"Sexting": Are Nude/Semi-Nude Photos Sent From One Teen To Another Kiddie Porn?

[Mr. Ected]

"Taking nude pictures of yourself--nothing good can come of it."
   --Police Capt. George Seranko, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

<snip>

Captain Seranko made his observation after three girls and three boys at Greensburg Salem High School were charged with child pornography. The girls, ages 14 and 15, are charged with taking pictures of themselves, nude or seminude; the boys, 15, 16 and 17, with receiving them. The cellphone in which these dangerous images were lodged had been confiscated at school, not an outrageous exercise of authority if school officials had merely stashed the phone in a drawer, unmolested, until the student could collect it. But the officials had to snoop. One can picture their fevered actions, fumbling with the student's phone, opening one folder, then another, maddened as they press the wrong buttons and must begin again, without the nimbleness of youth--curses!--their otherwise desiccated imaginations now fertile with anticipated indecency; scouring through the teen's pictures and messages, expectant that their suspicions will be confirmed, certain that all they want is to protect the children... And yet, there they are, instant oglers, prying into places not meant for them, gazing at images not made for them, drenching the relationship between school authority and student in sex.

The recent attention to teen "sexting" has focused quite a lot on the presumed self-exploitation of kids, not so much on the prurient reflex of grown-ups who spy on and punish them. It has dwelt quite a lot on the traps of technology, not so much on the desires that precede picking up a camera. Quite a lot on the question of whether the teens are sex offenders or merely stupid, sluttish or mean, not so much on the freedom to see and be. Quite a lot on the legal meaning of images, not so much on the ways in which making them might delight, or on the cultural freakout that colors law, images and how they are perceived.

No one knows how many kids are poised for long sentences, life sentences (a possibility under federal law), plea deals that cast them in the pariah-land of sex offenders. Prosecutors have gone after teens in at least Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. School and police investigators in many states have searched students' phones, and now that the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has estimated that one in five teenagers is taking and sending nude or seminude pictures of themselves, and four in ten are sending sexed-up text messages, kids generally are at risk of surveillance or worse.


http://www.alternet.org/rights/139272/super_prude_prosecutors_charge_teenagers_with_pornography_and_worse_for_sexy_text_messages/


How would YOU suggest we handle this growing area of concern?

[panader0]

1. I had to explain what it was to my two daughters (16 and 17)

Thank goodness.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. " How would YOU suggest we handle this growing area of concern?"

Tell them not to do it then mind my own business.

[havocmom]

52. In some schools, there is a 'virtual flashing' thing going on.

Kids are taking nude or partially nude self-portraits then 'flashing' the view at other kids at school. It is beyond a high tech game of playing doctor at that point. It is annoying to some kids to be 'flashed' at school. At that point, the school does have an obligation to do more than mind their own business.

Files on phones that are not being shown to unwilling viewers are one thing, and yeah, not really anyone's business. But that is not all of what is going on. It is really a disruption and quite bothersome to many kids in school. It is an aggressive intrusion beyond normal behaviors and needs to be addressed. Kids aren't allowed to whip it out and wave it around in the halls, so why should they be whipping it out in photo format?

Of course, being old school, I figure the easy remedy is to confiscate any and all cell phones and other hand held communication devices that get used at school. If a kid needs to call home, there should be (and usually is) a phone available for that. Kids in school should be paying attention to school. Teachers should not have to deal with all the distractions of technology just because people are addicted to constant electronic feedback.

[surrealAmerican]

58. While that is definitely a problem the school should address, ...

... it is NOT child pornography and not a problem for law enforcement.

[havocmom]

67. On the fence about that. It is a form of sexual harassment, a minor one, for sure

but the people engaged in such 'youthful indiscretion' probably should be watched in school for other signs of aggressive and/or anti-social leanings. Some participants will just be following the herd. Some will be real problems and possibly go on to bigger things if this isn't stopped.

I agree, school matter and handled easily if schools will stand up to howling parents and insist any visible use of cell or hand held device will result in confiscation of same, no excuses, no loopholes, no getting them back until summer vacation. But the parents will howl and the administrators will cave. The kids will be reinforced in the notion that they are the boss of the world. And things will get worse.

