It’s child sexual abuse material — not pornography, Alaska House says  • Alaska Beacon

Language matters, the House agreed on Wednesday, when it advanced a bill that would change the term “child pornography” to “child sexual abuse material” in Alaska state law.

The term “child pornography” is misleading because it implies consent and omits the gravity of a crime, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer.

Children cannot legally consent to sex or being featured in sexually explicit material, so the name change acknowledges their victimhood and corrects the suggestion of their complicity, she said.

“The use of the term child sexual abuse material serves to correct this misconception highlighting the non-consensual and abusive nature that are depicted in these acts,” Vance said.

To victims, she added: “We see you, we hear you. And we are going to call this what it is.”

House Bill 265 passed 39-1, with Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, against. Eastman suggested the bill language was overly broad, but Vance rejected his argument.

“Under Alaska law, AS 11 41.455, audio, video, electronic and electromagnetic recording, photographs, negatives, slides, books, newspaper, magazine or other materials to visually or orally depicts the abuse of a child is currently defined as child pornography. But this bill will call it what it is child sexual abuse material,” she said.

Sgt. Matthew DuBois of the Juneau Police Department testified on his own behalf before the House Judiciary Committee in favor of the bill last month. He said in his 17 years in law enforcement he investigated many such cases.

“There’s no such thing as child pornography,” he said, adding that such material is the result of children being groomed, forced or exploited by abusers — often with long-lasting and devastating effects on victims.

He said the current terminology implies a subcategory of legal pornography, which is misleading: “Perpetrators are not making or watching pornography, they’re abusing children,” he said.

The bill has support from statewide advocates against domestic violence and sexual assault, including the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, which supported the legislation in a letter.

“‘Child pornography’ suggests images of children posing in provocative positions, rather than suffering devastating sexual abuse. Children do not choose to engage in such acts, nor do they deserve to have such crimes filmed, distributed, and watched repeatedly by offenders,” it said.

Vance has sponsored a number of bills aimed at protecting victims of sexual crimes, particularly child victims; this is the first to be passed.

The bill does not have a companion in the Senate. Members of the Senate Majority indicated they had not yet reviewed the bill, but may take it up in the Judiciary Committee. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, added that it was late in the session.