Using her cell phone, a high school girl sends nude photos of herself to boyfriends that wind up printed and distributed in the boys’ locker room at a Hudson, Wis., high school. Two boys accused of doing it are charged with defaming her character.
More teenagers today are feeling pressure to create larger identities for themselves like the celebrities they see depicted in national media, said Laurie Ouellette, a communication studies professor at the University of Minnesota. In an era where teens aim to increase their list of “friends” on social networking sites, that can mean flashing nudity in an effort to compete for attention.
“The price is that you have to define yourself in the same kind of terms that celebrities are defined,” said Ouellette, who thinks the emphasis on misbehaving celebrities bodes poorly for teens who see them as role models.
Whether it’s photos of singing sensation Miley Cyrus shirtless and draped in a sheet for a magazine shoot or images of high school students drinking at a house party, more teens are discovering the enduring — and unforgiving — nature of technology.
Observers of young people who show their skin on cell phones and social networking Web sites say parents and schools should be alarmed at the trend. The Hudson case, they say, is an example of a larger problem sweeping the country that involves girls and boys pressured into sexuality, made easy by fingertip technology that turns their bodies and behavior into public information.
“It’s certainly not just a Hudson issue, it’s an issue for all of us who work with students throughout the country when they have access to this kind of technology,” said Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten, superintendent of the Hudson School District. “Obviously, when used inappropriately, it exposes them to things they’re not ready to handle.”
Ouellette said cell phone transmissions and social networking Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook are fast becoming the next generation of reality TV. But teens often don’t understand that using technology to share suggestive nudity, drinking parties and other thoughts and actions can land them in trouble with their families, school administrators and future employers, she said.
“What’s tolerable in our media culture often is not in real life,” she said.
Parents need to understand that the Hudson case is only one example in a national marketing culture that even sells underwear that says “Eye Candy” to 8-year-olds, said Joe Kelly, president of Dads and Daughters, a Duluth, Minn.-based Web site.
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