OMG Becky! Your body’s not your own.
In a startling example of sex-negativity, invasion of privacy, and just plain stupidity, the police department of Greensburg, Pennsylvania is charging six teenage students of Greensburg Salem High School with child pornography offenses.
The charges stem from the nude and semi-nude photos three 14 and 15-year-old girls took of themselves and sent to three of their male peers via cell phone.
Police are charging the three girls with “manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography”, and the boys are being charged with possession of child pornography.
“Taking nude pictures of yourself, nothing good can come out of it,” said Police Captain George Seranko in a statement to local news affiliate, WPXI.
The photos were discovered in October, after officials at the high school took the cell phone from one of the boys. Cell phone use is against the school’s policy. The first photo found was a self-portrait taken by one of the girls.
Apparently Captain Seranko decided to file the charges in order to send a strong message to other students.
“It’s very dangerous,” Seranko told WXPI. “Once it’s on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture. You don’t realize what you are doing until it’s already done.”
MSNBC picked up the story, and spoke with Patrick Artur, a Philadelphia defense attorney regarding the charges “It’s clearly overkill,” Artur told MSNBC. “… The letter of the law seems to have been violated, but this is not the type of defendant that the legislature envisioned.”
This entire debacle makes me sick. According to a Cincinatti article on “sexting”, 20% of teens have sent or posted online nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. Cincinatti.com also contacted Christopher Kraus, the director of the group Postponing Sexual Involvement based out of the Cincinatti Children’s Hospital.
“Adolescent sexuality is part of normal human development,” Kraus told Cincinatti.com. “Teens are trying to figure out how to express their sexuality appropriately. They are learning, and they are learning from adults.”
Apparently they’re learning that the adults are hypocrites. Although there are no mandatory minimum sentences under Pennsylvania’s child porn laws, the teens could still be forced to register as sex offenders for at least 10 years. Pretty heavy-duty attack on civil liberties.
Perhaps more disturbing, in the comments section at the bottom of the WXPI article were frustrated pleas from the mother of one of the young boys now charged with possession of child pornography. [Edited for grammar/spelling throughout.]
“Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying what my son did is right and that he shouldn’t be punished. He should have deleted the pic when the other boy sent it to him. If I would have found the pics on his phone, he would have been grounded and he wouldn’t have his phone anymore ( I have a daughter). What I’m trying to say is that my son shouldn’t be charged with sexual abuse of children. My son never touched or hurt anyone! For the rest of his life he will have to register with Megan’s law. He won’t ever be allowed around kids. How will he ever go to college or get a job? This charge will label my son as a sex offender. If I don’t find a way to get the charge dropped, my son’s life is over.”
Tags: , cell, indecent, phone, porn, sex-negative, sexting, teen