Study: Sexting is a form of "modern courtship", parents should not be worried

[Vault101]

The spectacle degrades, and if it is not held on a higher shelf and consider a spectacle why work 25 hours of overtime ontop your 40+ already?

They handin it out free?! Burn the witch! Call em sluts!! Can't have em goin and ruin the monetary value.

you know for a second I thourght that was an actual anatomical thing -_-...I should hand in my woman card

anyway there is a difference between the excitment of a new partner and fetishisation of an abritray idea of "purity"

the former is definetly real and Imagine happens to everyone, weather or not it causes problems depends on how people handle it and where their priorities lie

the latter is just gross and unessicary

or there is the idea that it is something a man must "work" for and handing it out for free "cheapens" its vaule..this line of thinking is harmful in many ways

 

[scorptatious]

I would be absolutely against it. The reasoning is simple, really: why the fuck should I trust their boyfriend/girlfriend to keep those photos to themselves? I'm sorry, but as a parent it is not out of your jurisdiction to step in and stop your kids from endangering themselves in such a needlessly stupid way. If they want to text explicit stuff to each other that's fine, just keep actual photos/videos out of it. A picture of you spread eagle at fifteen is far more damning than texting "I cant w8 2 suk yor dik 2nite".

Oh God... hopefully my kids learn proper grammar >.>

Pretty much.

I don't really like the idea of teenagers sending each other nudes. What if the pics end up in the wrong hands?

So yeah, if I was a parent I would be hella worried.

 

[mjharper]

Ah, journalistic integrity, how we love you.

Quite aside from the concerns expressed in the thread, it turns out that if you look at the actual study, rather than just The Telegraph BS article, the results are somewhat different. The Telegraph, of course, doesn't mention that at all.

On pages 63-64 of the study, there are TWO sets of answers to the same list of questions. The first covers all teenagers in the survey, a total of 2136, while the second covers the answers of sexually active teenagers only, a total of 713. All of the figures cited in The Telegraph are from the second list.

Sending sexually explicit text messages? 72% of sexually active teenagers, but only 42% of all teenagers.

Sending naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves? 50% of sexually active teenagers, but only 26% of all teenagers.

Have received sexually explicit messages by phone or email? 84% of sexually active teenagers, but only 54% of all teenagers.

Don't forget that 'all' teenagers includes 'sexually active teenagers'. The results do not suggest, for example, that 42% of non-sexually active teenagers have sent sexually explicit text messages. Those figures are not given.

Now, you may still think that the 'all teenagers' figures are too high, and you may still think that the 'everyone is doing it so it's fine' suggested in The Telegraph article is dangerous. But the fact is that The Telegraph article picks the most sensationalist results, and then doesn't explain what they actually mean, and that they relate to a subset of the group being surveyed.

Here's the link to the original study, by the way. The Telegraph doesn't provide the link, but it does link to an article on The Times, which although behind a pay wall, happlily has the link in the first paragraph... Yeah, Pulitzer Prize winning stuff, this.

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/576554/31631-ARCSHS_NSASSSH_FINAL-A-3.pdf

EDIT: I should note that The Times article, or what I can see of it, seems much better, saying "Seven in every ten sexually active 15 to 18-year-olds have sent explicit text messages..."

 

[Olas]

I... I don't. God, humans are so gross and weird. So... we invent these unbelievably amazing pieces of technology and then use them to send pictures of our groins to each other? That sounds about right I guess.

The only question I have is why couldn't you just deny that the picture is of you? I mean how is anyone supposed to verify that it's authentic? It's not like our penises come labeled or anything.

 

[Vault101]

I... I don't. God, humans are so gross and weird. So... we invent these unbelievably amazing pieces of technology and then use them to send pictures of our groins to each other? That sounds about right I guess.

The only question I have is why couldn't you just deny that the picture is of you? I mean how is anyone supposed to verify that it's authentic? It's not like our penises come labeled or anything.

if you culd you would

when it clearly shows its you....well....

 

[NoeL]

The only problem I have with all this is that under the law this is distribution of child pornography, and a very serious offense. For that reason alone, if I was a parent I'd strongly discourage my kids from doing it.

The whole "it's tacky and classless" is just nonsense - sex is fun, sex is natural, sharing sexy things with someone else is a-ok (provided it's consensual/legal). The "it'll ruin your future" thing is also largely nonsense. The world is becoming more liberal: people generally don't care if noodz of you exist unless you're famous and or doing something weird, and if someone is comfortable enough texting a picture of their pink bits to someone else they should be comfortable with the world seeing (or they're stupid enough to actually believe it'll never get leaked). Yes there are still a few conservative fuddy duddies but they're a dying breed. Leaked noodz won't ruin your life... unless it happens in high school and you get bullied over it, then it can have a huge impact...

Captcha: "love me"

Err, tits or GTFO.

 

[RJ 17]

"A Safe Way To Be Intimate", hmmm? Tell that to all the girls who've sent their pics to some jerk who ended up showing them around school and/or posting them on the internet.

 

[Olas]

I... I don't. God, humans are so gross and weird. So... we invent these unbelievably amazing pieces of technology and then use them to send pictures of our groins to each other? That sounds about right I guess.

The only question I have is why couldn't you just deny that the picture is of you? I mean how is anyone supposed to verify that it's authentic? It's not like our penises come labeled or anything.

if you culd you would

when it clearly shows its you....well....

And how would it clearly show that? I'll admit I have zero experience in the field of groin pictures, so maybe there's a bunch of CSI level techniques for identifying people I'm unaware of. But it seems to me like you'd have to almost go out of your way to make the pictures identifiable to someone who hasn't already seen your junk in person.

On the flip side, you could always find a picture of someone else with a much bigger/better penis and send it instead.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Your thoughts on this?

Regardless of what some study says, I'm not going to support minors taking sexually explicit pictures of themselves on their cellphones and sharing it with others. To people who do support such behavior, I seriously question their reason for supporting such illegal media.

 

[Vault101]

And how would it clearly show that? I'll admit I have zero experience in the field of groin pictures, so maybe there's a bunch of CSI level techniques for identifying people I'm unaware of. But it seems to me like you'd have to almost go out of your way to make the pictures identifiable to someone who hasn't already seen your junk in person.

On the flip side, you could always find a picture of someone else with a much bigger/better penis and send it instead.

because they're not all pure "anatmical pictures" some might be full photos or videos

 

[beastro]

Most amusing thing is a study trying tell parents what is normal or not.

 

[Voulan]

Suggesting that "everyone's doing it so you should to" is the worst thing to come from the article. With cyber bullying becoming more prominent, the idea of young teenagers sending photos of themselves out means there's a huge chance of future embarrassment. It's really not advisable at all. It could seriously ruin a kid's reputation, trust and self-esteem.

So I would be worried.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

No, parents should definitely be concerned about their kids sending nudes of themselves to people, as they should be with any part of their child's sex life. Deciding whether or not kids are ready / allowed to have sex in general and preparing them for it for when they do is a big part of being a parent, after all. There's also the obvious issues with child pornography that can absolutely ruin lives, as well as the potential for mass embarassment, blackmail, and cyber-bullying. Under no circumstances should parents not at the very least closely monitor this type of activity, and no amount of "but all the kids are doing it" will change that.