Where is the "and then the boys were arrested for illegal wiretapping and dissemination of child pornography" part of the story? "After their convictions, their friends didn't think it was so funny, and the boys didn't hold their heads up when they had to register as a sex offender" would stop this from happening quick.

That is an excellent point. In cases where these boys recorded without their partners knowledge and disseminated there needs to be prosecution, even if it is in the juvenile system. Even if it is condonned within the community of teens this is aberrant, criminal behavior and needs to be treated as such.

Agreed but it will take some very strong young women to endure the process of pressing charges.

It's consensual stupidity.

Not the recording.

If she is underage, she cannot legally "consent" to appear in sexually explicit photos/videos. If she is underage, it is illegal for anyone to distribute or possess sexually explicit photos/video of her.

It's exactly this sort indifference that allows these kinds of things to keep happening. Really not sure what you're trying to accomplish here so congratulations on propping up the patriarchy I guess?

Read the story. It sounds like in many cases the girls have allowed (or sent) these pictures. In any event, stupid boys and stupid girls now have access to smaller cameras to match their reduced brain size.

Nowhere in this article does it say that the girls (the individual actually recorded and exposed) allowed or sent these pictures themselves.

Yes it does, the audio piece records girls stating that females intentionally and frequently post explicit photos and videos of themselves online. The recording is edited in the written piece.

You really think teenage girls don't do this? Do you live in Kansas? Ever heard of "Girls Gone Wild"? Ever met a sixteen year old girl?

Brim, people were responding to the written piece, which doesn't reference that information. Girls posting sexual images of of themselves is a seperate problem from the main concern in this piece: Teenage girls being surreptitiously recorded in a vulnerable state, and those recordings being used to humiliate them. That would be a crime against anybody, let alone teenage girls

Actually the posting of unpermitted and surreptitious images is only part of what the piece covers, and it is the part that the lynch-mob has focused on here.

Brim, there is no "lynch mob" mentality here. What the kids are doing is wrong, and the boys illegally recording and sharing the material is even more so. People are calling them on it. What in the heck are you trying to defend?

I responded to az's comment that in the 'article' the girls did not allow the pictures. By pointing out that is just not correct. It was edited out of the written transcript, but in the original audio piece the interviewed girls discuss how "half the time they do it themselves". This kind of surreptitious editing is a way to manipulate people's opinion and stir up false outrage. Sort of like how George Zimmerman's comments were 'selectively edited' to make him seem racist.

I do not condone anyone posting sexually explicit photos or videos without the subjects' permission. I do think that America's weird views on sexuality, compared to more socially advanced cultures, is the main problem, though.

Fair point, although posting images that were taken/obtained by permisison, if the posting is without permission, should also create liability (not sure if just civil or civl and criminal).

And the girls who do this same shameful act are just as big of jerks as the boys who do it.

There is nothing shameful about sex, but there damn sure is something shameful about having sex with someone and recording it without consent or with consent and sharing it without consent, or asking for sexy pictures from someone then sharing
them without permission and/or consent!

Boys duke it out and move on. Girls are much more subtle and cruel.

That makes no sense Art. These boys are connivingly and cruelly humiliating girls. This is no "boys being boys" schoolyard tussle. That some girls are also participating in the humiliation is moot.

Oh, so you're saying that the boys intentionally victimizing the girls is just their way of "duking it out"? Seriously?

I did read the story thanks. My point still stands.

From the written story: "They do say, however, that it's not always the girl's fault and that often the girls are photographed and recorded without knowing."

Translation: Most times the girls are complicit or at least allow intimate pictures. Bad idea.

So are you saying that she's asking for it?

Seems Mark and Art just really aren't willing to let the boys take full blame for their actions. To them, the girls must be "asking for it" or are in some other way always complicit.

It's not a wire tap (since it's a public act and they own the camera). Since the girl is as much of a "sex offender" as the boy is probably why those charges are not filed.

I run an Internet Safety Organization. It depends on state law where the act occurred. There are still some states that have not caught up with the times and addressed this issue. She is not the sex offender. She is the VICTIM. She did not record. If he recorded it, it is production of child pornography, If he shared it, it is distribution, and if he kept it it is possession. The thing is, states hesitate to actually charge them because they are idiots, and dont want to ruin their lives by them having to register as a sex offender.

also, they don't want "to ruin their (boys) lives" but what about the girls lives which are getting ruined from these kinds of things...driving some of them even to suicide? these kinds of public shamings are enough to distort and disrupt a girl's sense of self, sexuality, and safety for a lifetime.

