I really getting anxious about this minors and sexting thing. Today on James Marsh’s blog there’s an update on a Pennsylvania case in which a bunch of kids texted nude and semi-nude pics of themselves and were charged with violating child porn laws. Of the seventeen kids charged (all minors), all agreed to take a 10-hour class on sexual violence in exchange for having the charges dropped and avoiding the sex offender label.
All save three girls. Their parents (supported by the ACLU) have filed a suit accusing
the Wyoming County DA of violating the three girls’ First Amendment rights and seeks a court declaration that the images “are not child pornography or any other crime.”
So here’s how sordid it turns out some of these pictures are. According to the lawsuit, one is a waist-up shot of the two girls lying side by side wearing their bras. One girl is flashing a peace sign and the other is on the phone. The second shot shows a year-old photo of another girl coming out of the shower with a towel tied around her just below the breasts. No genitals or sex acts are depicted. Clearly, no coercion was involved.
Listen–I gotta tell ya. Just last week I found out that some kid in my daughter’s Grade 6 class took a shot of a boy’s bum. Now just imagine what might happen to us if someone had decided on the spur of the moment to yank down his pants. I wouldn’t want the DA’s damned re-education program either. Apparently, he created it, and it’s clearly intended for young people who show a propensity for sexual violence.
Why can’t these people get it into their heads that this behaviour–stupid and unthinking as it is–is NOT a marker for future sexual violence?
Exhibit A (from the girls’ module)
Homework: Write a report explaining why you are here.
Explain: What you did.
Why was it wrong?
Did you create a victim? If so, who?
How did what you did affect the victim? The school? The community?
Exhibit B (boys’ module)
Session 2 – Sexual Violence Spectrum
Objectives: Further understrand what sexuyal violence is – its prevalence, victims, perpetrators, impact, and costs.
To recognize the spectrum of actions which make up sexual violence.
To recognize that sexual violence is about power and control.
According to the lawsuit, the girls are now freaked out by the idea of taking any pictures of themselves in a swimsuit because the DA could come after them. Given what’s gone down in this case so far, it doesn’t seem far-fetched.
I really can’t begin to think what this would do to my child if it ever happened to her. MY child spending time in prison and saddled with a sex offender label. The way kiddie porn legislation works in both the US and Canada, this is a real possibility following any smart-ass sexting escapade that your kid may be doing unwittingly, unthinkingly, for a complete lark, just on a dare, ad nauseum. Even if you just receive the offending photo on your phone, you can go down in a sting. All it takes is one DA with a bee in his bonnet and not an ounce of common sense about kids and technology.
So do what I advised last time I blogged about this. Talk to your kids. Tell them it’s insane, but tell them not to do it anyway. And follow James’s blog on the subject. What he predicts next (tongue planted not so firmly in cheek): going after the kids in Grade 4. Children making victims of themselves. Yeah, right.
Filed under: kids, life , ACLU, child porn, kiddie porn, law suit, minor, nude, semi-nude, sex offender, sexting, Wyoming County DA
This is wrong on so many levels that it makes me cringe. Meanwhile, adults who have committed sex crimes are getting off on technicalities right and left, are given slaps on the wrist, or are simply being ignored. WTF is wrong with this picture?
WTF, WTF, WTF is the DA thinking. This is probably quite traumatizing for these kids.
wow. Why is the DA wasting so much money and basically demeaning REAL victims of sex offenders in this manner? This is clearly set out to hurt women, if you ask me.
The government will do anything to create more criminals. It is in their best interests to have everyone breaking the law in some way. That way when you tick off the wrong people, they can be certain to get you for something.
Instead of being “outraged,” I’d suggest you talk and teach your kids. If someone sleeps around, why is sleeping with them “special?”
Instead of being “sheep” who follow the flock, be the border collie who follows their own path after deciding that herding the sheep was a waste of everyone’s time…
Sleeping around and “sexing” it up don’t make you popular, those actions make you “easy.” There IS a difference even if the kids don’t get it…
Perhaps the DA was making an issue out of the “sexting” to educate the public, to bring the activities of the youth into discussion/media, and to provide some punishment for those who do it.
Why make the following comment?
“wow. Why is the DA wasting so much money and basically demeaning REAL victims of sex offenders in this manner? This is clearly set out to hurt women, if you ask me.”
Where do you draw the line? When is it “child pornography?” Is sexting okay if sent between two people or when one recipient sends it to the remainder of the school? Slapping someone’s rear doesn’t “hurt” anyone… A 15-year old having sex with a 25-year old might bring pleasure, be wanted, and not “hurt,” but it is a crime.
The issue is that these pictures make the participants look “easy” and “do anythings” who will do just about anything to “be popular,” “get that guy/gal,” …
You want them working for you? I don’t. No telling what they will do with company data if they are willing to get naked in front of the world. What is private any more? What is special and not shared with everyone?
However, perhaps everyone wants a swinging world… If so, I hope they can deal with the emotional issues since many can’t deal with the emotional situations that may be created in those relationships.
Sexting is like stealing the gum… stupid. I don’t mind making it illegal. My question to you is why do you want your kids sexting anyone? I’m just curious…
Nobody was sleeping with anybody. It was a sleepover and the girls took some pictures of themselves. Sexual activity with other young people is not the point. The point is, should minors be charged with kiddie porn for taking pictures of themselves and sending them to other minors? In this case, the pictures were not even all that prurient.
When did I ever say I want my kid sexting anyone? What I object to is a charge of kiddie porn and a sex offender label. These laws were not intended to protect minors from their own lack of judgment–they were intended to go after real offenders, adults who sexually target and exploit minors. My advice to any teen is don’t do it, because you could get swept up in some very nasty business.
Here’s James Marsh’s blog on this subject? From a lawyer’s perspective. Go herehttp://www.childlaw.us/ and scroll down and you’ll see a couple of posts on sexting.