There’s a new trend among young people that is so troubling, it’s prompted a government warning campaign. It’s called sexting – short for “sexually explicit texting”… It’s a growing phenomenon where young people send naked and explicit images of themselves to each other, in the form of mobile phone messages. There’s been devastating consequences from the trend. One 13 year old Australian girl sent sexualised images to her boyfriend, which were then posted on a fake MySpace page for all the world to see. You can imagine the devastation that would cause. Police had to seek help from the FBI in the USA to help shut the site down. Now the New South Wales Government has released fact sheets that will go to all NSW public schools tomorrow, to warn parents and children about it. Parents are being urged to be more aware of what’s going on in their kids lives. Mums and dads can’t stay oblivious - particularly when it comes to technology. … They need to step up and - as much as they can, help protect their children….
• Last year, sexting led to 32 Victorian teenagers being charged with child pornography offences.
• Girlfriend magazine did a survey and found that four in 10 readers – 40 percent – had been asked to forward a nude photo of themselves
• Kids Help Line says that 1200 out of 3000 bullying-related calls (40 percent), were related to mobile phone and cyber-bullying.
• The Age newspaper asked teenagers a bit about the trend, and some 15-year-old-girls said girls enjoyed the positive reaction and attention it creates.
• Community Services Minister Linda Burney warns the trend is on the rise, can lead to great distress and even psychological damage, and damage a young person’s prospects in terms of things like employment.
• Opposition community services spokeswoman, Pru Goward, warned that young people " think they're only sending it to their boyfriend, (but) they could be sending it to the world.
Are you aware of the trend? If so, what do you think is causing it?
Have you seen any of the consequences?
Perhaps you are a parent or a teacher and have some insights you can share.
Tell us your thoughts...
Comments (1)
Hi Sheridan,
This is a topic that is both scary but not unexpected for me. The part
I find interesting is that it has now become a recognized problem when
the truth is that this has been building for a very long time.
I've heard several of your other callers talk about the fact that this
is the indication of society and how far it has gone. All I can say is
that I agree. It was not that long ago when I was in high school and
one of the teen girly magazines (dolly or girlfriend, I cant remember)
release regular issues with "sealed" sections that provided sexual
information, more specifically different moves, positions and options.
Regular articles were written about the difficulties of sex and how to
overcome them and this was further compounded by friends who talk,
discuss and encourage it. All I can say is thank the Lord I had a
strong relationship with my mother who encouraged me to stay away from
it and to remain faithful to God.
One of your callers also mentioned the fact that sexuality is freely
advertised in the form of mobile phone wall paper, I wonder if any one
remembers a few months back the pornography industry announced the near
completion of their new i-phone service that would provide detailed,
clear imaged videos for the i-phone. When it was announced in the
general news I didn't see anyone disputing it.
More concerningly and closer to home for me is the general social
acceptance of porn in general is the shock I got when my 18 year old
cousin added explicit pornographic images on his facebook page, these
images then appeared on my home newsfeed page. The part that scares me
the most is that my 15 year old brother is also "friends" with him and
having a secular friend inform me that 'all teenage boys are looking at
porn so don't worry about it". When do we stop accepting "everyone is
doing it so it is okay" and standup for Christ, the church, community,
society and our children.
A horror story for you of how lightly pornography is treated amongst
children to finish. One day a friend of my 15 year old brother gave him
the web address for a really cool games site (their words not mine) and
then proceeded to badger him to visit the site; eventually my brother
decided to go and check it out. To his sickening horror the address was
actually for a explicit gay porn video that was in excruciating detail.
After immediately shutting down his computer in shock he was further
devastated when he logged back onto his computer and onto MSN only to
find a message from the "friend" saying he was now going to tell
everyone at school my brother was gay and looked at porn. Needless to
say my brother was very upset especially when that's exactly what they
did. The worst part is that after my mother took further action through
the school it came out those involved thought it was just going to be a
joke and they didn't think my brother would be so upset about it. Have
we desensitized our kids so much that things like this are considered
funny?
While I could go on forever about this topic with all the many things I
have seen, heard or even confronted I just want to say that as God's
children maybe it is times we stood up for all his children and pushed
the law makers to take more responsibility.
Posted by Bianca | May 7, 2009 1:14 PM
Posted on May 7, 2009 13:14