Sexting and Exploitation

If you work with teenagers and you’ve followed the news over the past few months, the term “sexting” isn’t new to you.

Sexting is the sending of nude or nearly-nude images and/or sexually explicit messages via cell phone text/image messaging, though sometimes it’s used to refer to a broader range of electronic posting, like sending images online via social networking channels (Facebook, MySpace).  The term popped up in the news earlier this year when several youth were charged for child pornography for sending photos of themselves to other kids, and suddenly the public became more aware that this is becoming a common phenomenon.  (To read up on sexting, check out these links for starters: The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy survey and this CNN report)

As someone who works closely with issues related to at-risk and exploited kids (especially girls) around the world, I was actually surprised to learn this term when I recently heard Dr. Sharon Cooper speak at the 2009 Asha Forum North American Consultation. The Asha Forum is a part of the Viva Network, created to mobilize Christians worldwide to prevent child sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking, and to work with kids who have been victims. This year’s consultation, held at Fuller, focused on moving beyond awareness towards empowering response. Abolitionists, practitioners, students, and researchers gathered to explore the issues and strategize working together to bring hope into the lives of children and youth who are enslaved in sexual abuse, pornography, prostitution, and other forms of sexual exploitation.

Often in the U.S. church, we think that “our children” won’t be touched by these issues. I mean, seriously, the kids in my church aren’t being sexually exploited, are they? Unfortunately, this simply is not the case. The availability and access to so many different technologies today means that most kids are being exposed to sexual material, often on multiple levels. This has developed into a new kind of child abuse that Dr. Cooper described as “sexual abuse image victimization.” Kids in the church are just as susceptible to becoming involved in the abuse, either as perpetrators or victims, as those outside the church.

Dr. Cooper, a developmental and forensic pediatrician and a board member of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said that child sexual abuse images, the intrafamilial sexual marketing of children both online and offline, cyberenticement, sex tourism, and both domestic and international human trafficking are all components of the sexual exploitation of children facilitated by technology.

“Sexting” is a particularly insidious way that children and youth might inadvertently be exposed to sexually explicit material because the images can be sent as text messages without ever having to be at a computer.  Kids are also more likely to think it’s “harmless” to send images by phone, not realizing the implications of that image being shared by the recipient.

Resources are being developed to help us in understanding how we can be proactive in helping kids navigate the sexualized world in which they live. A coalition of organizations are working together to implement The National Plan to Prevent the Sexual Exploitation of Children.   The church can play a role in this coalition by taking action in our own communities, probably first by raising awareness and beginning to talk openly with kids about the problem.

Our churches often choose to avoid topics like sexting, hoping they will just go away, but I urge us to consider joining with this national plan in some way. If we could see our kids’ cell phones, chances are we’d discover that this is much closer to home (or church) than we would like to believe it is.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute