Sexting response to Mike B

In response to Mike Bs questions on Sexting…..
First of all, children should not be distributing nude or semi-nude photos of themselves for any reason to any person.
Now having said that I understand that kids are under immense pressure to push the sexual envelope to keep their boyfriend/girlfriend – in every generation there has been a sexual ante - which has kept parents, school officials and rule makers/enforcers on their toes in regards to combating the potentially dangerous behaviors.
Sex ed., PSA’s, statutory rape laws and free clinics (where your name is not needed and parental consent is not sought) all sprung up over the years to offer help and education for sexually active youth. However, never before has there been anything even close to legal intervention proposed or sought out against teens who have intentionally sent out explicit photos of themselves to what began as one person but ended up being disseminated throughout an entire school and/or social network (either physical or on-line).
I am not sure how I feel about these kids being branded as sex offenders for sending the photos and thus initiating the primary act of unlawful behavior but if it can be proven in court that the recipient has maliciously distributed said images to other individuals , (regardless of age) then they should face the consequences. To me child pornography – even if the participant was initially complacent in the act is still child pornography.
However, having said that if this is going to be a consequence that teens will potentially face then they need to be made educated as to the proper use of cell phones and how not to get caught up in this type of behavior, kids need to know what to do if someone sends them a sext unsolicited, and they need to know that there will be harsh penalties incurred if they are found to have these types of images on their phones – (sidenote – as I sit here writing this there is a PSA on t.v. talking about teen gambling and how to combat it – this would seem like something we need in order to educate teens in the ever expanding world of technology).
Sexting is not a one time and it’s over deal! Images last forever. You can lock them into your phone so that they won’t be accidentally erased, if your kid has an iPhone or Smart Phone they can download the photos from the phone onto their computer – or any computer – and where from there will that image end up? Put an image on your blog, MySpace, Facebook, etc. and they can all be easily lifted by anyone who happens upon your site.
There are some potential solutions to combating the sexting phenomenon without branding a kid for life. These solutions would be to add a device control to your child’s phone that would not allow them to take or send photos (this would be similar to controls already in use that regulate the hours your child can use their phone or receive text messages), also PSA’s are a good education tool. Another way to go would be to take these kids that are in the legal system now for sexting and require them to go to schools and talk about the dangers of sexting and the potential consequences it could mean to their lives (i.e. school, college, and professional).