TEENAGE KICKS AND OTHER FELONIES
Mar. 31st, 2009 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM [via Threat Level]: A federal judge in Pennsylvania has granted a temporary restraining order to prevent a district attorney from charging three teenage girls with the production of child pornography for taking photos of each other in states of undress and then emailing the photos to friends.
Background:
Similar cases have arisen in other states.
I’ve been tracking the “sexting” story for awhile now, but I haven’t posted anyhting on it because I couldn’t think of a good way to address what really bugs me about it without risking an arrest warrant.
Let’s start with the obvious: child porn is bad, and should be illegal. That’s because child porn involves adults victimizing children. Teenagers taking pictures of themselves and each other and sending them to boyfriends and girlfriends is hardly the same thing. It’s silly teenage shenanigans, and DAs who equate it with kiddie porn are wasting valuable time and money on cases like this that could otherwise be spent going after real child pornographers.
The other thing that bugs me, however, is that the DA seems bent on punishing the teen girls involved in this for something, ANYTHING, to make the point that taking consensual sexy photos of yrself and yr friends of yr own free will is a punishable act.
Personally (and I’m not a parent, so I can say this), I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with it. Teenagers explore their sexuality in all kinds of ways that their parents would find alarming – just like we did when we were the same age (only without the benefits of digital technology).
That said, it’s true that teens likely don’t understand the consequences of what they get up to, and they should be made aware, just like they should be taught about the risks of pregnancy and STDs. In that sense, I think taking pictures of yrself and sending it to yr friends should at the very least be an informed decision. Sex ed classes should have a section on sexting and MySpace flirting.
But “stupid” and “wrong” are not the same thing. Which is why I’m annoyed by the current freakout over sexting as if it’s some new crime wave of DIY kiddie porn by kids, for kids. It is no such thing, and that alarmist mentality rings hollow to people like me who have seen other moral guardians raise the same alarms about everything from video games and slasher films to Judas Priest lyrics and gay people, arguing that the best solution is to criminalize everything that might be even the slightest way harmful.
Don’t get me wrong – I fully understand why parents wouldn’t want their teens sexting anyone. The point is that it’s their call what to do about it. The DA’s office shouldn’t be involved at all. Skumanick has said he’s only doing it to teach the girls a lesson. It’s not his lesson to teach.
And furthermore, his teaching method of threatening to charge these kids with a serious felony that in most states will put them on a Registered Sex Offender list for the rest of their lives is far more stupid and irresponsible than anything those girls did.
I’m glad the Pennsylvania judge has the sense to know the difference.
FUN FACT: My first girlfriend and I used to swap extremely naughty handwritten letters with splendidly graphic details of what we’d do if we were in the same room without chaperones. We were 16. Which makes us both sex offenders under today’s standards. And we didn’t even have blogs or iPhones at our disposal. That’s progress?
A momentary lapse of reason,
This is dF
Background:
Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick, Jr., had threatened to charge the girls with being accomplices to the production of child pornography unless they agreed to six-month probation, drug-testing and participation in a five-week educational program to discuss why what they did was wrong.
Similar cases have arisen in other states.
I’ve been tracking the “sexting” story for awhile now, but I haven’t posted anyhting on it because I couldn’t think of a good way to address what really bugs me about it without risking an arrest warrant.
Let’s start with the obvious: child porn is bad, and should be illegal. That’s because child porn involves adults victimizing children. Teenagers taking pictures of themselves and each other and sending them to boyfriends and girlfriends is hardly the same thing. It’s silly teenage shenanigans, and DAs who equate it with kiddie porn are wasting valuable time and money on cases like this that could otherwise be spent going after real child pornographers.
The other thing that bugs me, however, is that the DA seems bent on punishing the teen girls involved in this for something, ANYTHING, to make the point that taking consensual sexy photos of yrself and yr friends of yr own free will is a punishable act.
Personally (and I’m not a parent, so I can say this), I don’t think there’s anything “wrong” with it. Teenagers explore their sexuality in all kinds of ways that their parents would find alarming – just like we did when we were the same age (only without the benefits of digital technology).
That said, it’s true that teens likely don’t understand the consequences of what they get up to, and they should be made aware, just like they should be taught about the risks of pregnancy and STDs. In that sense, I think taking pictures of yrself and sending it to yr friends should at the very least be an informed decision. Sex ed classes should have a section on sexting and MySpace flirting.
But “stupid” and “wrong” are not the same thing. Which is why I’m annoyed by the current freakout over sexting as if it’s some new crime wave of DIY kiddie porn by kids, for kids. It is no such thing, and that alarmist mentality rings hollow to people like me who have seen other moral guardians raise the same alarms about everything from video games and slasher films to Judas Priest lyrics and gay people, arguing that the best solution is to criminalize everything that might be even the slightest way harmful.
Don’t get me wrong – I fully understand why parents wouldn’t want their teens sexting anyone. The point is that it’s their call what to do about it. The DA’s office shouldn’t be involved at all. Skumanick has said he’s only doing it to teach the girls a lesson. It’s not his lesson to teach.
And furthermore, his teaching method of threatening to charge these kids with a serious felony that in most states will put them on a Registered Sex Offender list for the rest of their lives is far more stupid and irresponsible than anything those girls did.
I’m glad the Pennsylvania judge has the sense to know the difference.
FUN FACT: My first girlfriend and I used to swap extremely naughty handwritten letters with splendidly graphic details of what we’d do if we were in the same room without chaperones. We were 16. Which makes us both sex offenders under today’s standards. And we didn’t even have blogs or iPhones at our disposal. That’s progress?
A momentary lapse of reason,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2009-03-31 08:39 am (UTC)But of course, these days, another danger is some adults might say to those kids, "hey, you wanna earn a few bucks for these pics?"...
no subject
on 2009-04-01 12:08 am (UTC)Nobody's gonna catch an STD or get pregnant from a text message. Nobody's gonna get dosed with rohypnol, either.
How long til we start getting digital filters on cellphones? I know of somebody who worked on a project that aimed to identify penises in raster images to aid in content filtering.
"Yes, I made sure my teen's phone has the latest in cock recognition software installed..."
-- JF