While Americans respond with outrage to reports of pedophile priests and the kidnapping, rape, and murder of preadolescent girls, some have begun to question why a nation so opposed to the sexual abuse and exploitation of children continues to tacitly accept the sexualization of children.

Both state and federal legislation demonstrate America’s commitment to protect its children from sexual abuse and exploitation. In June 1997, the Supreme Court upheld state laws that allow authorities to indefinitely incarcerate child molesters who pose a continuing threat to children. In California, repeat sex offenders face mandatory chemical castration, and several states have adopted controversial Megan’s Laws that allow authorities to notify residents when child molesters have moved into their neighborhood. Although declared unconstitutional, the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 attempted to broaden the scope of federal child-pornography legislation by criminalizing computer-generated simulations of...