Picture: Jo Lilly, Stafford Public Safety Services Student presents on “sexting”
Seven students from Stafford Technical Center’s SADD Chapter, all of whom are involved in the Public Safety Services Program, recently presented a workshop of the topic of “Sexting” to about 50 teens and adults at the Governor’s Youth Leadership Conference in Burlington. The students were Kayla Stewart, a junior from West Rutland High School, Geoffrey McDonald, a senior from Otter Valley Union High School, Cierra Phelps, a junior at Mill River Union High School, Erika Stocker, Kayla Jones, and Nate Hance, seniors at Mill River Union High School, Jo Lilly, a senior at Poultney High School, and Ashley Barnes, a senior at Rutland High School.
Sexting is a relatively new phenomenon which involves sending sexually explicit or provocative messages, cartoons, or photos of naked or seminude people by cell phone or computer. Sexting is much more common than people think, especially more common than the parents of teens think. About half of all teens report having been “sexted”, and about thirty percent of all teens report that they have sent sexting messages. The percentage of males involved in sending seems to be roughly twice that of the rates of females. Of the girls who sent photos of themselves, about half reported that they were pressured by their boyfriends to do so. Interestingly enough, about one of six boyfriends whose girlfriends sent nude photos of themselves mass e-mail the photos to others following a breakup of the relationship. It is presumed that this happens more often following the girlfriend dumping the boyfriend than the other way around.
Sexting can be a form of bullying, also. In a case from Japan, an obese male middle school student was humiliated after a fellow student took naked pictures of the obese student in the shower during gym class, without the student’s knowledge, and then sent the photos out to a large number of schoolmates. In a case from Ohio, a girl committed suicide after months of harassment from fellow students who had been sent naked photos of the girl by her ex-boyfriend after they broke up.
Sexting can also result in a number of criminal charges being brought against the sender or receiver of the photos, particularly if one of them is a minor. The charges may include pornography or child pornography or a host of other charges. A number of these charges may result in one’s becoming a registered sex offender, also; there are cases where 18 year olds with photos from their sixteen year old girlfriends have become required to register as sex offenders.
Hopefully, by raising awareness of teens in Vermont of the dangers in sexting, fewer teens will become victims.