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Did anyone hear TOTN "sexting" discussion today?

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  • Did anyone hear TOTN "sexting" discussion today?

    Did anyon catch NPR's "Talk of the Nation" in which they discussed underage "sexting"? (Yeah, I didn't know what it is either. Apparently it is when tweens and teens take pornographic photos of themselves and send them to people.) :thud:

    Once I recovered from my urge to move the whole family to a nice little commune in Montana, I was able to consider both sides of the argument.
    The central question presented was whether to prosecute these adolescents for charges of pornography manufacturing and distributing. Each side offered equally compelling arguments and left me squarely in the middle. On one hand, a permissive environment breeds more pedophelia (sp?), cyberbullying, and creates sort of a proving ground for future offenders. On the other hand, kids are going to do stupid stuff. Unfortunately technology memorializes their stupidity FOREVER. It seems extreme to label a girl and the boy involved as a couple as sex offenders for sexual experimentation with a cell phone. It seems especially harsh because in many cases the images distributed are of the senders themselves. Who amongst us escaped adolescence without a couple lapses in judgment? Or in some of our cases, several dozen lapses in judgement?

    At this point, I could get all lawyerly and talk about things like "no bright line test" or "each case turnd on its own facts", blah, blah, blah. In the mean time, I'm interested in your thoughts on this phenomenon which I *really* didn't want to think about in the context of raising my own kids. <shudder>

    Anyone know of any property for sale in a remote area of the country? I'm getting closer to hiding out each day.

    Kelly
    In my dreams I run with the Kenyans.

  • #2
    Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

    Even Montana has cell service, my friend.

    Kids do stupid things without 'really' considering the consequences. (duh) But there are lots of ways to go once the stupid thing has been done. It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out in the legal system, won't it?

    Jenn

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    • #3
      Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

      I think this originated here in NE Ohio (the story, not the practice). In our town, the 8th grade girls (and older) go downtown to the clothing stores and take photos of themselves nekked in the changing rooms. They send them via cell phone to the boys. Boy, how happy am I that my kid is in middle school now, huh? Luckily, it seems to be a practice that occurs in only a certain social circle. A judge in Cleveland ordered one of these circles of friends to do a survey of 25 teens about their knowledge of charges that could be brought against them. They didn't know that they could be charged with distributing porn. I think it was a scared straight kind of sentencing. SInce then, I've been hearing more and more about this. I guess the survey worked to "get the word out".

      Have there been actual prosecutions?
      Angie
      Gyn-Onc fellowship survivor - 10 years out of the training years; reluctant suburbanite
      Mom to DS (18) and DD (15) (and many many pets)

      "Where are we going - and what am I doing in this handbasket?"

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      • #4
        Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

        Apparently, there are children being charged in IN and PA for similar crimes. I DO think a serious message and a hard line needs drawn, but it is also unfair that a couple individuals serve as sacrificial lambs to get the word out.

        Juvenile court is pretty "squishy" as opposed to mandatory sentencing guidelines, but it sounds like they are going for the jugular in a couple of cases.

        Kelly
        In my dreams I run with the Kenyans.

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        • #5
          Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

          There is a case in WI where a girl sent nude pics of herself to her boyfriend. They broke up and he distributed the pics to all of their classmates. Over 100 teens have seen the pic apparently and they are talking about charging anyone who forwards the pic with distrubution of child pornography.
          Kris

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          • #6
            Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

            Did anyone see the documentary "American Teen"? There was a story-line (for lack of a better phrase) where a high school girl sent a semi-nude photo of herself to 2 boys. She pissed off someone in the popular crowd and they disseminated the photo to the entire high school. Then they were calling and harassing her -- calling her a slut, making fun of her body, etc. The girl wasn't the one of the main subjects of the documentary -- actually, the popular girl that was harassing her was one of the documentary subjects -- but she was interviewed and was crying on camera because she was so hurt and ashamed.
            Wife and #1 Fan of Attending Adult & Geriatric Psychiatrist.

