Apparently some people are pretty bent about it, more so in the States than here. One poor sap in Florida (18 yrs old) split up with his 16-yr-old girlfriend and then shared some naked pictures she had sent him. He ended up having to register as a sex offender and attend rehab classes.
Did his girlfriend really think he would never show anyone those pictures? Duh, excuse me: he's a young guy. They like to show off to their buddies. People break up, sometimes not amicably. Come on girls, wake up - it's not rocket science. And who took the pictures in the first place? She didn't get charged for producing the "pornography", but he's in trouble for distributing it. If stupidity was a crime, we'd all be in jail.
Some people are calling it child pornography. Give me a break - child pornography involves CHILDREN, and anyone caught doing that should be castrated and thrown off the nearest cliff. Sixteen-year-olds who hold jobs, drive cars, and have consensual sex are not in the same category as lowlife scumbags who prey on kids in daycare centres.
Baring it all is no big deal to kids these days. Just drive by your local junior high, it looks like a hooker's convention. The message from the media is that looking "sexy" is all-important - kids are encouraged to use sexuality as a replacement for personality or achievement. Their role models are brain-dead idiots like Paris Hilton, and anyone who can afford a decent set of implants has a crack at being the next reality-tv star. Reality tv. There's an oxymoron for you.
It doesn't help that a lot of parents don't spend time with their kids any more. Young people have cell phones, iPods, computers and video games, but they don't have involved parents. Because of our crappy economy, most families need two incomes and it doesn't leave a lot of time for the kids. They end up being raised in daycare or by grandparents ( if they're lucky). Then, when Mom gets a break, she wants to have some "me" time, so she gets a sitter and goes out. These kids are raising themselves and if they end up thinking that getting tattooed and pierced and hanging their boobs out on the internet is the ultimate way to develop self-esteem, whose fault is it?
Many parents have no idea what their kids are up to because they are so wrapped up in the pursuit of their own happiness. Unfortunately, when you have a baby, your quest for self-fulfillment has to take a back seat. For a long time. Kids need our support and attention, and that job should be as full-time as we can make it. Not that it's fun to spend time with a surly know-it-all teenager who thinks you're the stupidest person that ever walked the earth. It isn't - but someone's gotta do it.
Kids are going to make mistakes, it's part of growing up, but it doesn't hurt to talk to them about the pitfalls of life, even if they don't seem to be listening most of the time. I wouldn't have thought it necessary to point out that it might not be a real smart idea to send naked bimbo pictures into cyberspace, but there you go - you have to know what they're up to. The internet is great, I love it, but it exposes kids to a gazillion nutbars who are setting up websites, blogging, video chatting, and promoting their own ideas of right and wrong. The undeniable fact is, if we don't provide our kids with values and guidance, someone else will. Just think about that.
No comments:
Post a Comment