[glowing]

3. This is where parenting is really important. Explaining your future and nakedness

all over for anyone to see.. including future spouses and children and potential employers.. and if you are caught in a sexting sting, you may have to register as a sex offender the rest of your life.

On the other hand, I think the whole sex offender bit is a little harsh. Potential teachers who were stupid children, will be punished over this newest form of peer pressure, everyone does it crap.

Also, when are they going to make a cell phone that allows mom and dad to check their children's phones?

[FarCenter]

4. It is best that the parents don't know too much about what the kids are doing

And that the kids don't know too much about what the parents are doing.

Otherwise, it is hard for older generation to provide moral instruction to the younger without seeming totally naive and hypocritical.

[crimsonblue]

5. ignore it.

it's just kids being kids.

[arcadian]

6. They obviously dont teach Constitutional law at that school

So much for the 4th Amendment.

[MercutioATC]

7. Gee, maybe some parental control?

First, no kid should be charged with disseminating child pornography and labeled a sex offender because they're stupid enough to send nude cellphone images of themselves to others.


That said, I don't know of any wireless provider that doesn't offer parental controls for cellphones. Disable the little delinquents' photo messaging...

[WonderGrunion]

15. Not that easy anymore

I worked for US Cellular up until last year. Most phones can now transfer pictures directly via bluetooth without a messaging service. That's also the way kids share songs between phones these days. Furthermore, you don't need to dig through the files to find most the nasty stuff. Most teens put it on their phone's desktop. And they usually don't think to take it off the desktop when they hand it to the technician to look at their phone to see why the battery isn't keeping a charge. :eyes:

[MercutioATC]

18. To me, it's a "cable TV" issue.

Parents need to monitor their children's use. If they can't, don't get Cinemax.

If one can't monitor their kids' cellphone use, don't get them a phone capable of sending/receiving photos...

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

19. What WonderGrunion said, plus this:

If you disable it on their phone, they'll use somebody else's phone. Or buy a pay-as-you-go phone on eBay. Or any of a hundred other workarounds, because kids are geniuses when it comes to finding ways around these kinds of blockades. Which is not necessarily to say you shouldn't try. At least that way it's a constant reminder that they're doing something of which you disapprove. (Which is a good or a bad thing, depending on the child and the parents.)

At this point it's basically impossible to restrict a child's access to this type of information and technology, and it's only going to get more difficult as internet technology, and especially mobile internet technology, becomes ubiquitous.

[MineralMan]

40. Or, they can just get one at Walmart or at Walgreen's.

Nobody cares who uses those phones. I have one. It's never on. I take it in the car and on the boat, in case I need to call for help. Cheap and effective.

You can get them with full texting and cameras. Kids have money these days, and credit cards. It's virtually impossible to keep kids from computers and cell phones. It ain't happening.

[LostInAnomie]

8. Oh my stars!!! Kids are getting naked!!!

Next thing you know they'll be smoking pot and driving too fast!!!

Adults and Law Enforcement need to grow the fuck up and realize that prosecution is not the answer to every behavioral problem.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. "Adults and Law Enforcement need to grow the fuck up"!!!

You said it!

[zazen]

9. this is like prosecuting football players for "battering"-it minimizes REAL child porn

Dumbass sheriff.

I'm all for scaring the hell out of those kids so they don't do something so f-ing stupid again, but really. . . it's stunning beyond words that this sheriff doesn't get the difference between real child exploitation and stupid teenaged behavior, unless he's got a prurient interest in it himself, which I suspect.

[Danger Mouse]

10. I think we don't have enough people in prison for stupid reasons.

Therefore, I support this idea.

[TheKentuckian]

11. I suggest laying a good foundation and hoping for the best

Prosecution is wildly insane, stupid, and a huge waste of our resources.

People need to cease and desist with inventing new laws.

[FiveGoodMen]

13. "People need to cease and desist with inventing new laws"

Second great comment in one thread!

