Teen Sexting Back in the News

Teen Sexting Is Back in the News

The debate goes on: Do 20% of kids sext, or 25%? As if it matters whether one in five or one in four children engage in the activity which has become a buzzword in the teenage culture.

In fact, it may be one in three or an even greater phenomenon. Why adults would think teenagers would be upfront and totally honest about what they do with and on their cellphones is an even greater mystery.

Since my kids have long been out in the world as successful grown-ups, I can’t personally relate to the whole issue of adolescent sexting, which continues to be re-defined and refined by adults. Whether we elders even grasp the scope and import of this latest teen craze is questionable.

Back in the day, the worst my generation had to deal with were sex and drugs and rock and roll.

Sexting, however, has now become so ingrained in American life that one website, urbandictionary.com, has seen fit to officially lay out multiple definitions, as well as teen reactions to the adult world’s impertinence in seeking to define what is theirs, territory into which anyone over 20 or 25 should never venture nor critique.

That urban, and suburban and rural, dictionary posits this offering on sexting: “v: the act of text messaging someone in the hopes of having a sexual encounter with them later; initially casual, transitioning into highly suggestive and even sexually explicit.”

Congenitally defensive teens offered various rebuttals and clarifications. They included: ”The term [sexting] is used by adults who are out of the loop, and not by the individuals actually sending the messages.” And, “like phone sex except throught texting.” And, “When a guy and a girl send dirty text messages back and forth to each other. Pictures may also be included, but only if you’re lucky:” http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sexting.

That’s all very enlightening but it sheds little light on sexting.

Not so lucky but quite enlightened was assistant principal at Virginia’s South Riding High School, Ting-Yi Oei. He was delegated by the principal to investigate “rumors that some students at the school were exchanging sexually explicit [sexted] photos of a teenage girl.”

He duly investigated, identified the culprit, and as instructed, captured the picture on his cell phone and laptop as evidence.

He was subsequently charged “with felony possession of child porn as well as with two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for instructing the male student to send him the photo.”

Assistant Principal Oei beat that rap, and the county, eventually, reimbursed him for the $167,000 in legal fees he incurred for doing his job as per his directions: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/sexting/

Whether he got any jollies from the picture in question, which showed only the torso of a female student “clad in underwear . . .

(Read the rest at http://genelalor.com)