Ithink the images she did in Penthouse were sex. I caught a glimpse of them on a oogle search (cropped versions).
So I was wrong.
But it lead to a good convo I hope.
I still don't think if Penthouse or Playboy published Sally Mann the images would become suddenly illegal though.
This question has already been answered.
Who was the youngest Playmate of the Month? The legal age limit is, of course, 18. However, supposedly Elizabeth Ann Roberts, in the January 1958 issue, was only 16 at the time. Her mother accompanied her to the photo session, and claimed she was 18. She was also attending college at the time. Both Playboy and Miss Roberts' mother were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, charges later dropped.
Marion Dreyfus: Counting Playboy
n the United States, pornography is considered a form of personal expression, and thus governed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Pornography is generally protected speech, unless it is obscene, as the Supreme Court of the United States held in 1973 in Miller v. California.
Child pornography is also not protected by the First Amendment, but importantly, for different reasons. In 1982 the Supreme Court held in New York v. Ferber that child pornography, even if not obscene, is not protected speech. The court gave a number of justifications why child pornography should not be protected, including that the government has a compelling interest in safeguarding the physical and psychological well being of minors.
Child pornography laws in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Can I pose for playboy this young? - Yahoo! Answers
Everything that I have read states there is a difference between posing nude in a sexuality explicit manner, a manner in which attention is drawn to the genitals or meant to create sexual arousal, than there is to posing nude for artwork... A child simply being naked is not a crime. I have watched travel channel document life in African and South American communities, and I have seen naked children on TV there. I have even seen young children going through puberty naked on those shows, but it's not rated R. That's because it's not sexually explicit. Simply put, pornography and nudity are not the same. The only time a minor has been in Playboy in America, they lied, and that should tell you something.