[Vidar]

14. Criminalizing horny teenager behavior is another puritanical assault on human nature.

[PufPuf23]

16. Old fashion would be showing off in real life so one

could say the new technology is less risky esp. concerning the more complex world today.

I do not think it wise in any case and would advise anyone against putting digital naked pictures of themselves in cyberspace.

The key factor IMO is if there is a legal adult in the loop especially if the adult was active participant or collected such images.

Stupid idea for teen to teen but adult participants active or passive (collectors) should be criminal.

These kids need counseling and loss of technology privileges not criminal prosecution.

There was a failure in their parenting or culture.

[David__77]

17. It shouldn't be "handled" at all.

If there are rapes occurring, then that's a crime. If someone is receiving naked text pics and doesn't like it, they can tell the person to stop, change their number, do all kinds of things. If it's consensual, then who the hell gives a shit? It's pretty normal to me.

[IDFbunny]

20. Sargeant Stedanko? Fits.

[Echo In Light]

57. Ha!

"That's Operation HARD HAT, HARD HAT!"

[xchrom]

21. since when is it that kids showing each other their naughty bits porn?

we used to show each other our private parts in groups.

[Forkboy]

23. It's a modern day "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Next they'll be dancing! :scared:

[xchrom]

24. YOU BAD BOY!!!

:spank:

[RC]

22. This country is way too puritanical. Sexting is just another symptom of this.

It we were more open to our own nature, this would not be a problem. Most likely not even be happening.

This is something for the parents to deal with. Voluntarily taken pictures? The law should be impotent here.

[aikoaiko]

25. It shouldn't be child porn charges, but there may need to be laws to reduce it and confiscate images

The problem is that the images cannot be reclaimed and will find their way into pedophiles computers and cell phones. I think it is in the interest of the State to protect minors from being taken advantage off in this way.

I can't see juvenile jail time as the solution in most situations.

[krabigirl]

26. America is way too puritanical. Sticks up our butts. Teens are horny.

[cherish44]

27. I would be very pissed if my 14 year old daughter was sending naked pics of herself to anyone

Parents need to teach their daughters to respect themselves and realize there's more to life than being a sex object to boys. I've already told my 12 year old daughter if I ever find out she's doing something like that with her phone or computer, she can kiss them goodbye until she's 18.

[madeline_con]

30. I have a question, since you would be pissed.

So many here see it as harmless. Do you think some of these same posters would be upset if images or their kids somehow inadvertantly got into the hands of a perv, who posted them on a pedo site?

I see it as child porn, regardless of the kids' intent. They need to be stopped, call phones confiscated, IMO.

Spell edit

[dustbunnie]

32. Here's what happens.

After a night of erotic dirty talk via texting, some teenager gets a teenagress to go all the way and send him naked pic.

The next day he sends it to all of his friends. They send it to their e-friends, some of whom live in the UK, Norway and Australia. And so on. Now the oh-so-very-grown-up teenagress has her naked pic distributed world-wide. Someone posts on a message board like DU. He posts the pic for a laugh. Even though the mods will delete it, they don't live on the message board, so it's up for half an hour, or maybe a few hours. Thousands of people download it onto their hard drive.

The teenagress is humiliated beyond anything she can imagine, and must grow up with the knowledge that her nude bodyparts are in peoples' homes all over the world. Some of these people are repulsive pedophiles. That's more than just typical teen "hi-jinks." Kids just don't realize, until it happens to them.

So parents should be concerned.

Edited to add: Before the message board dude posts the pic of the teenagress on the message board, he photoshops it so it looks like she's performing sex acts on an animal.

[MineralMan]

36. Absolutely. Parents should be concerned, and they should

talk to their adolescent children about the folly of doing such things. The police should not be involved in arresting such adolescent children, however.

[dustbunnie]

42. Nah, it's not something for LE to get involved with.

Certainly not for people sending pics privately to each other. But parents need to let their kids know that expectation of privacy is a whole other ball game when you send out naked pics on a cell.

I'm sure it's happened where underage girls lie in order to appear in porn flicks. I don't think anything happens to them although you could argue they're engaging in child porn as well. I don't really see the difference.

