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The Child Pornographer Next Door
Townhall.com ^ | March 4, 2009 | Maggie Gallagher

Posted on 03/04/2009 3:48:36 AM PST by Kaslin

Lately the phrase "unlimited texting" is taking on a whole new meaning:

"In Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah (at last count) minors have been arrested for 'sexting,' or sending or posting soft-core photo or video self-portraits," The American Prospect reported.

Among the recent cases:

Six high school students from Greensburg, Pa., were charged with possessing, manufacturing and distributing child pornography this month after nude pictures of several underage girls were confiscated from one of the boys' phones. The three 14- and 15-year-old girls who sent the self-made child porn and the three 16- and 17-year-old boys who received it were arrested.

In Fort Wayne, Ind., a teen boy faces felony obscenity charges for allegedly sending a photo of his private parts to several girl students.

Nor is this always kids' play. In a suburb of Phoenix, the assistant principal of Buckeye Union High School faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted on charges that he received (voluntarily) sexually explicit photos sent from a 17-year-old girl student's cell phone.

In Tennessee, the Memphis City Schools system is launching a new task force to deal with "sexting." In Utah, according to the Daily Herald of Provo, Republican state Rep. Sheryl Allen has introduced a bill that reduces the first child porn offenses by teenagers from felonies to misdemeanors, with repeaters subject to felonies.

North of Seattle in Bothell, Wash., two cheerleaders sent naked photos to their boyfriends, only to find that the images rapidly passed through the entire school, ending up in the office of a school administrator who punished both girls for violating the high school code. (The girls' parents are suing the school district for its staff members passing on naked photos of their daughter to several other school personnel.)

No wonder Larry Flynt is standing in line for some government stimulation. Oh, for the good old days when men were actually expected to pay for porn!

By now the way in which modern technology makes the consumption of pornography universally available is old hat. The sexting craze underlines the way the creation of pornography has been equally democratized -- in this case right into the hands of suburban 15-year-old girls pathetically trying to attract or keep the attention of porn-jaded boys.

Why do girls act like this? In his book "Boys Adrift," Leonard Sax writes about asking a 16-year-old girl "as gently as I could, why she was wearing a Hooters outfit to a school Halloween party."

"If you don't dress like this, nobody will even notice you," she told him.

The savvy scholars at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy uncovered the news that more than half of teen girls who send sexy photos of themselves do so in response to pressure from some guy -- usually boyfriends or potential boyfriends. It took an intrepid New York Post reporter to discover these and even sadder reasons why some suburban teen girls cave to ex-boyfriends' pressure for self-made porn.

A 15-year-old New Jersey high school sophomore explained that she fired off 40 naked pictures to her ex-boyfriend in a failed attempt to win him back. One 16-year-old from New Jersey offered a different reason: "(My ex-boyfriend) kept asking me, and it was annoying," so she finally gave in and sent him photos.

Gee, what could possibly be more pathetic than a girl who sends an ex-boyfriend naked pictures to win him back? How about a girl who sends an ex-boyfriend naked photos to make him go away?

Right now we have a decision to make: Is underage porn (these aren't really children) a crime or not? If so, how do we treat girls and boys who engage in it "for fun" and not for profit?

After all, if the thought that their fellow students, their teachers, their employers, their college admission officials, the entire football squad, their mothers and the local district attorney may well see these cell phone photos is not enough to discourage teens -- then we really have a problem on our hands.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: childporn; moralabsolutes; porn; pornography
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1 posted on 03/04/2009 3:48:36 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
Sadly, I think this is just the start. What will congress do, other than to demand to see all the evidence?
2 posted on 03/04/2009 3:57:29 AM PST by Loud Mime ($1 million a day since Christ was born would not equal the amount of the stimulus)
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To: Loud Mime

I think this is crazy to treat these people as criminals. They are kids. This is little more than govt out of control.


3 posted on 03/04/2009 4:00:16 AM PST by Perdogg (Only the hypnotized never lie)
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To: Perdogg

Government got out of control years ago. This is a couple of decades’ worth of government sex-ed finally kicking in. They achieved their goal and debased us all.


4 posted on 03/04/2009 4:11:46 AM PST by livius
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To: Kaslin

Oh, for the good old days when men were actually expected to pay for porn!

Men? Like you think that no women ever paid for porn?
You need to get out more often..


