# Child Sexual Abuse Material rather than Kiddie Porn **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390 "2025-04-23T06:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390/141 "2025-04-24T22:31:39Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > My main objection to CSAM currently in general use because not enough people know what it means > > What part of “Child Sexual Abuse Material” is unclear? If I hadn’t encountered the term before (and I hadn’t, until it came up here on the SDMB), I sure wouldn’t know what it referred to. My first guess might have been either scholarly material (research articles, etc.) on the sexual abuse of children, or physical materials used in the sexual abuse of children (handcuffs? sex toys? lube?). The word “material” could mean just about anything. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Because, like this board, many are slow to catch up. My impression from this thread (which may not be accurate—I haven’t really tried to check) is that many of the posters who are on “your side” are non-US Dopers. If so, it may not (just) be an issue of “slow to catch up” or of who’s more sensitive to the victims, but of the differing connotations and nuances of how different terminology is used in different versions of English. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > A lot of the pushback that seems to surprise non-Americans comes from the novelty of the phrase here. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390/142 "2025-04-24T23:27:24Z")
We can debate “child pornography” versus “child sexual assault materials”. But it’s absolutely 100% clear that “CSAM” is a much worse term than “child pornography”, for all the reasons that proponents of that word insist that it’s better: Reducing it to an acronym sanitizes it, and hides how horrible it is. If you’re going to refer to it as “child sexual abuse material”, then you need to spell it out in full. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390/143 "2025-04-25T04:33:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If you add “child pornography” to that serach, it gets nearly 10 times as many hits as CSAM. Oh, sure - [but it’s also _trending_ down](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=CSAM%2CChild+Sexual+Abuse+Material%2CChild+Porn%2Cchild+pornography&year_start=1990&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=true), just like “child porn”, which was my point. It’s got those hits partly because it’s still the _current_ legal term, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390/144 "2025-04-25T04:35:25Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’d expect an actual good argument for why it matters You think you don’t encounter other victims of child abuse than Ms. Kozak, regularly? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390/145 "2025-04-25T04:45:12Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If I hadn’t encountered the term before (and I hadn’t, until it came up here on the SDMB), I sure wouldn’t know what it referred to. If it was introduced absent any context, I can maybe see that. But in the context of an arrested paedophile, I would think of media before paraphernalia, myself. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > many of the posters who are on “your side” are non-US Dopers As far as I know, only a couple are, the rest are other USian or at least USian expats. But Kozak and RAINN (and [the FBI](https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/violent-crime/vcac) and the DOJ) are very much USian. > [@Chronos](#): > > But it’s absolutely 100% clear that “CSAM” is a much worse term than “child pornography”, Not if you live your life through text. > [@Chronos](#): > > Reducing it to an acronym sanitizes it, and hides how horrible it is. Once you know, you know what it stands for. That very argument has been used here about “child porn” not being associated with professionally-produced porn, in fact. And hell, just calling it “porn” is already just the kind of reduction you’re decrying, yet people do it without thinking. Start with them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/child-sexual-abuse-material-rather-than-kiddie-porn/1017390.md?page=7)