Teenagers always get a bad rap.
They’re guilty of underage drinking, vandalism, and spending too much time at the mall – thankfully, adolescence is a phase everyone grows out of.
But the latest “teen scandal” has a much harsher punishment than grounding – it could land teens on the sex offenders registry.
The crime? Sexting – a play on the words “sex” and “texting,” where teens send erotic images or messages via cell phone.
A recent study by the Pew Research Centre found that four per cent of cell-owning teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have sent sexually suggestive images or videos via text message.
Another 15 per cent say they have received such images.
Teens all over the U.S. have already faced charges of child pornography for engaging in sexting in the last few years.
Of particular concern is the fact that those who are being charged include both the picture senders and receivers without considering the fact that the people looking at the images are usually just minors themselves.
According to Peter Cumming, a professor at York University, prosecuting sexters as producers, purveyors of child porn is “against the interests of children.”
“This results in dire consequences for prosecuted teen sexters and is clearly using child pornography laws inappropriately,” he says.
Barry Schneider, a professor of child psychology at the University of Ottawa, says that unlike actual child porn cases, there is no harm when kids pick up their phones to “sext.”
“Teens are impulsive,” says Schneider. “They are not thinking about the legal ramifications in the time it takes them to click and send a photo.”
Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois, agrees.
“Teenagers aren’t any more lewd now than they were before – they just have new ways of expressing their sexuality,” he says.
The Illinois State Senate has passed a bill to limit penalties for minors that share sexually explicit photos via cell phone or computer. Doing so would result in minors having to go to counselling and community service, instead of facing criminal charges.
But many other states are attempting to add sexting to child pornography laws when it includes images of minors.
What needs to be done is to remove the child porn label completely.
The only thing that will be accomplished by putting teens on the sex offender’s registry will be effectively ruining their lives.
“Legal overreactions have been misinformed, misapplied and destructive to the best interests of young people,” says Cumming.
A survey of American teens in January highlighted that as many as one in five teens in North America are engaged in the activity.
“Even if one in five teens have sexted though, that means that four out of five teens haven’t,” Cummings reminds people.
There is no ignoring the fact that digital technologies have really become the centerpiece in teen social life, though.
Nearly 80 per cent of teens and nearly half of all kids aged eight to 12 have a cell phone, according to a recent Nielson report.
So, although the charges may not be warranted for teens’ inappropriate cell phone etiquette, there is still a problem that needs to be addressed through education.
A better measure would be to decriminalize the act, and adopt programs to educate teens about the dangers inherent in sexting, instead.
This is what Canada is doing.
Schools across the country will implement the textED.ca course in September, which will shed light on the dangers of sending racy pictures and messages, as well as “textual” harassment.
The initiative, which is the first of its kind in Canada aims to address what police call an education gap, that’s made young people vulnerable in the telecommunications world.
Despite the insane amount of attention that sexting has been getting in the U.S., no charges have been laid in connection with sexting in Canada.
In Canada, it’s not illegal for two teenagers under the age of 18 to carry nude pictures of one another in a consensual activity, as long as it’s for private viewing only.
It’s only when it gets distributed that it becomes a legal issue.
Sgt. Monique Perras, of the Ottawa Police, says that if young people are caught with explicit images on their cell phones, they could be charged, but there have been no such incidents in Ottawa.
She attributes this to the emphasis that is placed on education instead of punitive measures in Canada.
So while the issue, at least in the U.S., just seems to be a lot of hype over "teens being teens," Cummings says that he is not surprised by the unwarranted reaction to sexting in the media.
Many adults are very threatened by the thought of children and young people being sexual beings in any way, he says.
“When you combine sexuality and digital technologies, many adults go into a moral panic in which they conclude that civilization is going to hell in a handbasket, and that young people are out of control and a threat to everything that adults hold dear,” he says.
“Adults should remember their own histories as sexual beings when they were young people.”