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In the ongoing discussion of “sexy texting” held by the youth-focused community (one that Anastasia has weighed in on both regularly on this site as well as in her book Totally Wired,) recent cases such as the one Jezebel reported from CBS news yesterday where two high school cheerleaders were suspended from the squad for the nude photos of them being passed around by their male classmates, raise some troubling questions about culpability and sexism in these situations. From Jezebel:

According to CBS News, the girls were chastised because “”The student code of the conduct does say that athletes are held to a higher standard.” Then why did the myriad boys — presumably some of whom were also athletes — get off scot free for passing around the naughty photos?

Well the school district doesn’t really explain that, but the girls’ lawyers are pretty peeved. Matthew King, who is representing the two families of the girls involved tells the CBS Morning Show, “There is an implied ‘boys will be boys’ sort of mentality here, where none of the boys who had these photos on their phones were ever punished. That’s a problem, we feel.”

The indignant sentiment expressed both by Jezebel as well as the families’ attorney definitely resonates with me. With no one being held accountable for the circulation of the pics, the school and the community are essentially condoning the boys’ behavior, almost suggesting that if the material ends up in the wrong hands then that’s what the girls deserve. Is this really the message we want to send?

Another point of contention was the fact that one of the girls was 13 when the photo was originally taken, bringing up the question of whether that should affect her standing at her current school. This, however, also raises the issue of legal implications that Derek Baird recently explored on his blog. If any of the boys had been 18 when they sent the photos they risked being charged for “distribution of child pornography.” Thus in addition to the questionable morals of ruining reputations and humiliating their peers, the senders also stood to be committing an actual criminal offense. Thoughts?

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Categorized under: Mobile, Teens

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