Earlier this week my school was introduced to an educational speaker named Josh Gunderson. He gave us a talk about a variety of subjects but one that peaked my interest was sexting. Sexting is when you send a naked photo of yourself, others, etc by a cell phone and or other media devices. In his speech he noted how when caught and under 18 it is called child pornography. There are serious consequences for this. Also if caught and under the age of 18 you are labled a sex offender and you have to register this with any town you live in. It's a record you can not erase. I have read articles and watched videos of the consequences of sexting and not just the criminal consequences either. I read an article about a girl named Jessica Logan. She sent a nude photo to her boyfriend at the time. When they broke up he sent them to the fellow girl students at her school. This girls harrassed her and attacked her on many occasions. It got to the point Jessica was skipping school to avoid the constant harrassment of these girls. Even when her mother attempted to let her stay home she persisted to stay strong through school and even talk on the Cincinnati televison station to tell her story to prevent others from reaching her fate. She then graduated but was still harrassed constantly. She then got the idea in her head that she needed to end it all. She hanged herself in her closet where her mother, Cynthia Logan, found her. This is just a gruesome fate and she was only 18. She had a full life to live but it was cut short from the horrid harrassment of these terrible girls. Even when her mother came to the school to stop this, they did nothing. A officer saw a 16 year old with this photo of Jessica and only said to delete it and leave her alone. This is just another example of the consequences of sexting and the rude, harsh reality of young teenagers cruelty.
This terrible tradegy made me think of the book my school required us to read; it is called "Twisted" by Laurie Halse Anderson. It includes a similar situation to the topic of sexting. The character Bethany undergoes the same thing and has a naked photo of her passed around from when she was wasted at a party. She had no idea what was going on and was to wasted to say no. Sexting is not just a crime but a sad reality to our teenage society. People do it and it has major consequences not just criminally but socially as well.
The link of Jessicas story: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/ns/today-parenting_and_family/t/her-teen-committed-suicide-over-sexting/
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