SEXTING: Risky Business

Lindsey Watson

The Signal Staff

The 21st century has brought with it a slew of handy technological devices, from the GPS to the DVR to the cellular phone.  While these inventions have brought ease and accessibility into Americans lives, they also come with their pitfalls.  With cell phones come text and picture messaging, and with that comes a new social phenomenon, sexting.

Sexting is the practice of sending sexually explicit messages and pictures via cell phone or Internet.  Although it is common for sexting to take place between people of all ages, it has become very popular between individuals of the younger generations, specifically high school and college students.

“Twenty-one percent of teen girls and 18 percent of teen boys have sent or posted nude or semi-nude images of themselves,” states the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Sexting can have tremendous consequences for anyone on either side of the message.  

“Sexting is like anything else,” said Pepper Schwartz, professor of sociology at University of Washington and AARP Relationship and sex expert.  “Sexting can be playful or communication between two people who love each other or it could be someone being outed and destroyed.”

Steven S. was one of the people who was caught in the crossfire of sexting.  As a young soldier stationed in North Carolina, he met a girl at a local bar.  That night they exchanged sexual pictures back and forth.  Later that night, while Steven was performing training exercises, a couple of his military buddies approached him and asked why he had sent them a sexual picture of himself.  Steven could not explain why they had received  pictures obviously not meant for them.  Steven found out later that night, while he was downstairs exercising; that his sergeant was inspecting his quarters and found Steven’s sext messages.  His sergeant subsequently forwarded them to every male in his phone book in an effort to teach him that sexting was a dangerous trend that could have embarrassing consequences.

Sexting does not always end in such an embarrassing, but non-damaging manner.  Sexting can harm relationships, friendship and even jeopardize jobs.

Sarah O. learned this from her own experiences.  In 2002, Sarah took sexually explicit pictures of herself with a new boyfriend.  A couple of days later her ex-boyfriend got a hold of these pictures and posted them onto a Web site.  After posting the photos he called her place of employment and informed them that nude photos of her were on this Web site.  Her boss eventually checked out the Web site and subsequently fired her for “embarrassing the company.”  These images will forever be circulating the Internet.

“Once an image goes online, it’s there forever; it can show up anywhere;  it’s unlimited,” said Chuck Crocker, associate director for career services at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.  “These images can be seen by employers.  We all have sexual  lives and orientations, but from a professional aspect we have to be very careful about what images we put out there for the world to see.”

Having these images out there for anyone to see has created a world of voyeurism.

“One of the issues that concerns me is that it [sexting] could lead to a continuous buildup of something more severe,” said UHCL Police Chief Paul Willingham.  “It is a stepping stone to something more serious.”

Chief Willingham advised that if someone receives a message of a sexual nature from a minor, they should report it to authorities immediately.

“Report it as unwanted contact or behavior,” Willingham said. “Don’t reciprocate or respond.”

Taking a sexually explicit picture if one is under the age of 18 is illegal.  Sending it to someone else is illegal.  If someone is caught with a photograph on his/her phone of an underage child in an explicit position, whether it was sent by mistake or not, could result in serious legal implications.

Phillip Alpert, an 18-year-old man from Orlando, Fla., is now a convicted sex offender after he sent a nude picture of his 16-year-old girlfriend out to many of his friends after an argument.  Alpert received probation and will have to register as a sex offender under Florida state law.

Even legal experts agree; the law is lagging behind technology.

“There are prosecutors out there who see things so black and white, and are empowered by those statutes to prosecute things that probably shouldn’t be prosecuted under the laws as they are written now,” said Howard Williams, partner at Leiber, Williams & Labin L.L.P.