Teens are sending nude pictures of themselves over the cell phone. It seems this is a crisis on par with a serial killer on the loose.
"In Utah, a 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony for sending nude photos of himself over a cellphone to several girls."
From the dictionary:
Felony: "One of several grave crimes, such as murder, rape, or burglary, punishable by a more stringent sentence than that given for a misdemeanor."
... Murder, rape, burglary... and nude self-portraits. Wow. The mind boggles.
11 comments:
Is anyone stupid enough to think that something is wrong with that? :/
There used to be belief that "indecent exposure" was a behaviour prevalent in potential rapists.
Nudity and nude self portraits are different from indecent exposure, which has sexual connotations.
Maybe the cell phone images were along the indecent exposure lines.
It probably was indecent. I can't imagine teenagers sending nude pictures to each other with pure intentions. Even so, this is a major overreaction. I don't think naughty pictures teenage boys and girls take of themselves, of their own will, should fall under the definition of child pornography. Yes this stuff gets around and many of them don't understand the full implications of what they're doing. On the other hand, it wouldn't be such a big deal if mainstream culture wasn't ashamed to admit that there is, in fact, bare skin underneath our clothes.
A felony. While on the one hand that boggles the mind, on the other hand it's the good old USA, currently in the grips of the prudes and reactionaries. The pendulum will swing.
It's too bad the poor kid has to be tagged a felon for sending some probably prurient-interest photos to a girl. Wouldn't it be more effective to simply make him pick up trash by the roadside every weekend for the next couple of years? I'll bet he'd learn his lesson.
On that note...we live in a nudist park. One evening last year our 16-year-old son was on the webcam with a 15-year-old girlfriend; both of them were clothed. At some point we wandered into the room wearing our usual attire (nothing) to see what was going on and it suddenly occured to us that we were exposing our saggy old-fart bodies to a non-nudist minor. After a couple of minutes of intense giggling, she stripped off and joined the nudists.
There was _nothing_ sexual in the slightest (not including the somewhat immature red-faced son), but the fact is that someone here in the USA could easily have arrested and prosecuted us, loudly asserting this, that and the other. So to be safe, we unplugged the webcam.
So it goes.
-jbh-
"The pendulum will swing."
Let's hope so. Seems to me it's only been going one way since the seventies.
Uh uh oooooooohoooooooo Eeeech!!!!
I'm so happy I kept all me haireeeee.
Yes, of course. Serial murder and sending nude pictures to someone else have a parallel meaning.
Similar to the connection between a fish and a bicycle.
NOT.
It is unfortunate these teenagers were not aware of the consequences with regards to current laws in the US. There is currently a naive belief that if a photograph is not sexual in nature, there will be no grounds for prosecution. This is simply untrue. At trial, a jury simply needs to find a photograph "obscene", under their own community standards, in order to convict. The penalities are very severe, and usually require sex offender registration for life, plus several years in prison for each count. And debating the morality of the issue is not a viable defense in court.. so its best that teenagers understand just how serious this issue is taken by the law, and avoid it by simply not taking pictures like these.
It's true, and it's insane. By this, you can take a picture of a potato, and if somebody thinks it's obscene, you're cooked.
If the potato isn't wearing clothes then I should suspect they're well in their rights to call it obscene. Mr. Potatohead proved long ago that potatoes can be decent people. I say if they won't follow his example they deserve the harshest punishment the law will allow.
"Watch my eyes, they turn and toggle
Now your mind begins to boggle"
(That scrawny mutant fish-pirate in the cartoon Tigersharks)
Egads, looks like he's got the President!
The Pendulum is a swinger? "Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!"
Kabel Yaache,
Please allow to to correct your misconception: the connection between a fish and a bicycle, is that "they all have gills, except for the bike". A classic 16-year-old boys' joke.
Anon said...
"it's best that teenagers understand just how serious this issue is taken by the law, and avoid it by simply not taking pictures like these."
In other words, foolish teenagers just don't have the constitutional right to make mistakes any more.
:-(
"By this, you can take a picture of a potato, and if somebody thinks it's obscene, you're cooked."
Yeah, that'll teach you to promote cannibalism!
In French, potato ("patate") is slang for moron/oaf...
Give me some time, and I'll find you that old site with photos of a carrot shaped like a naked guy, with penis and all.
Curses, I've found it, but the link is dead! ):-P
Censorship stikes again.
"Mr. Potatohead proved long ago that potatoes can be decent people."
Yes. YESSS! You tell'em, Eric!
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