[Dr. Strange]

38. Very easy to lose control of a situation like that.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. LOL

Obviously this photography business is the clearest threat to our children since Dungeons and Dragons.

[MineralMan]

41. Or, in my day, comic books and (horrors) Mad Magazine.

[NeedleCast]

53. Combine the two and it's even worse

All I do all day is sit here wanking it to Kobold porn.

[varelse]

69. NO, the real issue there is bullying

which is becoming increasingly deadly to children and young adults. And since when is suicide funny?

[seabeyond]

70. since when is suicide funny?

i am thinking

i had my two boys watch that interview and the repercussions due to their behavior if they exhibit such lack of character, to go after an X girlfriend, showing that picture to anyone else. the repercussions and responsibility of THEIR actions. and the shame of it.

i wanted them to see the moms tears and listen to the girl's humiliation with what that punk boy did and the others.

not to mention the girls action, but what are we teaching our sons?

[Touchdown]

28. I think clicking on this thread put me on some pedo database just now.

:tinfoilhat:

[MineralMan]

37. Indeed. Someone is probably sending all our names to

the FBI as we write. :bounce:

[madeline_con]

29. Yes.

[kiva]

31. Kiddie porn? No. Smart? Absolutly not.

Seems like every week there's a story about someone who has lost a job/refused a scholarship/not been hired because of something they've posted on Facebook or My Space. Doesn't mean much to these kids now, but hopefully parents will explain that nude photos seem to live forever online.

[MineralMan]

35. Every week? OK, show me links of such situations within the past month.

Can't find any? I thought not.

[kiva]

43. Within the last week a woman in Switzerland was

fired for posting to her Facebook after she had called in sick to work http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8018329.stm. Five minutes on Google shows these, some from this year and some older:

Local Sheriff's Deputy Fired Over MySpace Profile http://www.wesh.com/news/9400560/detail.html
N. Las Vegas Judge Fired Over MySpace Comments http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=6924252
Teacher Fired Over MySpace Photo http://www.reputationdefenderblog.com/2008/01/21/teacher-fired-over-myspace-photo/
MySpace Can Get You Fired! http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/myspace-can-get-you-fired/
Wal-Mart Cashier Says He Was Fired Over MySpace Bomb Joke http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,276592,00.html
Cop in Taser Probe Fired for MySpace Pics http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3968035
Teacher fired over MySpace page http://www.tallahassee.com/legacy/special/blogs/2007/01/teacher-fired-over-myspace-page_25.html
Facebook entry gets office worker fired http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10172931-71.html
Could Venting About Work On Facebook Get You Fired? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509406,00.html
Eagles worker fired over Facebook rant http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/football/bob_blog/2009/03/eagles_worker_fired_over_faceb.html

I'm sure you'll be back soon to acknowledge your mistake.

[MineralMan]

49. Well, I'm back.

There is not a case every week. That was an exaggeration on your part. My point is that, while stuff happens, it's important to tell the story as it is, not as you think it is.

The thread is about teens sending photos to each other, anyhow, not MySpace and Facebook stories. Anyone who posts their stupidity in public on those forums deserves whatever consequences to their job or whatever that leads to, as far as I am concerned.

The question is whether kids who send naked photos of themselves to their peers should be treated as child porn criminals. I say no.

[kiva]

54. OK, I'm back too.

I absolutely agree that kids sending these photos aren't criminals, just stupid. Also agree that people who are foolish enough to post things in public forums that will cause them problems IRL are also stupid. In fact, we seem to agree about everything except how often these things happen...I still probably think it happens more often, but not worth arguing about on a beautiful Saturday morning. Hope you're having a good weekend, MM. :hi:

[seabeyond]

55. this never made it on the news, but it is an effect from poor posting choice

a young family member working for a unknown water filtering company wanted to sell us a unit. we wanted to help him with a sale though we have one we are happy with. would be expensive, cost us some for a switch over and long term. my husband started researching company on net. two of the young managers had sites come up and it was all adolescent, childish, gangstah, naked, sex, tattoo.

we looked at the two sites of people running company with company name on it and decided, nah, dont think they are grown up and responsible, and serious enough for our long term business.

they lost business

the net is an influence

and all along the way i teach and show my kids this and the effects and repercussions to their future. be aware

[azmouse]

33. I worry about getting those photos sent to my phone by accident.

Everyone's heard of wrong numbers, right? I don't want that shit on my phone or in my email.

