Think the big "no sexting" talk is going to protect your kids? Hold that thought. A set of parents in Oklahoma is in the midst of a battle with their local school district after photos of their 16-year-old daughter in her underwear hit the Internet.
Only the girl (whose name is being kept under wraps to protect her identity) didn't take the photos. She didn't even pose for them. In fact, the lawsuit alleges the teenage basketball player was held down in the locker room after a game. Someone snapped the photos, popped them up on Twitter, and the girl was cyberbullied for weeks.
Now before you roll your eyes and say "yeah, this was just this one group of bad eggs," let me lay this one on you: this is a growing trend. A few years ago, my friend's daughter was the teen who was snapped in states of undress in the locker room. Fortunately for her, another student saw it go down, and the kid who took the photo deleted it over fear of being turned in to the principal.
No amount of "don't sext" talks is going to keep girls like these safe.
The sad fact is, the access to a gazillion gadgets with camera capabilities has made it harder for even the good kids to keep their naked images off of the web. They're getting their photos taken while they're passed out asleep during sleepovers, while they're changing for gym class ...
What we need to talk to our kids about is what it means to take naked photos. Period. Be it photos of themselves or photos of someone else, it's serious, sometimes illegal, business. We can't keep our kids from the prying eyes of someone with a camera, so we have to tackle it from the other side. The more responsible camera users, the better.
Have you talked to your kids about responsible picture taking?
Image via Jason Pratt/Flickr
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Comments 7
This right here is why I thought you should have included more of that mother's cell phone contract with her son in your blog about it. Parents need to be more involved and hold their children responsible. If you don't hold them responsible the law will and wouldn't you rather take away your kids cell phone than have to hire a lawyer to defend them in court? Personally I believe the kids that held her down and took her picture should have charges brought against them. We can't expect our boys to understand not to take advantage of girls when girls are taking advantage of each other.
I have two little daughters... 18 month and 4yo...I am terrified of these types of stories... if this ever happened to my kid there would be a lawsuit so huge and terrifying that at the end of the day I would own the perpetrators parent's home and the school would be named after me.
This infuriates me!
What needs to happen are several things.....first and foremost parents need to stop giving their kids these phones. They simply don't need them at school. Their excuse? "oh they drive and they need a phone" mmmm well. ok. Then they leave them in the car in the glove compartment. (no I'm only 41 not 60) If the kids get caught with their phone, then the dang parents need to take them away, or if the school sees them THEY need to take them away, 0 tolerance, no warnings. (and I'm a teacher!) This girl who did this (and to the other kids some of you mentioned) needs to be expelled. Forget suspended. That's what's wrong with our society. All these kids are entitled, and many of them get it from their parents. They expect things to be easy for them, and parents make excuses for their kids. School needs to have a 0 tolerance policy! And, if they see a phone in a locker room and kids are taking pictures, they're expelled. Have the rules posted, make it clear. Put it in the handbook, put it on their website. There shouldn't need to be a lawsuit, this shouldn't even happen! But I hope these kids do get some justice. Bullying is bad enough, adding in pictures, and all of that, and it just makes me sick. I have a former student who was bullied and TRIED To kill herself. Thank GOD she didn't succeed. But it happens! And it can be prevented! Stepping off soap box now....
How awful! My daughter is a freshman and just finished a semester of P.E.. It isn't unusual to have extra time after they finish dressing for the girls to horse around and take group pictures...this I hadn't thought of and I will talk to my daughter about being careful about when and who is taking the pictures.