‘Sexting’ just a modern version of spin-the-bottle
To label it ‘child pornography’ defies common sense, says professor
It’s called ‘sexting’ and it’s about children and young people using cellphones and other high-tech communications devices to exchange sexually suggestive messages or nude photos of themselves.
But Peter Cumming, an associate professor at York University and coordinator of the Children’s Studies Program there, says that however shocking it may seem, we may be over-reacting if we start treating it like child pornography.
Sexting, he says, is just a 21st-century version of the sexual exploration children and young people have always done — no worse than playing doctor or spin-the-bottle.
“Technology does change things, and there can be very serious consequences” says Dr. Cumming, who will discuss children’s rights, children’s voices, children’s technology and children’s sexuality at Congress 09.
“But that obscures the fact that children and young people are sexual beings who have explored their sexuality in all times, and all cultures and all places.”
Sexting – a combination of the words ‘sex’ and ‘texting’ – has been in the news in recent months. In at least one case, several U.S. high school students were facing child pornography charges for sharing nude or semi-nude photos with classmates over their cellphones.
Dr. Cumming says that to consider labelling a teen a sex offender because of a sexting incident – a label that will stick for life – defies common sense. “It would be very unlikely to see dozens of news stories announcing that some children we caught playing spin-the-bottle, or doctor, or strip poker,” he says.
“Yet many of the cases brought forward have been on the same level of innocence and experience as those activities. “In other words, kids are playing spin-the-bottle online.”
Dr. Cumming says it could even be argued that online activity – because it doesn’t present an opportunity for immediate physical contact – is safer than traditional sexual games and less likely to lead to pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
“I think a distinction has to be made between nudity and child porn,” he adds. “And it’s an ethical question to ask whether children can create child pornography.
Left to their own devices, aren’t children likely to make some bad decisions – particularly since online material can often escape the control of its creator?
Sure, says Dr. Cumming.
But adults make bad decisions, too.
The uproar about sexting, he says, is just the modern version of the outrage in the 1950s about the way Elvis Presley moved on stage.
“The big bad wolf right now is the Internet and cellphones with cameras,” he says.
So instead of getting upset about sexting, “what I would say to anyone is to take a deep breath, think in context, and use common sense.”
