Sexting, the Woe of Society

Ali Cutler:

Remember when a 73 year old woman decided to sue McDonald’s because she spilled coffee on her lap and suffered third degree burns? Not only does this lawsuit represent exactly why America is not so much the land of the free nor home of the brave at times, but it also shows just how foolish its legal system is.

The silliness of the legal system has come to the forefront again, in a disputably more moronic way. Sexting, or sending nude pictures or sexually explicit material via text message, has now become the scalding, spilled coffee of American society.

According to a Nationwide Survey, 20% of teens admittedly participate in this texting phenomenon. In January, three teenage girls sent semi-nude pictures via cell phones and the three lucky boys that received these photos at Pennsylvania High School are now charged with child pornography. Apparently, the boys made the executive decision to turn their phones on in class and a very shocked administrator witnessed the pictures. I think these boys can safely agree that maybe they should have waited until after school to admire these child porn stars in the privacy of their own homes.

Although one would not expect these “dangerous” messages to be seen by anyone else than the intended recipient, cases around the country have proven that it is not so rare that these messages end up in the wrong hands. Sexting could end horribly if these pictures get into the grasp of a potential employer, a college admissions officer, or even worse—someone’s parents.

In retrospect, when one thinks about the number of missing people a day (2300), sexting may not be so important on the scale of wretchedness that inflicts our society. However, news networks are painting what I like to call freedom of expression as a terrible woe in teen society. Multiple news networks go far enough to link sexting to suicide. Apparently Jessica Logan from Cincinnati sent a nude picture to her boyfriend, who after their breakup, showed others. After weeks of ridicule by classmates, she hung herself.

Though Jessica’s luck took a turn for the worse with such a horrible boyfriend, sexting is not as satanic as the media depicts it to be. Sure, young teenage brains are not fully formed and so their minds are more susceptible to make bad decisions, but is it right for many states to make sexting a felony? Is sexting really a gateway form of expression that will lead one inevitably down the path of drugs, or alcoholism, or dropping out of school? Probably not. The scarlet letter that has been branded on the sexually expressive youth of America is just a McDonald’s coffee being spilled again. My solution: don’t spill coffee that you probably knew was going to be hot, and let the parents or authority figures of these straying children deal with their child’s sexually permissive problems.

For a related piece, check out Texting: The Growing Frontier in communicative convenience, sexiness, or str8 LA-Z-NIS