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Images of children: there's no harm in looking : Comments
By Bob Ryan, published 25/7/2017The crime of child sexual abuse is not in the image, nor is it in the looking; it is in the abusive act itself.
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Looking at pictures of children may well be a symbolic act of a wish to return to childhood. Longingly looking is more about the longing than the looking. The desire to return to childhood is common in people who have had an unsatisfactory childhood and have not been able to leave it behind. There is, for many, ‘unfinished business’ with childhood and it is not unusual for those people to be fascinated with children. Just looking at images of children will never satisfy the emotional need but it does no harm to anyone but the viewer.
Moving beyond viewing to acting out those symbolic needs is a different story since it impinges upon the rights and freedom of children to develop and to freely choose. A person with a collection of thousands of images does a lot less damage than a father who sexually abuses his own daughter.
The outrage that people express about images is out of proportion and quite often covers an underlying sense of guilt about more profound harm that is done in the family home. It is much easier to point the finger than to face the reality of actual sexual abuse.