The term sexting originates from the contraction between the English words sex and texting, and refers to the sending of erotic material in photos or videos, by means of a cell phone or via the Internet. This practice is currently widespread throughout the world, among young people but particularly among adolescents, exposing themselves to be victims of pornography, sexual harassment, public repudiation, humiliation and even to become criminals for sending and receiving images of naked or semi-naked minors - whether theirs or their acquaintances - which is a crime punishable in most of the world - although they have taken the photo themselves.
The development of technology has made possible the instant transmission of photographs and videos, facilitating the exchange of erotic material between these users. As the telephone is considered an object of personal and private use, everything indicated that this rule implicit in the human relationship was going to be respected, but this is not always the case. Anyone can send and in turn forward to others the material received, either with the express consent of the person who appears there or without it, damaging their reputation by exhibiting them to their own and strangers.
SEXTING IS BORN
Several English-language publications, including the Sunday Telegraph, mark 2005 as the year in which the sending of erotic material via the Internet and cell phone among young people began. The British newspaper points to the case of two friends who were photographed while bathing, who circulated by cell phone and in cyberspace, an action that caused their expulsion from the schools to which they belonged because they considered their immoral and obscene behavior.
The argument of both teenagers was that such images were not shared with their permission to other people and that they were only for them. But who can guarantee the confidentiality of these intimate photos or videos? Nobody. We live in a culture where respect for the rights of others is increasingly trampled underfoot and a personal and intimate portrait can become a real headache and generate such repentance and social conflicts that even push suicide, a situation that has already occurred.
THE BODY AS A SIGN
With the increasing use of social networks over the Internet and multifunctional phones, today's young people can easily fall into the temptation of wanting to be the most popular of their school or course.
Where does the desire to be admired come from? Of the feeling of inadequacy and dissatisfaction that the adolescent lives, because although he wants to affirm "I am sure of myself!, I feel handsome, beautiful!", the reality is very different. Those who use these means of 'promotion' have a difficulty managing and postponing the satisfaction of their needs, in this case of approval. Frustration leads them to feel alive fantasizing about what others will experience when they see their semi-naked image or in a provocative pose. They believe that if they don't show up like this they won't be accepted. In a constant yearning to feel loved, they ask to 'sign' the photos or write a comment. They require surrendering their intimacy in exchange for attention, as if they were not worth on their own. Their self-image is on the ground even if they pretext otherwise.
Thus, photographs where the chest, buttocks or genitals stand out become a sign that seeks approval and admiration from netizens.
INTEGRITY AND MORE AT RISK
Parents must supervise the content of the sites that their children visit on the Internet and what they receive on their cell phones, and for this they require to be by their side, which young people in no way accept, because they feel oppressed and viewed with suspicion. They are able to swear to exhaustion that they have never even seen anything resembling sexting, but unfortunately in most cases they lie.
Parents need to accept the challenge and if necessary seek advice from a technology specialist to supervise their teens and review what they do when they are not observed. It is better to fall into exaggeration than to later regret having neglected them.
We must be clear. Using erotic photographs or videos and sending them by cell phone or Internet implies the enormous risk that they end up being used as pornographic material or displayed in a degrading way by anyone. Anyone who lends himself to this is exposed to public derision or even to becoming a criminal for producing or transmitting material that can be classified as pornographic.
The family instills the moral code and the way to channel impulses, including sexual impulses, which it is better to reserve until a mature decision is reached in time, space and circumstances. Each family plays a unique role in teaching values. Sadly in the current era it is common for both parents to work and often do not give themselves time to talk and live with their children. They attend to the urgent – tuition, health, housing, etc. – and neglect the important – instruction in the values that consolidate us as members of a clan, a society.
In no way leave your children to the garete, do not let them decide how to do things. You as a father or mother are the ones who carry the captaincy of the family ship. It is vital to listen and propose alternatives that validate each of the members, because only then they will not seek external approval to feel important and valuable.
In her book Con mi hij@ not the journalist Lydia Cacho shakes the readers alluding to the definitive role that each one plays to prevent their children from being victims of sexual abuse. Sexting can not only cause humiliation, it also causes a feeling of harassment and in extreme cases even homicide.
It is certainly no secret that this practice has made it easier for paedophiles to access a wealth of material that would otherwise be difficult for them to obtain. It is possible that more than four are enjoying the images of the that are displayed on the sexting pages. Let's see what face they put on if their daughters appear!
ADULT SEXUALITY
Those who enjoy and enjoy sending their explicit sexual images through modern electronic media believe that they will never have a deep interpersonal relationship, and that letting themselves be carried away by the immediate erotic impulse they satisfied by exhibiting themselves electronically will not take its toll. Candidly and naively think that life will always have the same rhythm. Later, when they meet a couple with whom they want to establish a new life project, it is common for them to see with pain the ballast that allowed them to submerge that eagerness to show themselves 'freely' in photographs often used to masturbate. The ease of the initial outburst passes them the bill when they see how a deep relationship does not materialize, given the lightness with which they faced the passions in other times of their existence.
To avoid the above, it is essential that parents and children find spaces for dialogue on this and other issues, without interrupting each other, offering a respectful moment of active listening, constantly expressing the love they have, in order to safeguard the youngest from intruders who can take away their tranquility. Don't let sexting muzzle your teens' lives.
Source: Sexologo Silvestre Faya
Authors: Computer Security News
