The XX Factor: What women really think.

Reeducating Jersey Sexters

Via Reason’s Katherine Mangu-Ward we learn that New Jersey legislators, in “recognizing that teenagers who e-mail nude or sexually suggestive photos of themselves to friends aren't really child pornographers,” are proposing an alternative to prosecution. If the bill passes, charged sexters will merely be forced to attend a “course focusing on the consequences of such acts.” (Read more in Double X.)

Does Sexting Kill?

When I wrote about “sexting” a few weeks back, I wasn’t fully persuaded that the consequences of having your naked photos floating through the ether were really all that dire. We live, after all, in a Girls Gone Wild era, in which being photographed nude is often treated as little more than a rite of passage. This Ohio story—in which a mom claims that her 18-year-old daughter, Jessie Logan, was driven to suicide by a sexting incident—is a really sobering one. The young woman sent a naked image of herself to her boyfriend, and after a breakup he evidently sent it on to hundreds of students. After that, says her mom, she was teased and called names, eventually started skipping school, and killed herself last July. Certainly this starts to look more like cyber-bullying when kids are passing around an image and tormenting someone. But it’s also clear at least from this account that neither the school system nor the legal system were able to do anything about it. I’m still not persuaded that charging Jessie Logan or her boyfriend with a felony would have saved her life. But I am starting to think that this is a much more pervasive and serious phenomenon than I had first believed.

Sexting

Jess, how about this one for baby brothels: Six Pennsylvania teens are facing child pornography charges after the girls sent the boys nude pics of themselves by text message, known to the teen set (to clue in all ignorant parents) as "sexting." The girls, who are 14 or 15, face charges of manufacturing or distributing child porn. The boys, who are 16 or 17, face charges of possession. I don't know if the disparity in charges is fair or unfair. If my memory of high school serves me correctly, the power dynamics in these skanky relationships run all ways.

Our own Dahlia Lithwick explains what's involved in distributing porn of yourself if you're underage. Your average teen can explain the thrill of seeing an ant-size image of a naked classmate.

A recent study claims that 20 percent of teens admit to sexting at some point. However, the study asked about sending "semi-nude" or "sexually suggestive content." Which, as my friend Linda Perlstein, expert on all things preteen, points out, can mean  "Hey baby, here's me in my swimsuit" to a confused 13-year-old. So as usual with these teen trends—grinding, blow jobs—likely an exaggeration.

Throw the (Text) Book at Her

Dahlia's recent article on "sexting" asked whether it makes sense to charge teens who exchanged naked photos with producing or possessing child pornography. Apparently, that's not the only cell phone behavior that can leave a kid in cuffs. According to this report from the Smoking Gun, a 14-year-old high-school student in Wisconsin was arrested for disorderly contact for texting during class. Long story short: A teacher called a "student resources officer" after the girl refused to hand in her phone. She denied not only texting in class but also having a phone at all; a female police officer searched her and uncovered the Samsung Cricket in her "buttocks area." The person she was texting during class? Her father.

It must be maddening for teachers to deal with students texting during class. But arresting a kid for disorderly conduct? Wouldn't a suspension be a better approach than arresting and strip-searching a 14-year-old for a cell phone?

Ogden Giving Porn A Helping Hand

A second post from guest blogger Abigail Pilgrim:

I have a hard enough time determining where Bristol and other teens fall on the spectrum of helpless kid to responsible adult. But regardless, it's hard to think that sexually active kids and teens will benefit if David Ogden, Obama's nomination for deputy attorney general, gets approved by the Senate later this month. Ogden's resume reads like a who's who of the porn industry, with a special emphasis on defending child porn. There's no doubt there will be plenty of other issues for  Ogden to deal with as deputy attorney general beyond the lucrative sex realm, and I'm sure he's qualified to address them. But I can't get over how creepy some of his past brief statements read. Things like: videos aren't child porn unless "the genitals or pubic area exhibited" were "somewhat visible or discernible through the child's clothing." [David Ogden in Knox v. U.S., (1993)]. It seems like child porn is only going to become a bigger and bigger issue as the lines of consent get blurrier. Tech-savvy kids are doing a good enough job exploiting themselves—as Dahlia just wrote in her story about "sexting." The last thing they need is the government giving a helping hand to all of Ogden's past clients. Anyone else have a reaction to Ogden? I'd especially love to hear some parents weigh in, although being a parent doesn't necessarily make you against child pornography, as Ogden's three kids testify.