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            • #7
              Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

              Freaks me out!
              Needs

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              • #8
                Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                We heard about this from our guidance counselor before Christmas. The additonal twist to it all that I didn't see as I scanned this thread is this scenario....

                underage teenage girl sends a pic of her boobs to her BF, who is also underage. The BF in turn sends the pic on to all his friends, some of whom are NOT underage. The older boys are hit with harsher penalties because the girl is underage, even though they didn't ask for the pic.

                All I know is that Luke (almost 14) will most likely get a cell phone soon.....but if it is in my power, texting will not be enabled on the phone. Anyone know if this is even possible? I don't mean I won't purchase a plan with texting, I mean I don't even want the phone to receive texts.

                Sally
                Wife of an OB/Gyn, mom to three boys, middle school choir teacher.

                "I don't know when Dad will be home."

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                • #9
                  Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                  Sally - we have sprint and have texting blocked from our phones...
                  Kris

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                    GREAT to know! Thanks!
                    Wife of an OB/Gyn, mom to three boys, middle school choir teacher.

                    "I don't know when Dad will be home."

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                    • #11
                      Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                      I've been following this for a couple of weeks because I think its very interesting. I could totally have seen some of my friends doing this in high school if texting had been around back then. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out but I think being labeled a sexual predator and having to register, etc. for the rest of your life is a little harsh for a teenage prank.

                      Adele will be locked in a closet until she's 30!
                      Wife to NSG out of training, mom to 2, 10 & 8, and a beagle with wings.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                        The BF in turn sends the pic on to all his friends, some of whom are NOT underage. The older boys are hit with harsher penalties because the girl is underage, even though they didn't ask for the pic.
                        I call on the older boys being charged in this instance. I have received some INCREDIBLY offensive emails through the years, some of which I have unknowingly opened while on the job at places like military installations and courthouses.

                        How possibly the prosecution would be able to prove "intent" to receive illicit and illegal materials?

                        Kelly
                        In my dreams I run with the Kenyans.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                          Interestingly, there's a column about this topic in this week's Newsweek...

                          Teens, Nude Photos and the Law
                          Ask yourself: should the police be involved when tipsy teen girls e-mail their boyfriends naughty Valentine's Day pictures?

                          Say you're a middle-school principal who confiscated a cell phone from a 14-year-old boy, only to discover it contains a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend. Do you (a) call the boy's parents in despair; (b) call the girl's parents in despair; or (c) call the police? More and more, the answer is (d) all of the above. Which could result in criminal charges for both of your students, and their eventual designation as sex offenders. "Sexting" is the clever new name for the act of sending, receiving or forwarding naked photos via your cell phone, and I wasn't fully convinced that America was facing a sexting epidemic, as opposed to a journalists-writing-about-sexting epidemic, until I saw a new survey done by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. One teenager in five reported having sent or posted naked photos of themselves. Whether all this reflects a new child-porn epidemic, or just a new iteration of the old teen narcissism epidemic, remains unclear.

                          Last month, three girls (ages 14 or 15) in Greensburg, Pa., were charged with disseminating child pornography for sexting their boyfriends. The boys who received the images were charged with possession. A teenager in Indiana faces felony obscenity charges for sending a picture of his genitals to female classmates. A 15-year-old girl in Ohio and a 14-year-old girl in Michigan were charged with felonies for sending nude images of themselves to classmates. Some of these teens have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Others have not. If convicted, these young people may have to register as sex offenders, in some cases for a decade or two. Similar charges have been brought in cases reported in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

                          One quick clue that the criminal-justice system is probably not the best venue for addressing sexting? A survey of the charges brought in the cases reflects that—depending on the jurisdiction—prosecutors have charged the senders of smutty photos, the recipients of smutty photos, those who save the smutty photos and the hapless forwarders of smutty photos with the same crime: child pornography. Who is the victim here? Everybody and nobody.

