Sexting

The latest hot pastime is for kids to send sexually-oriented text messages and nude pictures of themselves to each other on their cell phones as a way of "flirting." Whatever happened to offering to carry somebody's books home?
I was having a discussion about this at work with a friend, who happens to be the mother of two teenagers. "Kids these days have nothing on Sodom and Gomorrah," she said authoritatively. "Read your Bible. You shoulda seen the things they were doing back then. And while Moses was up on the mountain, they were down there making all kinds of stuff out of gold and silver!"
My friend may have conflated a couple of stories, but her point is well taken. Young people have done everything they could to challenge the mores of their societies since "time in memoriam," as one of my old Oklahoma associates would say. Idol worship, dancing the waltz, glue sniffing, psychedelic drugs, love-ins, listening to Elvis Presley records. Now it's body piercings, something called "embedding" that I won't even go into, and "sexting."
All parents can do is shrug and try to stay a step ahead in the arms race.
A word about Sodom and Gomorrah: I was under the impression that the Sodomites (Why is it that they get all the credit? Is it because it looks awkward to add a "y" to "Gomorrah" when you're writing a state morality statute?) were condemned not for their imaginative sexual proclivities, but for being inhospitable to strangers.
I don't purport to be a scriptural scholar, so I'll leave that to the sages to argue. Besides, it could be a subject for another cartoon.




CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
Sexting. As for being inhospitable to strangers, it was a bit more than that. In the story the townspeople wanted to rape the angels that were in Lot's house.
Posted by: Logan | February 23, 2009 8:49 PM
God designed a Human Being to be born into this world NUDE; and with shame Christians HIDE & deny that fact daily. Sex SELLS, like an American devil. Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Shine on you crazy diamond. ...but don't do it on an american cell phone.
Posted by: anon | March 28, 2009 12:26 PM
Omg! That's just going a little too far. Seriously, guys out there, if you wanna impress a girl, bring her a flower or something- don't send a naked picture of yourself- that's gay.
Posted by: omg | April 2, 2009 6:14 PM
omg is gay, and also probably a bit retarded, flame on guys! Flowers are lame, a picture of me is obviously what girls want.
Posted by: Gay | April 29, 2009 9:38 PM
Whatever happened to just carrying someone's books? Well, this big ball in time square dropped a few dozen times and it stopped being 1950. That's what.
Sexting is no different than anything past generations have done, it's just more convienent. I don't want to hear the generation of the great "nude love-ins" tell me about modesty.
There's something in the bible that I love, it talks about taking the log out of your own eye before b****ing at your neighbor for the splinter in his eye.
I'm not saying I'll be a proud papa when my kids are doing it, but you can't honestly be so arrogant as to think you were any more holesome or pure (generationally speaking) than the 16yr olds of today when you were their age.
Posted by: Alexander | May 18, 2009 1:40 AM
listen why do adults get there panties in a bunch if sexting is going on. come on now like you were so pure when you were a teenager. at least whoever is sexting has someone to that with. everyone who complains is just made theyre lonely.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 17, 2009 10:14 AM
Cell phones used by minors should be limited to text/voice only. Period. E-mail? Not sure how that would work since many older perverts use this to correspond with teens. Does your teen need to see on their phone? NO Phones with cams should not be sold OR GIVEN to anyone under the age of 21.
Posted by: jkt1954 | March 22, 2010 9:46 PM
honestly, as a 16 year old myself, i don't see any problem with picture phones. we use them for the same reason you use them. if we don't use them now, in 20 years, there will be no picture phones cuz the generation with money doesn't use them. if kids my age used pagers, i promise you that you would see every phone company marketing new pagers for at least 20 years. it's business.
besides, i don't see the problem with email or someone sending nude pics to others of the same age group. as long as some dude doesnt send a pic of his wiener to me, i'm cool with it. this is a country of individuality and freedom. hell, we are the only country i know that has amish.
And for all you religious nuts out there, stop bringing God into these issues. I don't ever remember hearing God say thou shalt not sext. As far as i'm concerned, God has nothing to do with modern America when it comes to tech. He gave us free will. I doubt that on judgement day he's going to pull up your phone records and show you the naughty pics you sent to your old flings 20 years ago because you thought you were in love. We're not perfect, we make mistakes. It's through these mistakes that we learn and become better for it.
Posted by: get real | April 1, 2010 9:33 PM
Really, people, it's not that big of a deal. I'm 15, and I personally don't sext because I find it gross, but everyone needs to calm down. It's not as if the majority of the teenage population is sending nude photos out. In fact, it's only around 20%.
Also, camera phones should NOT be prohibited for anyone under the age of 21. That's kind of ridiculous, and frankly, anti-young people. The restrictions on drinking and driving are understandable, but camera phones? We aren't harming anyone. If people are going to send nude pictures, they're going to do it, and nobody can stop them. Nothing's wrong with camera phones. I actually find them quite useful for scrapbooking and what not. Also, please don't bring religion into this. This has nothing to do with religion.
Finally to all the adults that constantly condemn the younger generation, please lay off. You did tons of things that your parents would give you heat for, even if you told them about it now. So please don't pretend that we're a horrible generation. Hello? The Sixties? We all did it; our generation is just doing it differently. Please, don't judge. I know I definitely won't be passing such judgement when/if i have my kids. I'm not saying I'll condone any of this; I'll just try to help them learn from our generation's mistakes.
Posted by: calm. down. | July 27, 2011 8:46 PM
The both of you obviously LACK common sense and self respect. Yes it IS a big deal to be sending nude photos of yourselves, especially this day and age when it can easily end up online for the WHOLE WORLD TO SEE or a pedophile to enjoy!! The ones that defend this type of behavior are the ones that are doing it themseleves and try to find a way to justify their actions. So you like her or he likes you, what you just have to send a nude photo of yourself to prove something? really? How pathetic!!!
Posted by: Geat Real & Calm Down | September 30, 2011 3:56 PM