5 posted on 03/04/2009 4:23:10 AM PST by SECURE AMERICA (Coming to You From the Front Lines of Occupied America)
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To: livius

Kids have been playing “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” long before sex-ed and the internet.


6 posted on 03/04/2009 4:28:07 AM PST by Perdogg (Only the hypnotized never lie)
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To: Perdogg

Er...I think there’s a world of difference between two five year olds peeking into each other’s pants and a 14yr old girl sending porn shots of herself to a 14 year old boy who is already “pornography jaded.” Only somebody who went through government sex ed could possibly confuse the two.


7 posted on 03/04/2009 4:38:15 AM PST by livius
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To: SECURE AMERICA

Women pay for printed porn. I.e., “romance novels.”


8 posted on 03/04/2009 4:40:11 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Kaslin

“Child porn” suggests exploitation of a minor by an adult. A teen taking pictures of his willie or her boobs may be stupid but it isn’t exploitation. The title is grossly misleading. You have a teen next door, not a child molester. But then that wouldn’t cause hysteria, I guess.


9 posted on 03/04/2009 4:42:37 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Kaslin
Madness.
Stand on a beach in Europe and you will be surrounded by naked teens sunbathing. Just be sure you don't take snapshots and bring them back to the crazy USA.
How long can it be till we are like the Muslims and make girls wear burkas???

10 posted on 03/04/2009 4:44:09 AM PST by Bobalu (McCain has been proven to be the rino flop I always thought he was.)
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To: Kaslin

Video’s of people in new Orleans engaging in sex and showing their bodies for beads. Girls gone wild, showing teens at Spring Break showing their bodies. You think 14 and 15 year olds dont have access to these things and are not encouraged to do the same?

America’s morals are going down the tubes fast and parents such as those mentioned in this story who are suing the school district basically for punishing their kids are a lot of the reason.


11 posted on 03/04/2009 4:46:40 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Larry Lucido
Women pay for printed porn. I.e., “romance novels.”

True dat.

12 posted on 03/04/2009 4:48:43 AM PST by TADSLOS ( Join the Conservative Revolution! http://falconparty.com/)
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To: Kaslin
Right now we have a decision to make: Is underage porn (these aren't really children) a crime or not? If so, how do we treat girls and boys who engage in it "for fun" and not for profit?

That is true. The current laws on this subject are not designed to deal with the situation.

13 posted on 03/04/2009 4:53:11 AM PST by Tax-chick ("There are more enjoyable ways of going to Hell." ~ St. Bernard)
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To: Kaslin; 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


14 posted on 03/04/2009 4:53:51 AM PST by DirtyHarryY2K (The Tree of Liberty is long overdue for its natural manure)
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To: Loud Mime
Sadly, I think this is just the start. What will congress do, other than to demand to see all the evidence?

Barney will give the issue his full attention, as will many others in the House and Senate. With luck, it will distract them and slow down their work in other harmful areas.

15 posted on 03/04/2009 5:07:15 AM PST by TurtleUp (Turtle up: cancel optional spending until 2012, and boycott TARP/stimulus companies forever!)
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To: livius

Oh my god! Teenagers are having *sex*!? Clearly this lack of moral character is a sign of the impending collapse of society. Why, back in my day, we all just held hands at bible study until we were thirty . . . and we liked it!


16 posted on 03/04/2009 5:36:20 AM PST by OH4life
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To: TurtleUp

Barney isn’t interested in naked girls.


17 posted on 03/04/2009 5:54:44 AM PST by Tax-chick ("There are more enjoyable ways of going to Hell." ~ St. Bernard)
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To: DirtyHarryY2K

Thanks for the Moral Absolutes Ping.

But as we already know.

The Immoral Absolutes crowd is already here defending this underaged porn.

(sigh)


18 posted on 03/04/2009 6:10:26 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: Perdogg

I agree with you.

Parents should be informed of any antics of their children; hopefully they will care. But here in California the voters rejected a proposal that would have required parents be informed of their child getting an abortion.


19 posted on 03/04/2009 6:30:57 AM PST by Loud Mime ($1 million a day since Christ was born would not equal the amount of the stimulus)
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To: Bobalu

Bob, there is a reason we left that way of life way back when and started our own here.... think about it, you’re trying to correlate Europe’s moral code with ours...


20 posted on 03/04/2009 7:13:12 AM PST by Spacetrucker (Annie, get your gun)
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