CT- Parenting teens: ‘Sexting’ is this generation’s streaking, skinny-dipping

In one sense, it would be great, on certain days, for my 13-year-old to have a cell phone. Until I heard from his school, I was uncertain if he would be staying afterward for an activity. I worried incessantly that he get picked up at the right time and not be stranded.

Yet cell phones are the tool for the sexting craze that has dumbfounded adults and lawmakers who are wrestling with laws meant for child sex offenders that are becoming tangled up with underage sexting participants instead.

Sexting is the act of sending a nude photo or video of yourself via cell phone — a craze that has hit the younger generation with the same senseless fervor as streaking in the ’70s. But perhaps it holds a broader appeal because of the seeming innocuousness of the act — it requires less boldness. But it can brew much more trouble, with a deeper impression than a “streak.”

A ‘present’

What if my son received, in a year or so, a sext from a younger girl? It’s possible. Of the 20 percent of teens who reportedly sext, one of the top reasons, cited from girls (who are more frequent sexters) is to send their boyfriends a “sexy present.”

This year, two dozen teens in at least six states are being investigated for sending nude images of themselves in cell phone text messages. These actions can set them up for charges of distributing child pornography.

It renders the confusion of when my kid is being picked up at school pale in comparison.
Even if your child isn’t caught up in a legal battle, if they do sext, it’s possible an image of them will stay in cyberspace for a long time — enough to haunt them at college and job application time. Or humiliate them.

While it may seem shocking for adults that teens as young as 12 are sexting, we need to get over it, and put in place legislation to protect them, as well as provide education to raise awareness of the consequences. One challenge is the porous relationships that can happen between kids as young as middle school.

Vermont is proposing an exemption from criminal charges for people ages 13-18 who sext consensually. But some understandably disagree with the proposal. I would be upset if an 18-year-old was trying to initiate sexual contact with my tween.

But oftentimes sexting, despite its name, isn’t really about sex.

Yes, it can be flirtatious, or it can be a few girls as young as 12 posing in their bras, with someone not thinking and pressing the send instead of delete button. We can’t stop kids from being kids. And if we think about it, how much different are some of these episodes than skinny-dipping?

The difference is skinny-dipping, of course, is an ephemeral visual, shared only between the people, the moonlight and the moment in time.

Unless cell phones go away, which seems improbable, sexting is here to stay, so we need to deal with it with updated laws that reflect the digital age.

And it also means asking yourself when your kid is ready for unsupervised cell phone use. Cell phones may ease parents’ minds, but it can also open a Pandora’s box they might never be able to get shut again. ..News Source.. by SHARMA HOWARD