Daughter of the Ring of Fire

Posts Tagged ‘Seattle Times’

Mar

2009

The Consequences of “Sexting”

Posted on 06:44, March 12th, 2009 by EKSwitaj

Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

While this Seattle Times articles on teens facing the consequences of “sexting” addresses some important issues, it has one major flaw: it treats teens sending revealing pictures of themselves and teens sending revealing pictures of others without permission as if they were equivalent acts. Indeed, a 15-year old girl charged with making child pornography for sending images of herself via Myspace is mentioned only in passing with no reflection on the fact that, since she was sending the pictures to someone twelve years older than herself, it would make more sense to regard her as a victim than as a perpetrator. On the other hand, we are supposed to feel sympathy for the challenges faced by a boy who sent out pictures of his ex as revenge:

Since his arrest and conviction, Alpert’s life has been difficult.

Classmates at Ocoee High School teased him unmercifully, sending him into a depression that caused him to miss class and avoid his graduation last year. He lost friends because “they just don’t want to be friends with a sex-offender kid,” Alpert said.

He said he was kicked out of Valencia Community College in September because he’s a sex offender. Neighbors have knocked on his door after finding him in the sex-offender database and asked him what he’s done.

Alpert’s mother moved out of state after he graduated, but the conditions of his probation don’t allow him to leave Orange County without permission. He can’t live with his father in Ocoee because the house is too close to a school, Alpert said.

Every Wednesday he attends a class for sex offenders where he is joined by people who have raped and molested children. He’s not like them, Alpert said, but the law says he is.

No, he isn’t as bad as a rapist, but he did violate his ex-girlfriend’s trust in a sexualized way. The article, however, doesn’t take this (let alone how such images might have affected this girl given our society’s predilection for slut-shaming) into consideration, telling us only that the girl did not return the reporter’s phone calls and did not face any criminal charges—as if she had done anything deserving of punishment when she sent images of herself. That suggestion is pure victim blaming.

What does it say when a newspaper article spends more space on pity for a boy who sent out nude pictures of a girl without her permission than on considering how that act impacted her or on the situation of a girl who violated no one when she sent nude images of herself? It’s a subtle form of participation in slut-shaming and, yes, rape culture: a girl being sexual is painted as being as bad if not worse than a boy violating her sexual trust.