Lots of young adults still sexting shock Another survey of US teenagers has shown an unprecedented proportion are sending nudie pictures of themselves to each other. The latest figures come from a poll organised by the Associated Press and MTV, which questioned around 1200 youths and semi-youths aged from 14 to 24. What they discovered, among other things, is that …
Maybe the ubiquity will mitigate the long-term risks, after all, if everyone's doing it, what's to be embarrassed about? If the novelty wears off maybe passing them around will become pase.
> perhaps they should be admired for having such confidence in their own bodies.
Love it, Gok Wan eat your heart out!
> ten per cent of those questioned had sent pictures of themselves naked,
> while 17 per cent had passed on such photographs without permission,
Is that 17 percent of the total or 17 percent of the 10 percent? I suppose it is possible for more people to pass them around than to send them.
Also, is it just me or do young people dress much better now than in the 80s?
I gather even in Roman times, boisterousness and disrespect emanating from the yoof, was frowned upon, in a sort of rose-tinted-blue-rinsed-nostalgia with which we're today familiar, and it does make one wonder if likewise Larkin's complaint also might be perennial symptom of middle-age, down the millenia? Or is it a particular annoyance arising from the post-industrial era?
The only risks are from bullying authoritarians who seek to turn healthy curious teens into sexual deviants. In the old days, authoritarians were healthy curious teens who played doctor and nurses, who almost turned out OK, except that they want to punish the next generation for their sins.
Don't fault someone else's logic when your analogy isn't sound.
Killing someone does not necessarily make you a murderer. The term murder refers to the unlawful killing of another human being with intent to do so.
There are other forms of unlawful homicide (such as manslaughter)
Then of course there's the lawful killing of others.
Soldier <> Murderer
Drunk driver <> Murderer
Capital Punishment <> Murder
For those who like a moral debate:
Abortionist <> Murderer
The percentages don't sound so different from what I recall of my schooldays, 2 or 3 girls out of a co-ed class of 30 who had a bit of a reputation, and maybe some of it just boasting.
And they weren't the ones I particularly wanted to see naked.
Since most of this seems to come out of the USA, as a product of laws and law enforcers suffering from an excess of puritanical zeal, it's hard to know what to say. We seem to have acquired far too many of the same sorts of law in this country. This government did some good things back in the last century, but it has gone badly off the rails, in a mangled train wreck of unfinished reform, corruption, and ill-drafted legislation.
These days, JS could be on the Sex Offenders Register for the relatively minor things I know she did. As for what she claimed to have done, this lot might lock her up and throw away the key.
In the distant past, people like that were Sectioned under mental health laws. They were declared insane, and put away out of sight. And, eventually, we decided that was wrong. This is much the same misbehaviour, given a false significance with a new technology. I can see the reasons to discourage sexting, but the way we've extended the anti-possession child porn laws suggests that, to politicians, every hammer is a screwdriver.
>...boys think naked pictures are "hot" while girls consider them "slutty".
Get the feeling this question was framed only in the context of naked pictures of females, mmm?
Sadly, the gender prejudices of the "elders and betters" [snort] are still being passed to the younguns. I bet none of the males who've sent pictures of their junk have been labelled "sluts". This attitude is why even in our ever-so enlightened society, so many rapes (*real* sexual crime, remember that?) go unpunished.
Most teenage boys are too insecure about whats growing in the old trouser department to even think about Sexting it, in case the recipient calls them a pee-wee or whatever the teen phrase is these days.
*Ahem* not that ever was a problem personally you understand...........
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Reminds me of the old story of the two Oxford dons sunbathing at Parson's Pleasure (part of river bank where male nudity was permitted and females in punts had to disembark and walk round a path at the back to avoid embarrassment). One day a punt-load of young ladies decide to ignore the rule and punt straight past. Flustered dons grab towels and cover selves....when women gone, one don asks why other had covered his head, while he had covered his nether regions. "What on earth did you think they'd recognise?" replies the other.
Just because a naked picture appears on the internet doesn't make it bad, unless you're some prudish, narrow-minded prod-nose who thinks that it makes someone "a slut" or unsuitable to work as a teacher/ social worker/ whatever.
The correct answer to "why are naked pics bad" is "they aren't, now fnck off and mind your own business..."
Scientific fact that just after puberty hits kids, their brain gets rewired and they loose virtually all empathy they may have gathered whilst children. (Individual subjects vary with intensity of course).
This means they don't care what other people say or do as they can't judge emotion accurately or understand the results of their actions for up to several years. Some as much as 10.
If only during this difficult time the Health Service would treat it as a possible medical problem, diagnose the severalty of the issue and treat for it with counselling until the trauma is over.
We'd have much less crime and violence.
Nice to see studies in USA starting to happen. Maybe one day, every kid will get it?
When I was in my teens very few people carried cameras around with them and you'd have to take the roll of film down to the shops for processing, by which time you'd have had time to wonder whether it is wise to send that pic.
More kids have cameras with them all the time with the added benefit of being able to immediately send a picture to someone else with no cool-down period.
Anyone surprised?
I am much more concerned about teenage promiscuity, with diseases and pregnancies, than teenage sexting.
A nude picture of someone published on the internet is one thing, unpleasant in a social sense but it does not damage someone's life or your body forever.
AIDS, other STDs, pregnancy, teenage motherhood will all change a person's life forever. Even an abortion can cause problems later in life.
If we as a society had a more sensible and mature attitude to nudity then nude photographs would not be a problem. There is no evidence to show that nudity is inherently harmful to anyone of any age. There is substantial evidence that the attitudes associated with prudery result in widespread and often serious harm but there is incredible reluctance to face up to the implications.
It is a classic example of what happens when dealing with social issues is driven by prejudcice. Identify a problem, misidentify the cause of the problem, and then make it worse by targetting the wrong thing.
Prudery is child abuse with good intentions. The research evidence is absolutely clear.
This is a great article! I'm so glad that someone has finally decided to discuss the issue of digital abuse. Have you guys heard about the competition where young adults and teens can create an idea of their own to help end digital abuse? The winning idea gets $10,000!
www.athinline.org/challenge
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