[MineralMan]

34. I just can't see how it's a law enforcement issue at all, frankly.

Kids do dumb things all the time. That's why we call em kids. And adolescents are even more stupid.

When I was in high school, way back in 1962, my 16 year old girlfriend and her best friend took polaroids of themselves topless. They gave them to their respective boyfriends, who were neither displeased nor unfamiliar with those parts of our girlfirends.

Neither of us ever showed the photos to anyone else and, when the relationships ended, as adolescent relationships usually do, we destroyed the photos. Should any of us have been prosecuted? For pete's sake.

Now, it's not polaroids. It's cell phone cameras and web cams. Same dumbass activity.

As for nude photos turning up years later, I bring to your attention that bastion of correct behavior, Dr. Laura, and her collection of exposed naughty bits. Didn't hurt her career.

Are such shenanigans a good idea? Certainly not. Should we prosecute adolescents who give their naked pictures to their peers? Certainly not. We don't prosecute them when they boink each other, for pete's sake, as long as they're close in age. Photos? Feh!

[dustbunnie]

65. I'm not sure, but back when you were a teen -

if you had made thousands of copies of your 14-year-old girlfriend's naked pics, stood on a street corner and distributed them to every stranger who walked by, you'd probably be in deep doodoo. At the very least, her father might've come over and beat the living crap out of you.

[flvegan]

44. I'd say that when the "enduser" forwards/posts/shares, that's when it becomes a matter of law.

If a teen sends their pic to another, I don't think that should be so much of an offense. It's when that picture gets forwarded, shared, uploaded or otherwise given to any other person or group, THAT is when the law should become concerned.

It's all a bad idea at that age, but it's going to happen. Stamping "pedo" on some 15 year old kid because he got a pic that some 14 year old girl took of herself naked and sent to him...not really fair.

[Toucano]

45. It really isn't that big of a deal.

I find it distasteful that young adults are being brought up in a world where their bodies are a commodity. But in one fashion or another, that has probably always been true.

There is no permanent scar to be left by the fact that someone has seen your tits or your willy, even in an electronic age where it may be a lasting image.

If a perv is going to be stimulated by looking at a 14 year old girl's tits from a cell phone camera, he's also going to be stimulated by seeing her tits in a sweater. Do we have to put everyone in a burka because they might arouse someone?

Kids are going to do everything adults do. Adults use technology to explore their sexuality and sexual feelings and so will kids. Frankly, we should be more concerned about sexual desensitization to erotica than any other aspect of these phenomena. Soon, you'll see the Playboy centerfold on a postage stamp. There will be nothing left to revere and human sexuality will be reduced to the level of blowing snot into a Kleenex.

[LSdemocrat]

46. So what's next, prosecuting underage teens who masturbate for statutory rape or child molestation?

[Political Heretic]

47. I think "kiddie" porn should be defined as an adult distrubiting material of a minor.

Kids getting naked with other kids... been happening since the dawn of time.

[Mr. Ected]

48. But If Pix of Naked Kids Are Intercepted By Adults

Kiddie porn happens.

[liquid diamond]

63. That's an interesting thought

Does it make sense that kids can look at naked pictures of themselves legally, but if an adult looks at the photos, he can be charged with kiddie porn? I'd like to hear some thoughts on this.

[NeedleCast]

50. No Sin Worse in Puritain Land

than nudity!

[Fearless]

51. This is completely blown out of proportion!

It's not like this same thing hasn't been happening for decades if not forever. Now it is cell phone photos instead of paper copies. It's nothing new! The risk is the same, that it may fall into the hands of someone that will want to use it against you instead of your boy/girl interest. The only difference is that it can be copied much more readily than ever before. Otherwise, it's the same thing. People just have to exercise caution. Kids know that anything you send on a phone could be sent anywhere else. All this debate is about is a bunch of shocked parents that their children aren't as innocent as they seem. Reality check to them: No child is innocent.

