Teens and Sexting: Prosecute or Educate?
Sending Naked Pics on Cell Phone Causes Controversy on How to Handle
Apr 7, 2009
A disturbing trend called "sexting" is emerging among teens – sending and receiving sexually provocative images through cell phones. Most teens are unaware of the potential dangers of sexting, while parents, prosecutors and others are discussing how to handle the problem.
Sexting Trends in Teens
According to a 2008 survey conducted by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Uplanned Pregnancy, one in five (22%) of teen girls ages 13 to 19 and one in ten (11%) teen girls ages 13 to 16, electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves.
Even more alarming is the pass along rate of sexually explicit pictures. One-third of teen boys and a quarter of teen girls said they have received nude/semi-nude images.
In addition, the side effects of sexting among teens is unsettling. Nearly a quarter of the teens in the survey said that using technology made them more personally forward and aggressive. Over one-third said exchanging sexually charged content makes them more likely to date or hook up with others. Nearly one third said when a teen exchanges sexual content, they're "expected" to date or hook up, which adds another layer to the already enormous peer pressure teens face.
"That so many young people say technology is encouraging an even more causal, hook-up culture is reason for concern," said Marisa Nightingale, Senior Advisor to the Entertainment Media Program at The National Campaign, for a press release announcing the results of The National Campaign teen survey.
Parents, Prosecutors Unclear How to Handle Sexting
Some prosecutors feel teens who engage in sexting should be arrested. Wyoming County DA George Skumanick Jr. threatened to charge two 13 year old girls with child pornography after the girls posed in their bra while another girl took their picture during a slumber party. The images somehow ended up on classmates' cell phones. Skumanick said he would drop the charges if the two girls attended a 5-week after school program followed by probation.
The teens and their parents, along with a 17 year old girl from the same school who was photographed topless last year, filed a lawsuit. Skumanick believes their suit is designed to prevent local law enforcement from doing its job which he feels would set a dangerous precedence.
"To allow this type of action would allow anyone to plan a crime, commit it, run to the federal courthouse, and then file paperwork saying, 'My rights are being violated. Don't let them arrest me,' and then avoid arrest for years," said Skumanick during an interview with Julie Chen on The Early Show that aired March 27th, 2009.
Many argue the girls were only engaging in typical naive youth behavior and to prosecute them would be a severe, and harmful overreaction. "To think they'd be prosecuted for child pornography, face years in prison, register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives, have we lost our minds?" said Lisa Bloom, CBS News legal analyst during The Early Show interview.
Skumanick said his office offered to create an educational program to teach kids the dangers of engaging in sexting. The girls would have to accept the offer to avoid prosecution.
American's Sexual Attitudes Hypocritical, Harmful to Teens
Mental health counselor Michael Bader believes criminalizing sexting in teens is a slippery slope.
"The transmission of sexual images via cell phone is rife with issues never before faced by teenagers and parents alike and has to be addressed in ways that don’t make kids paranoid, drive their sexuality even more underground, and further accentuate the technological divide between the generations," said Bader in his article "Sexting and Gomorrah" [Psychology Today online, March 28, 2009].
Bader suggests that while American culture teaches kids to control their sexual thoughts and actions, teens are bombarded with sexy images designed to sell food, cars, sports, clothes and beer. He feels applying overly harsh punishments rather than appropriate discipline and education, may turn teens off from communicating with adults and open the door for them to unknowingly sink deeper into the world of online danger.
Parents, Teens: Sexting Can Have Serious Consequences
When 18 year old Jessica Logan decided to transmit a few naked pictures of herself to her boyfriend she had no idea the pain and tragedy that would follow. After she and her boyfriend broke up he sent the pictures to a few girls at their high school who proceeded to bully and harass Jessica.
Depressed, she skipped school and sank deeper into despair. One night after returning from the funeral of a friend who had committed suicide, Jessica hung herself in her bedroom closet.
Marisa Nightingale with National Campaign suggests the sexting trend in teens is a wake-up call, "Parents should understand that their own notions of what's public, what's private, and what's appropriate, may differ greatly from how teens and young adults define these concepts."
Sexting among teens is a potentially dangerous and life long mistake. Parents and the public must imprint in kids that sending out sexually explicit images can lead to embarrassment, public humiliation, prosecution – or worse.
Additional Resources
Impact of The Internet on Relationships
Twitter Types: Who Tweets & Why, Hidden Dangers
 |
