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ABSTRACT
Previous research on child pornography has primarily focused on the consumption and distribution of the material – the consumer side. In this study, we turn the focus on the content of child pornography websites. While some research assessed the content, there was little consideration of gender. This paper assesses whether gender is important in correlating the presence of images of child exploitation in websites. The 300 websites examined were either directly, or indirectly connected to a known child pornography website. Results suggest that, although the majority of websites in the sample were oriented toward boy-related content, 1) the presence of girl keywords, and 2) an indicator of the sexualization of young girls were both associated with websites known to contain illegal images.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for suggestions provided on an earlier version of this paper, as well as the assistance of Richard Frank and Bryce Westlake in collecting the data.
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Notes on contributors
Jennifer Kusz
Jennifer Kusz is a PhD candidate in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Her works focuses on obscenity, child pornography, the legal response to pornography, and gender crime and violence.
Martin Bouchard
Martin Bouchard is a Professor of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, where he leads the Crime and Illicit Networks Laboratory. His work focuses on the organization and dynamics of illicit markets, and on examining the impact of social networks on various outcomes of criminological interest, including gang violence.