[twitter quitter]

56. Which concern: the ridiculous sex-offender law (which lumps voluntary nude posing/sending

with truly vile and exploitative CHILD pornography) or the fact that young women feel compelled to debase themselves and young men feel the need to ask them to?

I think the laws should vanish (as well as consensual sex between minors). I also think that there is something very wrong with young people who feel the need to do this. Something is missing in their lives and it is very sad...

[BlooInBloo]

59. NEWSFLASH!!! Teens are horny!!!

:rofl:

[hedgehog]

61. NEWSFLASH! Teens are STOOPID!

[liquid diamond]

60. Prosecuting these kids is a stupid idea.

History has shown that criminalizing sexual behavior doesn’t work.
I think the parents need to speak with their children about the consequences of their actions. I’m not buying this “kids will be kids” or “teenagers are horny” excuses to justify taking a naked picture of themselves and sending it to others. There are better ways to act on their desires than making themselves vulnerable to extreme humiliation.
These instances of “sexting” can have tragic consequences. A girl killed herself about a month ago after her ex boyfriend distributed her naked pictures to his friends. People were calling her a whore. Nope. No need for legal prosecution. This behavior has its own punishment.

[bobbert]

62. Unfortunately, they're not getting paid for it

Playboy models and strippers can make a lot of money for showing their bodies. All they are doing is giving up for free what they could be making money doing. A lot of those 'sexting' photos get passed around very quickly. The thing is, photos are so easily reproduced digitally, that you never know where your nude image will end up. The consequences of having nude images for free will hurt women in the long run if they are expected to be giving their nude images to guys for free. Teen boys are horny, and they probably will post a photo on the internet somewhere if you send them a 'sext'. If it stays between a girl and her boyfriend it should be ok, but the odds of him deleting it when they break up and not showing it to anyone else is so small that it's not a very smart idea for them to do it. I really think this comes down to parenting more than legal issues. Cell phones should not be anywhere near schools anyway, there still are things called payphones and office phones and I think they should confiscate any cell phone that is not in a backpack and turned off on school grounds whether there are nude photos on it or not.

[Odin2005]

64. This is a parenting issue.

Teens shouldn't be labeled as sex offenders simply for being typical horny and stupid teens. :banghead:

[Runcible Spoon]

66. Should curious kids playing "doctor" be arrested for child molestation?

:wtf: This country's sick obsession with kids' sexuality is the digusting thing here.

If this is REALLY at epidemic levelvs (and I highly doubt that)restrict cells phones in schools. Those parents who are too paranoid and frozen in fear to let their little preciousses go out into the big scary world without one can write a note of permission and the school can keep the cell phone in the office until the school day is over.

[cascadiance]

68. I think the real problem to solve is an educational issue...

The unfortunate situation we have today is that noone of the younger set will really know how their lives will be affected by the accelerated exposure of their private lives with today's technology and their youthful exuberance that isn't tempered by thoughtful mature experience as one gets older.

If one wants to have a higher level job when one's in their 30's or 40's and others bring back their "kiddie pics" and other private info from facebook, etc. they could be forever screwed from getting those kind of jobs. Now maybe when that time comes, we'll have a more tolerant view of people's younger lives and habits then as more of us will share those weaknesses. Hard to tell. It is something that I wish we could get rid of (our sense of the need for heavy Victorian style moral purity). But without that foreknowledge of what will happen then, we need to find a way to help teens understand that they should be thinking of their dreams, and how their actions of today can have negative consequences later.

A lot of the pot generation today has to explain away their older records of drug arrests, etc. too. Like Clinton's "did he inhale"? Another example could be shown like the recent young girl Disney star (I forget her name) who's nude pictures showed up on the net and arguably probably is killing her career.

