IS YOUR CHILD SEXTING?
Yvette Jones
January 23, 2009
What is sexting and do you know if your child is involved?
It’s the newest, latest trend among school kids, and it’s not downloading songs on iPods or playing the current edition of Grand Theft Auto. It’s called “sexting”—sending graphic images and pornographic videos via text message to friends. It has become such a major problem that in some bigger cities in California they have dedicated a complete task force to it.
There are many misconceptions that this is no big deal but on the contrary.
A recent case in La Crosse, Wisconsin gives evidence of just how serious this is, "a 17-year-old boy recently was charged with child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child and defamation for allegedly posting nude photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. The girl had taken the pictures with her cell phone at her mother’s home and e-mailed them to the boyfriend, authorities said."
If you have a teenager at home who does have a cell phone and does engage in texting (this is probably redundant since they all have phones and all text), we recommend that you talk with your teen and make sure that the images and photos that come to and from his or her cell are within legal boundaries. Being busted for child pornography, when a person is a minor themselves, is not something to be taken lightly. Even if the intentions were without intent to harm, being convicted of such a crime is not mere “child’s play”—and can cause irreparable damage to their and your future.
This is a crime and needs to be taken seriously. Below are a few links to review the law and a recent news story.
Some of the above material has been quoted from Lindsey O'Neill from Lawinfo.com.
