I posted before about the questions around images of children having sex when the images are purely imaginary. That is, they’re drawn or computer-generated and no child was involved at any stage.

I’ve also posted about a guy in Australia who was convicted of owning a cartoon satire of underage Lisa Simpson having sex.

Now there’s been a conviction in the US. A guy who owns a bunch of Japanese Manga, some of which contain drawings of kids being sexually abused.

I checked out the law itself. Among other things, it makes it illegal to produce a drawing of a child having sex unless there’s “literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

As far as I can tell, this means that I’d be breaking the law if I drew such an image myself, for myself, and never showed it to anyone else. That is, as long as anything I used to produce the item was ever brought over state lines. Since my computer was definitely shipped to me across state lines when I bought it, this applies to me. (I assume that my pencils, pens, and paper were as well.)

And, by the way, I’d also be breaking the law if I attempt such a drawing, or conspire to create one.