Cite as: 535 U. S. 234 (2002)
Rehnquist, C. J., dissenting
The Court and Justice O'Connor suggest that this very graphic definition reaches the depiction of youthful looking adult actors engaged in suggestive sexual activity, presumably because the definition extends to "simulated" intercourse. Ante, at 247-248 (majority opinion); ante, at 263 (opinion concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part). Read as a whole, however, I think the definition reaches only the sort of "hard core of child pornography" that we found without protection in Ferber, supra, at 773- 774. So construed, the CPPA bans visual depictions of youthful looking adult actors engaged in actual sexual activity; mere suggestions of sexual activity, such as youthful looking adult actors squirming under a blanket, are more akin to written descriptions than visual depictions, and thus fall outside the purview of the statute.1
The reference to "simulated" has been part of the definition of "sexually explicit conduct" since the statute was first passed. See Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation Act of 1977, Pub. L. 95-225, 92 Stat. 7. But the inclusion of "simulated" conduct, alongside "actual" conduct, does not change the "hard core" nature of the image banned. The reference to "simulated" conduct simply brings within the statute's reach depictions of hardcore pornography that are "made to look genuine," Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 1099 (1983)—including the main target of the CPPA, computer-generated images virtually indistinguishable from real children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Neither actual conduct nor simulated conduct, however, is properly construed to reach depictions such as those in a film portrayal of Romeo and Juliet, ante, at 247-248 (majority opinion); ante, at 263 (O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment
1 Of course, even the narrow class of youthful looking adult images prohibited under the CPPA is subject to an affirmative defense so long as materials containing such images are not advertised or promoted as child pornography. 18 U. S. C. § 2252A(c).
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