[Editor’s Note: This column was coauthored by Ken Blackwell, a Townhall contributing editor
and a senior fellow at the Family Research Council.]
The child porn allegations made against MTV for its “Skins” show must be investigated by the
Obama Justice Department. Child Pornography is not protected by the First Amendment, and
producing child porn is a crime. Whether these allegations are true or not, even allegations of it
are something most responsible businesses don’t want to be associated with, and they’re chasing
advertisers away from this latest attempt to redefine what’s allowed on television.
The latest TV scandal is over MTV’s new show, “Skins.” The show casts child actors (not adults
who play children on camera) with a plot where kids are involved in drugs, sex and reportedly
even prostitution. It’s pushing the envelope in terms of coarsening society, evidently going for
the shock value of being one of the edgiest shows on cable television.
But MTV might be in colossal trouble, because “Skins” is being accused of involving child porn.
Child pornography laws don’t just cover explicit sex between children. Among other things, they
include simulated sexual conduct by minors. If the actors were actually adults who just looked
young, then the Supreme Court says child porn laws would not apply. But because the actors are
really children, if they’re depicted in sexual acts then MTV has crossed the line.
It’s beyond dispute that the child actors are pretending to have sex in this show. The question
becomes whether it’s graphic and explicit enough to fall within child pornography statutes,
since those statutes don’t require actual and full-view sex. If so, then this is a crime that must be
investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In the 1982 case New York v. Ferber, the Supreme Court explains that there are reasons child
pornography is unprotected by the First Amendment. Unlike adults making pornography,
children by definition do not have the legal capacity to consent to a contract, such as contracting
to have sex on camera. Once the pornography is produced and distributed, it can never be
completely recalled, so those pornographic visuals can haunt that child for the rest of his or her
life. It is inherently exploitative, because a child lacks the mental and emotional maturity to
consent to engage in sexual acts.