cowed into submission with threats. Still, demand far outstripped supply, forcing the evil ones into desperate acts; sometimes resulting in murder. Of course, with more sophisticated methods of detection, more and more predators were getting caught - and that explains why there seem to be so many more of them these days.

Which brings me back to my initial premise. There is a whole host of persons out there with a predilection towards tender, young flesh. Most manage to keep it repressed; but in far too many cases, something eventually snaps - and the consequences are usually disastrous. Disgusting as it sounds, if a few (or several) thousand of them can find some sort of release by visiting these internet child pornography sites; it could possibly prevent them from destroying the lives of real victims.

It's just a theory - and, by no means, proven - but it is something to think about.