If perhaps a class (kind of like our sex education classes) can be shown to kids in high school that doesn't try to morally lecture them, but tries to show others' experiences, and lets thsm draw their own conclusions of what those others should have done differently to have better lives, etc. then perhaps you could get through to kids so that they'll think twice about who they "sext" to or whether they should "sext" at all. Just punishing them more isn't going to deter them, any more than criminalizing drug possession deterred, or didn't deter, kids of our generation when we were young. Sex education done properly is similar in the way its structured. Don't attempt to lecture, but get the facts of what happens to kids so that they can make better decisions at an earlier stage of their lives.

Now, if adults are trying to lure kids into "sexting" themselves, that's a different matter. That's where there should be penalties much like other child pornography or molestation laws have in place. Adults should be knowledgeable about this. Though perhaps if one person is 18 and the other 17, we need to find a way to be practical about this too.

[Grinchie]

71. It is this compulsory and moral projection society places on the human organism.

This unnatural and compulsory moral environment placed on Human beings sets the stage for repression and neurosis in later life.

When this most natural of functions is disturbed, by placing disproportionate penalties on the discovery of ones on sexuality, whether it be shame of the human body, the strict prohibition of masturbation, and the concomittant anxiety caused by turning it into something bad, prevent normal, healthy release of sexual energy which manifests itself in character flaws, such as being overly suggestible to the will of authority, along with the destruction of a natural healthy sexual function.

This repression of sexuality is nothing more than a means of controlling a population by diverting natural energies toward unnatural energies, such as the pursuit of money, conforming to the morals of society which is based in a oligarchy, and supported by religion and government.

When these energies are prevented from expressing themselve, society demands a release, which is why we see so much pathological sexuality in the United States, like pornography of incredibly perverse, abusive and demeaning nature as a billion dollar industry in America.

Since teens are experiencing their first awakenings into their own sexuality, and society basically implements repressive morals on experimentation, along with the complete disavowment of the reality of human sexuality, young adults seek their own education through the readily available mountins of pornography, without having the ability to actuall experience the learning process of what healthy sexuality really is.

The American citizen is so repressed when it comes down to this most basic natural function, that it is a crime to flash 1.6 seconds of Janet Jacksons breast on television. The fear of sexual predators pervades the media and psyche of the Citizenry, mainly due to the fact that their is so much repressed sexuality. It is a mass neurosis that is exploited by Politicians, and inevitably, this becaomes a mass plague, leading to a degenerating society where the majority of people feel the system is too far out of touch with their own simple needs and pleasure mechanisms.

This plaque we have at the moment is a good example why we have unethical corporate leaders, and a general anti-life mentality that doesn't consider the earth and all of its diversity important enough to protect.

For more thoughtful reading, I highly recomend "The Function of the Orgasm" by Wilhelm Reich. After you read it, you'll see why the FDA wanted to burn all his books, because he had identified the means of control that the Government was using on it's citizen. It is a method of control that was used by the Nazi's, and many other goverments for centuries.

Without knowing that the book was destroyed by the FDA, because it was an "Instruction Manual for the use of Orgone Accumulators". One see's a scientific analysis of the causes for physical manifestations of psychological repression.

Has anyone else ever read it?

[Mr. Ected]

72. My $0.02

I have relatively little trouble with a teen aged boy or girl taking a photo of one's self and transmitting that photo to another teen aged boy or girl. At that point, it is a matter of family values and how one responds to their own child's adventures is a personal choice. Definitely no law enforcement issue there.

However, the fact that kids are fast and loose and unaware of unforeseen consequences is where this behavior becomes disturbing. As has been pointed out here earlier, once those images are released beyond the teen's realm of influence, they become the potential treasure of a pervert. The ease by which this could take place is astounding, and colors my opinion on the severity of the problem.

Parents acting as parents would probably prevent a little naughtiness from getting out of hand, most of the time. But silly me: I don't want some pedophile gazing at my kid's privates, even if my kid had no idea that his harmless tomfoolery would make him the object of a cretin's lust.

[cascadiance]

73. It's not just porn either... There are a lot of things that kids of today spill on the net...

... than we did when we were young...

I wonder what congressman Brian Bilbray's son will feel like many years from now if he wanted to run for congress himself when someone brings back this pic for voters to look at. Now Bilbray's not my idea of a great congressman, and maybe the same constituency wouldn't be bothered by it, but you get my drift...