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Notes -
How could such an image possibly not be obscene
Because in the United States, a work is obscene only if 1) the average person applying contemporary community standards would find the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; AND 2) the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; AND 3) the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
In contrast, a work can be child pornography even if it is not obscene. So, a work which has substantial literary value, when taken as whole, is not obscene, but might be child porn. Similarly, a work which does not depict sexual conduct (or excretion, as some courts have said) cannot be obscene, but it can nevertheless be child pornography, because "the legal definition of sexually explicit conduct [in the federal child porn statute] does not require that an image depict a child engaging in sexual activity. A picture of a naked child may constitute illegal child pornography if it is sufficiently sexually suggestive." See here. And see US v. Knox, 977 F. 2d 815 (3rd Cir 1992)[Child porn conviction upheld where "[t]he tapes contained numerous vignettes of teenage and preteen females, between the ages of ten and seventeen, striking provocative poses for the camera. The children were obviously being directed by someone off-camera. All of the children wore bikini bathing suits, leotards, underwear or other abbreviated attire while they were being filmed. The government conceded that no child in the films was nude, and that the genitalia and pubic areas of the young girls were always concealed by an abbreviated article of clothing. The photographer would zoom in on the children's pubic and genital area and display a close-up view for an extended period of time . . . with the obvious intent to produce an image sexually arousing to pedophiles. "].
Hence, many works can be child porn, yet not obscene.
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