On sextual education

By Tatiana Sanchez

In many ways, owning a cell phone defines the teen generation. Today's teens don't call each other from their house phones -- they exchange cell phone numbers.

They don't pass notes, instead they text each other from across the classroom. And most shockingly, today's teens don't flirt with smitten words or coy phrases -- they express attraction through sexual picture messages.

Teenage flirting has reached a whole new level with the trend of sexting, the act of sending semi-nude or nude photos via picture messaging on a cell phone.

Twenty percent of teens have sent or posted online semi-nude pictures of themselves, reported a nationwide survey of 1,280 teens conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Given this information, it seems that "sexting" is fast becoming just another teenage norm.

But with this new trend also comes growing consequences, as more teens who send or receive explicit photos are being charged for possessing and distributing child pornography.

In Pennsylvania earlier this year, three teenage girls who sent naked pictures of themselves via picture messages were charged with child pornography, along with the three male classmates who received the texts. Under Pennsylvania law, possession and distribution of child pornography is considered a felony.

Courts are not taking sexting lightly. Some of the teens found guilty have been sentenced to years in prison.

Eighteen-year-old Phillip Alpert of Orlando, Fla., was charged with child pornography and was required to register as a sex offender after sending a nude photograph of his 16-year-old girlfriend to countless family members and friends.

While this new sexting trend is unacceptable, I'm sure we all remember what it felt like to be careless teens and to make foolish decisions.

Teens are naturally curious and impulsive individuals -- throw them into an age of growing digital technology, and something like sexting is bound to occur.

Though it is wrong and even dangerous for teens to immerse themselves in such a risky and disturbing trend, it is also wrong for the government to threaten adolescents with felony charges.

Sending teenagers who sext to prison for possession of child pornography is an extreme and unnecessary repercussion.

Laws protecting children from child pornography were implemented to protect children from older and more threatening pedophiles, not to threaten young adults who don't know any better.

In addition, we must keep in mind that 20 percent of teens are doing it. This means that if the law should be applied to all teens participating in sexting, one in five teens would be incarcerated before they went to college. What good could this possibly accomplish for our society?

At the heart of this issue lies the fact that thus far, adolescents have not been educated about the consequences of sexting.

It is time to realize that parents and teachers have just as much accountability for this disturbing trend as these kids do.

Parents and teachers, as the most prominent role models in these adolescent's lives, need to be more involved with the decisions teens make.

Instead of having the government arrest countless teens for partaking in the act of sexting, we as a community need to start thinking of ways in which we can productively combat such behavior.

It is up to families and communities, not the government, to combat this rapidly-growing trend, then we must do something to stop it, and not simply stand aside and wait for authorities to send teens to prison in hopes that it will fix the problem and teach them a lesson.

During an epsiode of In Session on CNN, legal analyst Lisa Bloom stated, "Hand new technology to kids without educating them about the consequences of misuse and what do we expect? What a waste of resources to prosecute kids for being knucklehead adolescents."

The national survey conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy revealed that 66 percent of teen girls and 60 percent of boys who have sent explicit content have done it to be fun or flirtatious.

As we grow to understand this sexting trend and the potential damage it may have for our society in the future, our main priority should not be to hunt these kids down for sexting, but to find productive ways to educate them about it.

We must ask ourselves why so many teens feel the need to compromise their dignity by sending half-naked pictures of themselves to their peers in order to feel accepted and attractive.

But over all, we must ask ourselves what we as individuals can do to put a stop to a trend that is slowly eating away at our nation's youth.

Tatiana Sanchez is a junior English major.