A Tricky Situation
I read this article on Metafilter: Criminalized self exploitation "15 year old girl has been charged with several counts related to 'child pornography' for sending out pictures of herself to several people she chatted with."

From the article linked, the actual charges are: sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.

I do not know what to make of it. My first reaction is to say that it is her body and she can do what she wants with it and as one comment states, "This is like arresting two teenagers for fooling around".

But then I found out that she sometimes traded the pictures for gifts or money. This seems a bit too close to prostitution for comfort, underage prostitution at that. I do not think it is right but I do not think it would necesseraly be illegal.

On the legal front, I have trouble with someone being charged with possession of pictures of themselves. Also, how can something you do to yourself be criminal abuse? By that logic, anyone who gets a piercing or branding should be brought up on assault charges.

An interesting and complex issue.