Jailbait images are sexualized but non-pornographic images of minors who are perceived to meet the definition of jailbait. The online distribution of jailbait images has caused legal and moral controversy, in some cases leading to the censorship of both the images and the word itself as a search term.
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Jailbait images can be differentiated from child pornography, as they do not feature minors before the onset of puberty, nor do they usually contain nudity. The images are, however, usually sexualized, often featuring tween or young teen girls in bikinis, short skirts, underwear or lingerie.
Legality, censorship and online impact
The legal status of jailbait images is controversial. When questioned regarding their legality, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin stated he thought it was not illegal, though legal expert Sunny Hostin was more skeptical, describing jailbait images as "borderline" child pornography which may be illegal. While the images may be legal, they are often considered to be in poor taste. Jailbait is amongst the list of banned hashtags at the photo-sharing website Instagram, and the social networking website Tumblr. The term is also blocked on Google Instant. Jailbait images have been defended on the grounds of free speech, and have also been defended on the grounds they are similar to mainstream sexualised images of minors, such as those in the music video for "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears, who was 16 years old at the time of filming. Jailbait images are often collected directly from girls' Facebook pages.
Numerous webpages and forums are devoted to jailbait images. As well as uploading and sharing images, popular discussion topics at jailbait communities include ephebophilia, the difference between ephebophilia and pedophilia, and debating whether images of certain girls are too young or old to be classified as jailbait. Vice magazine commented on the lack of attention the press paid to the role popular jailbait image boards had on the suicide of Amanda Todd. An individual who was alleged to be harassing Todd prior to her suicide was tracked down by posts and images he uploaded to jailbait forums on the Internet. Online jailbait communities have been described as "a very insidious force on the Internet that is pitting overly clever pedophiles against insecure teenagers." They have also been said to "offer a window into a disturbing mindset." Self-identified pedophiles can be found in jailbait communities.
Reddit controversy
The most infamous online jailbait community was the subreddit section "/r/jailbait" on the website Reddit. It was the first result when searching for "jailbait" on Google, and was at one point the second largest search term that brought visitors to Reddit, topped only by the word "Reddit" itself.
The jailbait subreddit received widespread attention after Anderson Cooper devoted a segment of his TV program on September 29, 2011, to condemning both the subreddit itself and Reddit for hosting it. On October 10, 2011 the subreddit was shut down by Reddit administrators.