Sexting

Most people who stumble upon this article is going to either already know what “sexting” is or are just some pervert looking for something to wack off to.  Unfortunately for you sickos (I say that with the utmost respect and admiration) out there, there will be no material worthy of spanking in this article. I instead what to express my opinions about this practice and how it should be handled, especially for your parents out there.

“Sexting” is the practice of sending or receiving nude photos via text, facebook, myspace or twitter.  Lately this has gotten some nation exposure from the media do to Jesse Logan committing suicide after her photos were leaked by an ex boyfriend.  Apparently Jesse and her douche-bag boyfriend had exchanged nude pics of each other and after they broke up, he thought it was a good idea to text them to other students at their high school and cause an unbelievable amount of shame and embarrassment for his ex lover; what a guy.  She was distraught, upset, and angry and even went on a day-time talk show to warn teens of the dangers of having their pictures leaked to the world.  A few months later, after depression and public humiliation, Jesse took her own life. 

Now, this is not the first time this sort of thing has ever happened and it is far from the last time a girl will text or email her tits or ass to a boyfriend.   Apparently, some national study was conducted and 20% of teens send nude photos to their boyfriends, girlfriends and friends.  I seem to think the number is probably much higher that 20%, but that is just going by the sluts and whores I knew growing up.  In my teen years, we didn’t have the internet and all this technology to get our asses in trouble, but if it was around, I am sure my dick would have show up in some google search by now. 

Back in the day, even before my time as a youth, the same sort of thing happened to girls; just without the photos.  If a couple broke up before the dawn of technology, there would be rumors and reputations that were tarnish, they just didn’t have photos or video to actually prove their case.  Young girls have been battling the “bad reputation” sigma forever and never want to be known as a slut or being particularly easy…well there are always a handful that embrace that label, but I digress. 

The problem with sexting isn’t only the assholes that leak these photos, but the way the situation is handled.  Let’s take Jesse, as mentioned above.  I am sure her parents told her how awful this was, how they were disappointed and how this was the worst thing that could have happened.  She was made a fool of not only in her local community, but nationally after being involved in the day-time talk show.  Her shame was escalated to epic proportions unnecessarily…In my opinion.   

I am the parent of two daughters and I want to let it be known, I never want to have to deal with an issue like this.  I don’t want to have to worry about my daughters sending nude photos to people and having it bite them in the ass.  I would like to live in a fantasy world where that sort of thing doesn’t happen; unfortunately, I live in the real world and it happens every day.  I am not going to go through life with rose colored glasses on oblivious to what perils may face my girls.  So here is how I would handle this situation if it happened with one or both of my girls.

If I came to find out that my daughter had sent nude or sexually suggestive photos to a boyfriend and it leaked to the public making her embarrassed, ashamed and depressed I would tell her…big deal.  What… big deal?  Yes, big deal.   I would explain that she isn’t the only girl this has happened to, she isn’t the only girl with breasts, and she isn’t the only one she probably even knows that has been burned by sending private photos.  I would tell her it doesn’t matter what these kids think of her as long as she is strong inside.  No one cares about this sort of thing after a few months.  Those few months may suck for a while because you are feeling insecure about the skin you live in, but soon, it all goes away.  My daughter would know that her family loves her regardless and is going to pick her up and support her while the times are bad. 

I mean look at Paris Hilton, she was on film sucking dicks, being naked and having sex and that is the least of the dumb ass things she has done.  Just about every celebrity has nude photos somewhere and they were able to get past it and succeed.  I would point out the fact that adversity makes us stronger and some lessons are harder than others, but we seem to learn more for the hard ones. 

Now, before I get a backlash of criticism over my comments, I want to let you know I am going to preach to my girls NOT to partake in these sort of practices and to stay away from these social networking sites. I am realistic to the fact that kids don’t want to listen to their parents though and know there will be situations as a parent that I will encounter regardless of how much I try to prevent them.  My grandparents raised me to do the right thing and stay away from drugs etc, but I ended up doing a lot of the stupid shit they warned me about.  I would like to credit them however for giving me the foundation of right and wrong and a good moral background that kept me from being too crazy. 

Today with Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and whatever else is out there or what is on the horizon, people have to me be much more careful of what they do or post online.  The word anonymous seems to be going away because everyone wants the world to know who they are and what they are doing at all times.  From tweets of random boring acts to updating your status on facebook to nude photos being transmitted to the world, be careful with who you think you are sharing your personal photos and views with.

Something that is quite disturbing to me is the repercussions that can be had from simply having a social networking page.  Human resources are now searching out applicant’s pages to see what type of person you are before you get hired.  Other people are being fired for personal opinions such as a Philadelphia Eagles employee blogging on facebook that he was upset that they let a free agent go to Denver.  What you post on these websites, regardless of sexual content or not, are there forever.  They can and will haunt you, so be careful of what you want the world to know about you.