Regardless, if private moments are shared by anyone to the public without consent of the partner (at any age) it should be considered criminal and have laws holding the offenders accountable. I think any person in their right mind would want to know if their romantic interest is capable of such untrustworthy and disloyal hurtful behavior...

You seem to be confusing romance and sex...

thanks for this info bonnie. i think if states prosecuted such boys a few times it would shut down this kind of activity asap. now they have free rein to abuse/misuse the girl's dignity and privacy.
let's protect our girls from this sick abuse, they don't need to be subject to it.

Meanwhile, the girls' lives are ruined -- at least temporarily, which in high school feels like forever (and could potentially lead them to end their life), and could come back to haunt them later since anything on the internet is permanent.

It wasn't a public act, and the girl doesn't own the camera. Non-rape sex under 18 is a misdemeanor, but distribution sex tapes of those under 18 is a felony. In most states.

Disclaimer: IANAL

no matter. If the act included at least one minor, then sharing it or even having it on your phone after being shared can be considered child pornography. It doesnt matter who filmed it, who gave consent, nor who shared it.

Mark, frankly...your comments point to a disturbing attitude about this.

Temitayo Fagbenle did in incredible job with this piece. Brave and curious reporting from a young woman with a very bright future. Congratulation Temitayo.

The part of this story that really got to me was the boy at the end. He was shameless in his treatment of the girl he shamed. Rather than look back and say he has grown and matured, he called her names and boasted that he still has the pictures.

Miss Fagbenle, your friend is a bully who still has sexually explicite pictures of his 7th grade girlfriend.

I know. I Was totally disheartened by his attitude. "Yeah, it made me cool. What's the big deal?" Clearly he had no respect for women in 7th grade, doesn't in 12th and probably won't, ever. I wish she cuold have revealed his name. Now that would be some shaming!

Where are these people's parents?!

exactly. if you're going to let your child participate in these social sites, you need to be monitoring them. they can be email notified anytime there's a post on their child's page or they're tagged in a photo. and they can report it to the site and have it taken down and/or press charges themselves. if someone posted an illicit photo of my child on the internet i'd notify the authorities myself.

7th grade, good lord.
I'd be ashamed, too.

It's outrageous that girls are held to a different standard than boys. What's worse it that most of the bullying is done by other girls. I just keep shaking my head.

I don't know how you could hear that story and think that the girls were doing most of the bullying. The boys are taking and broadcasting the photos and videos of girls who trust them. Some of the girls are blaming the victims. These two things are not equivalent at all, and the girls' behavior is certainly not worse than the boys'. I always find it interesting that people always, always, judge girls and women more harshly than boys and men, even when it's clear that the boys are behaving much worse, like in this case.

A guy I worked with - a fundamentalist Christian & part-time minister - has a son & a daughter. Some years ago, son got Girlfriend pregnant, and my co-worker was bragging about how Sonny had become "a real man".

A couple of years later, his daughter (by now a 19 y.o.) got pregnant; co-worker came into work with his face beet-red, threatening that he would kill Boyfriend for what he did to Baby Girl. I pointed out to him his sudden about-face in attitude; he went from beet-red to purple, swore at me, and stormed out of the shop.

Go figure.

Good on you for pointing out his hypocrisy. I hope your comment haunts him.

this is the kind of messed up double-standard still hanging around from scarlet letter days, we are still so backwards about equality...

I am genuinely curious to know if there is any more to that story. Did you ever discuss it again?

What else was there to discuss? Sadly, his attitude in this matter was consistent with his overall belief system. He was in denial about most aspects of his life. My comments did provide plenty of fodder for the "break-time discussion" group for a few months, though. Maybe that exposure encouraged him to seek help, but he retired within the year.

All that sex education didn't seem to do much good, did it?

Kids old enough to have sex have known about the details and technicalities of sex since Moses' day. What they haven't learned is the adult attitudes that are supposed to go with it. Last time I heard, they aren't teaching that in sex ed classes, either

you heard wrong. emotional consequences are discussed extensively. You are also wrong about what kids know about sex and the reproductive system. They always pretend to know, but many are clueless.

I think the problem is that teens get a lot of information, between anecdotes and pornography/popular culture, but a lot of that information is misleading or inacurrate.