Teens and Sexting

Via Susie Bright:

The Cincinnati Enquirer ran a story over the weekend about an 18-year-old girl who hanged herself after nude photos of her were shared via text messaging. The girl hanged herself in her bedroom in July after months of phone and cyber-bullying from people who had seen and/or heard about the photos. 

The practice, referred to as sexting, is fairly common among dating adults. And unfortunately it's also common  among teenagers. Of course, when those teenagers are younger than 18, what they're technically doing is producing and distributing child pornography. And they can get into serious legal trouble for doing it. After they turn 18, it's just consensual adult behavior in the eyes of the law. 

Apparently young women get pressured by their boyfriends into sending them explicit texts. What many of them don't realize is that once they send those texts, those who receive them can do pretty much anything they want with them, including (as in this case) forwarding them to others. 

There is an immense amount of trust and optimism involved in teen relationships. They often believe that the person they're with is the one and only and that they'll be together forever. When the relationship turns sour or their partner turns out to be less than ethical teens are often devastated. 

In the case of this young woman, not only were the photos widely circulated "to hundreds of teenagers...in at least seven Greater-Cincinnati high schools," but her peers began bullying her. She was called names, thrown out of parties, and made to feel unsafe in school. 

From the Cincinnati Enquirer article:

Now, Jessie's parents are attempting to launch a national campaign seeking laws to address "sexting" - the practice of forwarding and posting sexually explicit cell-phone photos online. The Logans also want to warn teens of the harassment, humiliation and bullying that can occur when that photo gets forwarded.

Cynthia Logan [the girl's mother] and Parry Aftab, an attorney and one of the leading authorities on Internet security and cyberbullying, plan to attach Jessie's name to a national campaign to educate teens about the dangers of sexting.

Aftab, based in New York, is the catalyst for a network of volunteers working to stop cyberbullying. She operates two Web sites: wiredsafety.org, the world's largest and oldest cyber safety organization, and stopcyberbullying.org.

"Schools need to understand our kids are targeting each other and how technology is being used as a weapon," Aftab said. "None of them (the schools) know what to do. Many of them ... think it's not their problem. They want to close their eyes and put fingers in their ears, saying it's a home issue."

I'm all about a national campaign to educate teenagers about the dangers of cyberbullying, sexting, and other nefarious modern practices. Technology shouldn't be used as a weapon against teenagers. And sure, schools need to do what they can. But I think Aftab, like too many people, is expecting a bit much of educators. Teachers have their hands full just trying to teach through the din of teenage hormones, modern technology, and a culture that undervalues education, especially with heightened stakes (thanks to NCLB) and gross underfunding. 

Teaching students about avoiding the pitfalls of modern technology has to begin in the home. Only massively irresponsible (bordering on negligent) parents would be so uninvolved in their children's lives as to give them a cell phone and unlimited internet access without making sure they understand the risks involved. 

Yes, young people need to know that when they put themselves out on the internet (or out in text-message land) there's a certain amount of danger. Anybody could end up with their personal details, their photos, or their contact information. And schools should do what they can to curb bullying in all its ugly forms. But schools are already expected to parent children too much. Parents have to be involved too. 

In this case maybe tragedy could have been avoided. I truly feel horrible for what Logans went through. But when this girl's parents start laying the blame on the school's resource officer for not letting them know what was going on, you have to wonder why whey weren't involved enough in their daughter's life to know.