March 10, 2009

Sexting


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9 comments:

  1. AshleyMarch 10, 2009 at 9:12 PM

    So, let me start out by saying that I didn't watch the whole video, but I have been reading and hearing a lot about "sexting" lately and I've found it all pretty shocking.

    Honestly, based on who I was as a teenager, it's probably something I would have done. I clearly think that it isn't good or right for teens to be doing that (particularly when they are sending photos of someone other than themselves), but I think it's ridiculous that they are being charged as sex offenders and child pornographers when they are willingly taking and sending these photos.

    I agree with the lawyers that are saying, when it comes to this, the laws are out dated. I'm not sure what the answer to this is, but I'm pretty sure it's not make all these kids into sex offenders.

    In all actuality, this isn't that new. They really aren't doing anything that kids with Polaroids weren't doing 10, 20 years ago. The difference now is there is always an electronic copy and a trail making it easier to catch people.

    I do think that this is a good argument not to give kids camera phones, though. And hopefully all this negative press will dissuade kids from doing this.

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  2. MelvillainMarch 10, 2009 at 11:49 PM

    Also see this post: http://themodularman.blogspot.com/2009/02/dont-let-our-youth-go-to-waste.html

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  3. CalebMarch 11, 2009 at 12:45 PM

    Culture Lag:


    "The thesis is . . . that the source of most modern social changes today is the material culture. The material-culture changes force changes in other parts of culture such as social organization and customs, but these latter parts of culture do not change as quickly. They lag behind the material-culture changes, hence we are living in a period of maladjustment."

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  4. MelvillainMarch 11, 2009 at 2:19 PM

    Playing devil's advocate here. Culture lag only applies if we believe there is a lag between culture and the medium. As Ashley pointed out, this is no different than kids with Polaroids, or, if you really want to go old-school, playing doctor. The lag isn't between the culture and the medium. The lag in this case is between the medium and the law. Kids will be kids. Should they be punished for the actions of child pornography collectors if their pics happened to leak beyond their circle? The same is true of shows like "To Catch a Predator". Has an actual crime been committed when someone only thinks they are talking to a teenager only to arrive and find a sheriff's deputy? 24-hour news networks like to act like things have changed, but in reality kids are doing the same thing they've always done. The medium is different, which arguably accounts for more exposure, but other than that not much has changed. We like to think there was a mythic golden age where everyone acted properly, but that isn't true. The people who were looked down upon were the people who got caught. Everyone else did it, they were just smarter about it. Come to think of it, maybe the law is just doing what it's always done. Punishing the people too stupid to keep their bad behavior under wraps as an example to the rest of the "law-abiding" citizenry. That's the lesson of Watchmen. There are no super heroes, only humans.

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  5. CalebMarch 11, 2009 at 4:46 PM

    I agree. By culture lag, I merely meant the laws applied to the offenders. Child pornography laws are all they have to prosecute this with, which doesnt see to apply. Kids are being kids, just with better technology. The laws have not caught up to the folly of youth applied in this manner, hence the lag.

    "...the source of most modern social changes today is the material culture." Kids will be kids, but the materials change.

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  6. MelvillainMarch 12, 2009 at 5:49 PM

    Cool. I wasn't sure where you were going with that.

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  7. fishlikeMarch 13, 2009 at 3:12 AM

    Interesting subject. The fact that children are being charged of child pornography offenses (manufacturing, distribution, possesssion of such material) of course demonstrates that the legislation is outdated. But most of all, this situation reveals the young people’s awareness of the very ambiguous position 'adult' society has towards pornography, condemning & consuming it at the same time. It seems clear that it's the adult's fascination for pornography that encourages kids to join what seems to be a game & in fact is a huge industry. (the modern blurring of the difference between child entertainment and pornography is well illustrated by the japanese manga/hentai industry). What surprises me is that no one takes into account that kids aren’t actually making any commercial profit from this kind of self-produced material (yet?).
    Regarding the action of ‘sexting’, we obviously have an offense taking place (essentially of boys towards girls, another fact that should be stressed) that can be linked to harassment and should obviously be punished as such. The 2nd case mentioned by Melvillain, teenage girls taking pictures of themselves and distributing them (and being punished for it), is far more interesting as no palpable offense has taken place: one could say that in this case, we have children implicitly denouncing the outdated and hypocritally upheld bourgeois cliché of happy families and cherished children and assuming themselves for what modern spectacular society really holds them for : potential objects of (virtual)sexual desire. The fact that these girls chose to represent themselves can therefore be seen as a tentative emancipation from this system and a desire to regain possession of their own identity/image. Taking place in a context of entirely materialized culture (as Major Tom fittingly reminds us), however, this effort (as so many other teenage rebel stunts) is bound to fail : auto-emancipation becomes auto-reification as young people are shockingly turning themselves into objets – the only ‘beneficial’ effect being a slight destabilization and growing uneasyness of our pseudo-moral adult society. The ‘period of maladjustment’ is far from coming to an end...

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  8. CalebMarch 16, 2009 at 7:43 PM

    Hmmm. Brilliant post Fish. It is the epitome of reason for The Modular Man- dilemmas with no answers...

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  9. MelvillainMarch 22, 2009 at 7:58 PM

    "Our sex attitudes are largely characterized by pretense. The majority of people under fifty today have, at one time or another, engaged in what is termed illicit intercourse -- and yet we pretend, publicly, that we have not done so. Some of us go so far as to state that we don't do it, never would do it and disapprove of the criminal types who do. Policemen arrest and judges convict persons discovered in a pursuit which they themselves indulge in. The enjoyment of a natural urge is defined as a crime. Young persons thus enjoying the urge in the wonder of the beginning are burdened with a sense of guilt and shame. They are classed with common criminals -- why?"
    Jack Parsons

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