Teens send each other naked pictures, get charged with child pornography

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Yay, I posted something everybody dissagrees with!

Ok, look, I'm not saying that women shouldn't dress up to look nice, or that physical attraction is some evil thing. I mean, criky, if that was the case we'd all be in jail. Having said that, don't try to tell me that naked mobile pics are the same as wearing a wondabra. Seriously guys, do you think 14 year old girls should be sending naked digital photos to older boys?

And a complete hypothetical: a underage girl either takes her own or has a picture of herself taken and sent to an over age person. Are they culpable as soon as they recieve the picture? Should they inform the police that they've been sent it?

Well, they shouldn't be sharing it and keeping it on their phone. If a picture of an underage girl is taken by someone else then that person is guilty of producing child pornography, so they should be prosecuted.

What a load of . Objectify? HAH! It's a little something called "arousing each other", "flirting", "sexual games", etc etc. If you're not into that sort of thing - fine. But don't push those morals on the rest of us.

And please, try not to play the "free sex and drugs hippie"-card on me. CR, the one who posted this, is a hardcore conservative, and he's no more fan of this than me*. This is the territory of the parents - NOT the government. The parents are responsible for their children's moral upbringing, not the state. If the parents deem this behaviour worthy of a smack, then they're free to do so, of course. But it's their responsibility, their territory.

Um "free sex and drugs hippe"? Nope, strawman.

They're underage, so "flirting" and "sexual games" are not allowed. In any case, a picture of yourself naked isn't flirting, it's advertising. If a girl sent me a picture like that I wouldn't be impressed, regardless of how she looked; if I was an unpleasent man, however, I might keep it and show it to my friends.

This was a stupid thing for these girls to do, which shows they aren't mature enough to deal with this sort of thing. As far as this being the perview of the parents' it ceased to be so once their children broke the law.

[HoreTore]

They're underage, so "flirting" and "sexual games" are not allowed. In any case, a picture of yourself naked isn't flirting, it's advertising.

Enjoy your morally bankrupt nanny state. I'm pleased to say I do not live in such a society.

[julius_caesar_the_first]

What irritates me on this issue is that the laws use the simple but useless chronological age rather than the more useful but difficult physiological, or even cognitive maturity.

Some 15 year olds are in all ways more "ready" than 18 year olds.

I totally agree with you. Unfortunately there is no way to accurately determine the cognitive age of a person. Psychological tests are good, but not perfect and they can be time consuming. It could also make legislation designed to stop pedophiles too ambiguous and full of loop holes.

But then again, because of this arbitrary age of consent many people I know could be charged with pedophilia, even if it wasn't actually the case.

Seriously guys, do you think 14 year old girls should be sending naked digital photos to older boys?

As far as I know girls\women tend too look for boys\men that are older than them. If that is the way your hypothetical 14 year old girl chooses to attract a guy then it's her choice to do so.

Also the age of the person receiving the photo determines his reaction. For example if I would have received a nude photo from a 14 year old girl when I was, say, 15 or 16 I would of liked it. Now at 21 I would ignore it simply because I prefer girls closer to my age. The obvious exception are pedophiles.

[rory_20_uk]

As far as I know girls\women tend too look for boys\men that are older than them. If that is the way your hypothetical 14 year old girl chooses to attract a guy then it's her choice to do so.

Women want a man that's a few years older than themselves, with an upper age limit of probably 45. Basically a man in his "prime". Again, men will use tricks to try to look younger and more virile than they are.

I imagine you mean a typical 14 year old girl. Unless she's got her age stamped on her, how do you know her age? You can guess but in some cases you could be a 7 year jail sentence out. Lusting after someone you perceive to be 19 but is 15 for example.

[julius_caesar_the_first]

I imagine you mean a typical 14 year old girl. Unless she's got her age stamped on her, how do you know her age? You can guess but in some cases you could be a 7 year jail sentence out. Lusting after someone you perceive to be 19 but is 15 for example.:

Yes I meant a typical 14 year old girl. Although I'm 70% right when guessing the age of a girl there is always that 30% when I could be wrong and wind up in jail without any fault of my own, especially if she lied about her age (which happens quite often).

[HoreTore]

Yes I meant a typical 14 year old girl. Although I'm 70% right when guessing the age of a girl there is always that 30% when I could be wrong and wind up in jail without any fault of my own, especially if she lied about her age (which happens quite often).

Which is why you won't get punished for anything if you are judged to have taken appropriate measures to make sure she's over 16 here. For example, if you hit on a girl in a bar with an age requirement of 20(which means serving alcohol stronger than beer and wine) who sneaked in using a fake ID, for example, then you won't be facing any charges.

When there are no victims, there is no reason for a punishment. The age of consent-laws are there to protect children from pedophiles and being taken advantage of - it's not there to protect them from sex. If parents feels the need to keep their teenagers away from sex, then they will have to do so themselves.

[Watchman]

Found an interesting bit of analysis - and comparision - on the topic here.

Personally, I blame overzealousness mixed with lingering Puritanism.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

The age of consent-laws are there to protect children from pedophiles and being taken advantage of - it's not there to protect them from sex.

If this is true it will be contained in the statute, demonstrate that or you don't have a case. A legal system works by having laws, if you break them you are punished, end of. Currently laws in the US say that naked pictures of girls/women under 18 are illigal and constitute child pornography. They also say that sex under a certain age is rape.

As I said, if you think it's wrong you change the law, you don't flout it.