Sword fights and sex abuse: only 1% of minors send explicit nude photos

[DainBramaged]

In 2008, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said that 20 percent of teens had distributed nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. Cue the moral panic about sexting!

Certainly, examples of sexting—both ridiculous and unnerving—weren't hard to find. A new paper in Pediatrics on teen sexting arrests contains a wealth of examples. Consider three that span the spectrum. Here's the ridiculous:

At a party where there was heavy drinking, 3 boys in the shallow end of a pool pulled down their swim trunks and had a “sword fight.” A girl, 17, filmed this and sent the video via cell phone to 6 other people. The 3 boys did not know she had taken the video or sent it. The girl was charged in juvenile court.

Now the deeply unsettling:

The parents of a 16-year-old contacted police because a boy was extorting their daughter. The victim said she had accidentally uploaded a nude picture of herself to a social networking site. When she realized this, she deleted the image, but a boy from her school had already downloaded it. He threatened to distribute it if she did not send him more nude pictures. When the girl refused, the boy sent the picture to ∼100 people. The boy, who was a straight-A student, was charged with a felony. He pleaded guilty and was put on probation

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/sword-fights-and-sex-abuse-only-1-of-minors-send-explicit-sexts.ars

[KittyWampus]

1. The survey referenced got info from teens via INTERVIEW. How many teens would admit

to that behavior? Even with the word 'confidential' used beforehand?

[FBaggins]

3. Alternatively...

... how many might say that they had when they actually hadn't?

Loads of ways that the data could be faulty.

[FBaggins]

2. "Accidentally uploaded a nude picture of herself"

Reminds me of a scene from The West Wing.

SAM
About a week ago, I accidentally slept with a
prostitute.

TOBY
Really?

SAM
Yes.

TOBY
You accidentally slept with a prostitute?

SAM
Call girl.

TOBY
Accidentally?

SAM
Yes.

TOBY
I don’t understand. Did you trip over something?

[HopeHoops]

4. GOP members of Congress launch an investigation as to why the number is so low.

[saras]

5. So what? It's the ultimate non-issue. "Teenagers are horny", like it's news.

If we're going to have complete control of intellectual property we should just make everything anyone puts on the internet before age 21 disappear at majority unless they elect to keep it.

Otherwise we just need to accept that people are dumb, and dumb people have sex, and there's nothing wrong with this.