                          There may be an argument for police intervention in cases that involve a genuine threat or cyberbullying, such as a recent Massachusetts incident in which the picture of a naked 14-year-old girl was allegedly sent to more than 100 cell phones, or a New York case involving a group of boys who turned a nude photo of a 15-year-old girl into crude animations and PowerPoint presentations. But ask yourself whether those cases are the same as the cases in which tipsy teen girls send their boyfriends naughty Valentine's Day pictures.

                          The argument for hammering every such case seems to be that sending naked pictures might have serious consequences, so let's charge these kids with felonies, which will surely have serious consequences. In the Pennsylvania case a police captain explained that the charges were brought because "it's very dangerous. Once it's on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture." The argument that we must prosecute kids as the producers and purveyors of kiddie porn because they are too dumb to understand that their seemingly innocent acts can harm them goes beyond paternalism. Child-pornography laws intended to protect children should not be used to prosecute and then label children as sex offenders. We seem to forget that kids can be as tech-savvy as Bill Gates but as gullible as Bambi. Even in the age of the Internet, young people fail to appreciate that naked pictures want to roam free.

                          The real problem with criminalizing teen sexting as a form of child pornography is that the great majority of these kids are not predators. They think they're being brash and sexy. And while some of the reaction to sexting reflects legitimate concerns about children as sex objects, some perpetuates legal stereotypes and fallacies. A recent New York Times article quotes the Family Violence Prevention Fund, a nonprofit domestic-violence-awareness group, saying that the sending of nude pictures, even if done voluntarily, constitutes "digital dating violence." But do we truly believe that one in five teens is participating in an act of violence? Experts insist the sexting trend hurts teen girls more than boys, fretting that they feel "pressured" to take and send naked photos. Paradoxically, the girls in the Pennsylvania case were charged with "manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography" while the boys were merely charged with possession. If the girls are the real victims, why are we treating them more harshly than the boys?

                          Judging from the sexting prosecutions in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana this year, it's clear that the criminal-justice system is too blunt an instrument to resolve a problem that reflects more about the volatile combination of teens and technology than about some national cybercrime spree. Parents need to remind their teens that a dumb moment can last a lifetime in cyberspace. But judges and prosecutors need to understand that a lifetime of cyberhumiliation shouldn't be grounds for a lifelong real criminal record.

                          Lithwick is a NEWSWEEK contributing editor and a senior writer for Slate. A version of this column also appears on Slate.com.
                          ~Jane

                          -Wife of urology attending.
                          -SAHM to three great kiddos (2 boys, 1 girl!)

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                          • #14
                            Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                            Originally posted by mommax3

                            All I know is that Luke (almost 14) will most likely get a cell phone soon.....but if it is in my power, texting will not be enabled on the phone. Anyone know if this is even possible? I don't mean I won't purchase a plan with texting, I mean I don't even want the phone to receive texts.

                            Sally
                            We didn't allow the kids to text until our oldest started high school this year and we realized that everyone communicates through texting. Even her dance coach sends out all communications via text. Plus it has been a HUGE help for us to stay in contact with our kids. Texting, like so many things, in and of itself is not bad. Our texting plan is unlimited otherwise it would be a fortune just to pay for the texts between dh and I . The kids know they cannot spend their life texting and allow it to consume them. They also are very open with their texts and don't mind if we read them, if they did that would be a problem we would need to discuss. In terms of people sending unwanted pictures, the picture messaging can be disabled.

                            ETA: I should note that I'm not making an, "everybody is doing it" aurguement. More of a giving them a little rope to learn responsibility but not enough to hang themselves.
                            Tara
                            Married 20 years to MD/PhD in year 3 of MFM fellowship. SAHM to five wonderful children (#6 due in August), a sweet GSD named Bella, a black lab named Toby, and 1 guinea pig.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Did anyone hear TOTN &quot;sexting&quot; discussion today?

                              That's what I was just going to say. There are lots of phones that can't accept pictures or video.

                              And I'm with Cheri about locking the kids up until they're 30.

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