A terrible and reprehensible form of pornography where children and teenagers under the age of eighteen are photographed while naked and/or in lewd poses. Coercing or persuading a child to appear in pornography is invariably manipulative, abusive, and exploitative.
Fortunately, once the individual turns eighteen, they are instantly able to grant informed consent and said photographs are a-ok.
An oversimplification? Probably, but I think it's worth remembering. Civilized people are almost universal in their opposition to child pornography, no matter what their religious views. But I find it hypocritical somehow to say that photographing a sixteen-year-old girl with no clothes on is always morally reprehensible while photographing a naked eighteen-year-old is a woman practicing her feminist freedom of choice. I understand that from a legal standpoint the line needs to be drawn at a particular age, but I'm not talking about the law. I'm talking about people's own perception that one age is a free choice while another is just plain wrong, with no grey area in between.
Why is it okay for adults to pose in pornography, but not teens? If it's because teenagers are unable to fully evaluate what's happening, or incapable of fully comprehending the choice they're making? This is hardly a prerogative of youth; adults can be manipulated or naive just as easily as kids. This is similar to the double standard where people have no problem with underage teenagers having sex with each other, but having sex with adults is verboten and immoral.
I don't like child pornography; more accurately, I don't like any kind of pornography. But I really feel like this is a hypocrisy that people ought to confront and think about individually. As a society, our standard for what is and isn't tolerable is falling fast, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. In the 1980s, the idea of equal rights for homosexuals was ridiculous to the majority of Western civilization. I predict that by 2020, pedophiles and child pornographers will have succeeded in convincing the public that their "lifestyle choice" is just as permissible.