Experts warn against ‘sexting’

Written by Fred Musante
Friday, 30 October 2009 17:05

“Sexting” is an obscure popular culture term for most adults, but not for teens, and even pre-teens, who fail to anticipate the consequences of using cell phones and computers to distribute sexually explicit photos and messages.

At a forum on sexting recently, local law enforcement figures and school administrators warned that youths who engage in it can find themselves subject to public humiliation and harassment, rejected when applying for college admission or employment, or even charged with child pornography felonies.

Concerned about the problem, two local state legislators, state Reps. Jason Perillo (R-113th) and Themis Klarides (R-114th) hosted the forum at the Shelton Intermediate School on Oct. 7 to educate parents and their children about the dangers and legal ramifications involved in sexting.

According to a slide presentation at the forum, sexting is a term coined by the news media that refers to the use of telecommunications and the Internet to send sexually explicit images or text to someone else.

It is a take-off on the term “texting,” to send text messages on a phone or other wireless device.

“Technology is great if used correctly, but you have to remember there’s a dark side to it,” said Derby High School Principal Fran Thompson, a member of the panel.

Unfortunately, fewer than a dozen parents, students and other concerned residents from around the region attended the forum, and those who did said they already were aware of the problems associated with sexting.

Shelton Police detective Ben Trabka, another panel member, said not long ago he investigated a case that led to the arrest of a 50-year-old Shelton man who had convinced a young girl from another town to send him pornographic photos of herself.

But the forum speakers said the bigger problem was what teens were doing out of boredom or for fun without thinking through the consequences, not what they were enticed into doing by sexual predators.

Trabka, Sgt. James Smith of the State Police, and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo said teens might take sexually explicit photos of themselves and send them to a boyfriend or girlfriend, or even just for fun at a party and post them on an Internet social networking site.

Teens have easy access to digital cameras and cell phones equipped with cameras, and the technology makes it very simple to take photos and send them. But once that kind of photo is sent, it can be difficult or impossible to retrieve. And it is not uncommon for jilted boyfriends or girlfriends or other acquaintances to distribute nude photos to hundreds of other people.

Smith showed a video about a girl who committed suicide after nude photos of her were maliciously sent to her high school classmates.

Widespread incidence

Trabka said this questionable use of technology is going on a lot more than responsible adults know about. Usually, the authorities only find out about it when someone discovers he or she cannot retrieve a compromising photo, and the photo has been misused.

“This is one of those issues with technology that you can’t anticipate until it happens,” said Klarides.

The same thing goes for the use of social networking Internet sites, such as Facebook. The experts on the panel said teens uploaded photos of themselves drunk, exposing themselves or engaged in other questionable behavior, apparently believing that they could control who viewed the images.

But what happens if a college admissions officer or prospective employer gets a look at it? Perillo urged parents and teens to consider what decisions such a person might make based on that.

He said a good guide is to ask oneself the question his grandmother suggested to him, “Would I be proud of you if you did this?”

And the consequences of sexting can get even more serious when it crosses law enforcement lines.

According to Colangelo, when someone takes a nude photograph of an underage youth and transmits it with a cell phone or Internet connection to someone else, up to four felony violations of the child pornography laws may have been committed, even if everyone else involved is also an underage minor.

Conviction for child pornography can result in legal bills, public shame, imprisonment and a person’s registration as a sex offender, he said.

Another member of the panel, Erin McLeod of the Rape Crisis Center of Milford, suggested that if a teen finds him or herself in a difficult situation because of sexting, they should contact guidance counselors or her regional agency, if not parents or police, and get help.