Re: it's simple
>>Was someone harmed or abused making it?
Very good question, but the answer is not simple at all, yes if the picture is of an under 18 being abused, but what if they are 18, appear 14 and concent? or what if they are 14, appear 18 (and concent is irrelevant), what if it is a picture that appears to be a 10 year old boy being buggered but is a perfect quality painted picture (not a real person), or what if you think it's a real child, but the owner of the image claims it's been created?
>>I always find it interesting that people are quite willing to believe that images of children (anyone under 18) being abused (any kind of potentially sexual act) will drive men to commiting such acts.
That's right, nobody ever wants to kill, nobody rapes and children don't get abused. I'm pretty sure that most of these acts are points of escallation, it is well documented that serial killers often build up from smaller acts of violence, and it is logical to assume that a chid abuser will not be restricted to physical acts, whether it's addictive and habit-forming actually requiring escallation is a different matter.
An abuser is an abberant person, having worked with sex offenders there is no question that you want to keep explicit materal away from the offenders, but you also want to keep other material away from offenders too that the general population would consider "normal".
Have we gone too far with censorship? almost certainly, but people are "being safe than sorry", and do I find it stupid that I guy I know had his Facebook account removed because he posted a load of old family pics (one of him, the "offending picture" as a 5 year old straight out of the bath), that's too far, some people would argue that show a naked breast or flacid penis is OK, and some would say erect nipples, labia close-ups, and turgid penis is also OK, but I'm guessing that those people ain't setting the rules.