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Brittani Stamey
Connie S. Douglas
ENG-111-98
28, April 2016

Sexting should not be criminalized

Technology and smartphones have been on the rise for quite some time now.
Due to todays technology, an epidemic of Sexting has risen in the world of
teenagers and adults. Sexting is the act of a consensual person voluntarily sending
nude, or explicit, pictures of ones self to another. Today it is so common that one in
five teens admit to sending explicit pictures to someone. If a person is voluntarily
taking part of sexting, then why are they being criminalized? Todays state courts
are out to prevent and eliminate sexting by charging the participants with a felony
and wrongfully being marked as a sex offender. A sex offender is a person who
commits a sex crime which could involve, but not limited to, rape, molestation, or
taking a part in child pornography. If two consensual people are taking a part of
something that brings no harm to them or others, why are they charged with the
same crime has a rapist? State courts have no right to invade personal privacy by
banning sexting. Teens are taking a risk with their explicit pictures, but instead of
criminalizing teenagers they need to be more educated about sexting. If they still
decide to participate in it, then it is their own personal choice that should not result
in being marked as a sex offender for the remainder of their lives.
Julia Halloran McLaughlin states in her article, Consensual Teen Sexting
Should Not Be Punished, around thirty-nine to sixty-nine percent of teens send

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nude or semi-nude to a dating partner, or desirable dating partner. What teenagers
do in privacy, like sexting, should not be banned by state courts. If courts ultimately
decided to make sexting illegal throughout the whole country, it is a violation of
freedom of speech. Sexting is indeed a form of expression and should be protected
by the First Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression by
prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak
freely. In a case between Millers vs. Mitchell, heard by the United States Supreme
Court, the parents of three teenage girls filed a suit against a Pennsylvania
prosecutor after he threatened to prosecute the girls for producing and distributing
child pornography by sexting. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing the
minors, argued that the prosecution violated their First Amendment rights. Greg
Abbot, Texas attorney, quoted It is both inappropriate and potentially illegal for
teens to participate in sexting especially when photos are transmitted. However,
teens should not necessarily be prosecuted for the offenses. That is not our goal.
Our society is not going to be improved by putting a bunch of teens behind bars.
Explaining the ramifications that result in sexting to teens is better than to solution
to wrongfully arrest them. In Julia Halloran McLaughlins article Consensual Teen
Sexting Should Not Be Punished, she states that in majority of states teens as
young as twelve have the right to marry; in thirty-eight states, teens between
fifteen and seventeen may consent to sex with appropriate age partners; teenagers
fifteen and over may obtain contraception and be able to test for sexually
transmitted diseases and abortion, all without parental consent. As teenagers
engage in adult conduct, adult rights and responsibilities should follow them. If
teenagers have the right to consent to sex, to consent abortion, and to consent

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marriage, then the right to create and possess images of themselves and their
partners should also be extended to teenagers.
Sexting is become more acceptable by researchers to the idea that it is a part
of sexual development. Sexting is now becoming a normal way to communicate a
desire for greater sexual intimacy in the world of young adults and teenagers. Due
to the sexual explicitness of the media, teens have also become desensitized to
sexting and many teens do not seem overly distressed by the chance their nude
photos could end up on the internet. An example, the explicit pictures Kim
Kardashian has recently posted online of her fully naked body to help promote the
idea of not being ashamed of your own body. Doctor Jeff Temple states that We
now know that teen sexting is fairly common, For instance, sexting may be
associated with other typical adolescent behaviors such as substance use. Sexting
is not associated with either good or poor mental well-being. Teenagers today are
growing up in a world that our parents and grandparents never did. Twenty years
ago the world never knew much about cellphones and how advanced they would
become. Parents do not understand all the new ways teenagers today can explore
their sexuality without being sexually active. In the modern world of technology
sexting is now a part of growing up.
A solid fact about sexting is that it does not harm the body or anyone elses
involved, it does not cause health risks, and it does not cause unwanted teen
pregnancy. Half of sexually active teens and young adults will get a sexually
transmitted disease before their twenty-fifth birthday. Inside an article called
Sexting & the plummeting teen pregnancy rate, between the years 2007 through
2013, Americas teen pregnancy rate is falling faster and faster at the estimated
rate of thirty eight percent annually. One theory stated by Anne Collier, is that teens

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are now using sexting as a safe substitute for sex. Teenagers are listening to the
dangers of sexting, but it is still favorably considered to be less risky sending a sext
rather than engaging in sex with the risks of pregnancy or sexually transmitted
diseases. It is also written that teenage girls are abstaining from sex longer because
they are not being pressured as harshly by men if they are sexting their partner. If
sexting bring no harm to the body or anyone elses and is actually causing teen
pregnancy rates to go down and girls to abstain from sex longer, then sexting
should not be categorized as such a heinous substitute for sex.
Sexting is now becoming inevitable in the modern world of teenagers and
young adults. It is not alright that state courts are taking away teenagers First
Amendment right for freedom of expression. Teenagers today are given more adult
responsibilities and the laws that follow adult responsibilities should extend to them
as well. It is not always appropriate but that does not mean teenagers freedom of
expression should be wrongfully taken away from them. Teenagers grow up in a
world that not every generation has lived through and everyone around them is still
trying to figure out themselves. Just because sexting was not possible twenty years
ago does not mean it is wrong to the generation where technology is everything.
Teenagers are using sexting as a healthy substitute to abstain from sex and if sex
education classes taught more about sexting, girls and boys would know the full
risks over the activity. When young adults are aware of all the outcomes of sexting
and still partake in it, then it is their right to make that choice. In no way should the
legal system categorize teens who sext as a sex offender, such as molesters or
rapists. Whether the parents, schools, or the legal system likes it, sexting is
becoming normalized and the teenagers who consensually take part in the activity
should not be criminalized.

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Citations
American Civil Liberties Union. "Sexting Among Teens Should Not Be Criminalized." Sexting. Ed. Roman
Espejo. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. At Issue. Rpt. from "Sexting: A Civil Liberties Briefing from the
ACLU." 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Collier, Anne. "Sexting Among Teens Is Not Always Harmful." Sexting. Ed. Roman Espejo. Farmington Hills,
MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. At Issue. Rpt. from "'Noodz,' 'Selfies,' 'Sexts,' etc., Part 1: A Spectrum of Motivations."
netfamilynews.org. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

McLaughlin, Julia Halloran. "Consensual Teen Sexting Should Not Be Punished." Age of Consent. Ed.
Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "Crime and Punishment: Teen Sexting in
Context." Penn State Law Review 115.1 (Jan. 2010). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.