1. NORFOLK ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN
Patricia A. Snell, MA and Amanda S. Wolfe, MPH
Education Consultants Norfolk Advocates for Children Norfolk District Attorney’s Office

2. SEXTING IS A GROWING ISSUE
AMONG YOUTH AGES 13+
Sending or forwarding
inappropriate photos or videos
Any person who is naked, partially naked, or involved in sexual activity
Sexually explicit language

3. THE INTERNET EVERYTHING IS PUBLIC CAN’T CONTROL WHO SAVES
OR FORWARDS YOUR PHOTOS, VIDEO, TEXTS, S OR POSTS
APPS. | EASY ACCESS

4. SEXTING FACTS AND PREVALENCE About a 1/3 of teens are
participating (sending or receiving) and
the % increases with age1,2
Nearly 1 in 5 sext recipients have
passed the pic onto someone else3
1.) Cyber-bullying Research Center:
2.) National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy Sex and Tech: results from a survey of teens and young adults. 2008
3.) MTV Digital Abuse Study Executive Summary

5. SEXTING FACTS AND PREVALENCE Teens who have engaged in sexting
behaviors more likely to have had sex
than non-sexting teens
Girls who engaged in sexting have higher
prevalence of risky sex behaviors: multiple partners,
using drugs and alcohol before sex4
4.) Teen Sexting and Its Association with Sexual Behaviors. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine Vol 166 (No.9)
September 2012, Journal of American Medicine

6. COERCION v. CHOICE 51% of teen girls say pressure from a guy is the
Reason for sending nude photos5
Of teens who sexted, 66% of girls and 60% of teen boys say they did it
Because they wanted to be “fun and flirtatious”5
Girls are more likely to be pressured than boys6
Youth who are coerced to sext face greater risks of emotional impact of shame and regret6
5.) National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Unplanned Pregnancy (2008)
6.) Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center
Studies from National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy & Unplanned Pregnancy (2008), surveyed teens and young adults age The study from MA Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State College surveyed 18 yr old college freshman about their high school experiences.

7. ISSUES WITH SEXTING CONSEQUENCES LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
No control over where the photo(s) or videos go
Could lead to online harassment, cyberbullying, or teen dating violence
Social humiliation and damage to reputation
School consequences suspension / expulsion
Self harm and/or suicide
LEGAL
CONSEQUENCES

8. CURRENT CONVICTIONS LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
Production, promotion, possession, and dissemination of child pornography
Disorderly conduct
Illegal use of a minor in
nudity-orientated material
Open and gross lewdness
Sexual abuse of children
LEGAL
CONSEQUENCES

9. REAL LIFE EXAMPLES Who is charged? A.H. v. State, Florida
Child pornography conviction
Philip Alpert, Florida
Felony charges sending child pornography
State v. Canal, Iowa
Obscenity conviction
Yuri Wright
Lost football scholarship due to racist and sexually graphic tweets

10. POPULAR SITES APPS FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SNAPCHAT | SECRET CALCULATOR
Texting, , social networking sites:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SNAPCHAT | SECRET CALCULATOR
Please add the logos for Twitter and Ask.FM

11. CYBER-BULLYING text, email, blogs, Facebook
For this slide, please remove background images and instead include text from the MA Bullying Law: Cyber-bullying shall also include the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons, if the distribution or posting creates any of the conditions (i) causes physical or emotional harm to the victim or damage to the victim's property; (ii) places the victim in reasonable fear of harm to himself or of damage to his property; (iii) creates a hostile environment at school for the victim; (iv) infringes on the rights of the victim at school; or (v) materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school.

12. REAL LIFE
POSTS

13. SEXTING AND TEEN DATING VIOLENCE
1/5 high school girls and 1/13 high school
boys experience teen dating violence before
graduating from high school5,6
Dating and relationship abuse reported to begin as early as age 11, with sexual behavior viewed as normal7
Sexting falls into the new category of “digital abuse”
and can be used to control someone in a relationship
5.) Silverman JG, Raj A, Mucci LA, Hathaway JE. Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy, and suicidality. JAMA 2001;286:
6.) "Social and Environmental Contexts of Adolescent and Young Adult Male Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Study," Elizabeth Reed, ScD, Jay G. Silverman, PhD, Anita Raj, PhD, Emily F. Rothman, et al. American Journal of Men's Health, Volume 2 Number 3, September
7.)Tween and Teen Dating Abuse Study, 2008,

14. SEXTING AND TEEN DATING VIOLENCE
One person may force or threaten a person
with consequences if they do not send
Explicit photos
If a relationship ends, one person may spread the
existing photos to other people to get back at the
person who ended the relationship, or to blackmail
the person who is trying to end the relationship

15. WHAT PARENTS CAN DO
For younger kids who do not yet know about sex, educate them that text messages should never contain pictures of people without their clothes on, kissing, or touching each other with private parts
Talk to your teens about healthy relationships, specifically that pressure to send a naked photo or sexually suggestive message is not part of a healthy relationship and is disrespectful

16. THINK BEFORE YOU POST PRIVACY SETTINGS PHOTOS/VIDEOS/INFO.

17. ENCOURAGE KIDS TO THINK
BEFORE YOU FORWARD
When you receive a text, you do not know the context of what was going on when that picture was taken:
-could the person have been pressured or forced to send the pic?
-could the person have been intoxicated when they took this picture?
-could the person in the pic not even have known that a photo was being taken?

18. PARENTS AND CELL PHONE MONITORING
Set up an expectation (and follow through!) that
you will be regularly checking your child’s phone
and screening all messages, texts, videos, pictures, etc.
Talk to other parents and your kids to stay up to date with the latest apps and social media platforms—use these products yourself.
Consider blocking photo/video capabilities or putting a limit on internet use on cell phone.
Use a formal monitoring system (ex: my mobile watchdog)

19. MEDIA IN THE BEDROOM Decrease in time teens’ spend sleeping
More time online, less sleep, and more tired (Van den Bulck, 2004)
Mobile phone use late at night associated with tiredness, up to a year later (Van den Bulck, 2007)
Chronic lack of sleep associated with (Tarokh & Carskadon, 2008)
Mood regulation problems, learning, and memory
Poor school performance
Risk taking, risky behaviors and decisions

20. PREP YOUR KIDS IN HOW TO RESPOND TO SEXTS Stress your discomfort:
“I’m way too uncomfortable doing that.”
Emphasize feelings: “If you really cared for me,
you wouldn’t ask me to do that.”
Change the subject: “Um let’s do something else, ok?”
Call them out: “Nope, not gonna do anything illegal just to excite you.” Try Humor!

21. DEALING WITH SEXTING SCHOOL RESPONSE
Create a detailed policy for responding to sexting incidents (whether they happen on or off school property)
Provide prevention education programs to students about sexting and its consequences
Utilize “teachable moments” when sexting incidents appear on the news or other media
Report to administration and police
Contact parents and students involved
Contact the school resource officer and local police to investigate any photos/videos

22. PLACES TO GET HELP www.athinline.com www.thatsnotcool.com
DOVE, local domestic violence agency