UK : 40% of children sexting

[Mid]

In the UK, 40% of 11-14 year olds have texted or distributed online nude photos of themselves.

40% of children in UK sexting: survey
Mar 20, 2011

LONDON: A survey has found that there is an increase in the number of children in UK taking pornographic images of themselves and swapping them with friends via text messages or the internet. Of the children surveyed , 40% of 11 to 14-year-olds admitted to having used their mobile phones or computer to send pictures of themselves or receive naked or topless images of friends.

More than half of youngsters, who were " sexting" did so knowing the pictures would be passed on to a number of recipients. And four in 10 of the 11,000 children surveyed thought it was "appropriate" to circulate pictures of topless girls in their school.

The shocking trend has been blamed on the volume of internet pornography seen by boys who, as a result, expect girlfriends to be promiscuous and flaunt their bodies. Internet safety expert Ken Corish revealed the findings of his survey at a forum on behaviour and bullying.

"The proportion of young children 'sexting' is shocking. Online porn is now far too accessible," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying. "This raises the expectations of young males about what happens in a relationship. But it goes further because this survey shows we are now seeing a shift from youngsters accessing online content to creating it themselves.

"The root cause is not just online pornography. It is everywhere in society from the raunchy pop music videos to TV star Gok Wan persuading woman to get their clothes off on his show," he stated. Sexting, if it involves pictures of children, is a criminal offence under the Child Trafficking And Pornography Act. "They see the likes of Rihanna or Cheryl Cole parading in raunchy poses and they think they look fantastic," Siobhan Freegard, of parenting website Netmums, added.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

[brouhaha]

40% of 11 to 14-year-olds admitted to having used their mobile phones or computer to send pictures of themselves or receive naked or topless images of friends.

needs a careful read.

[Thormaturge]

Good grief.

The internet is merely a reflection of what people have been doing in the days before Al Gore invented this medium. I have vivid memories from, when I was around 10-11 years old, of girls in my age group being extremely curious and they needed no persuading to get their clothes off either. By the time we were teenagers there must have been easily half a dozen girls and just a couple of us lads. The "worst" of the girls went on to become a sex therapist.

IMHO the issue is not so much about youngsters using the new technology to exchange pictures of each other, although I can see how that could cause problems too, but how to prevent those pictures ending up in the hands of adults who may easily get the wrong idea, or who may even publish the images.

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

I have vivid memories from, when I was around 10-11 years old, of girls in my age group being extremely curious and they needed no persuading to get their clothes off either. By the time we were teenagers there must have been easily half a dozen girls and just a couple of us lads. The "worst" of the girls went on to become a sex therapist.

Ditto. I have similar memories from when I was about 10-11.

About a dozen 16 year old girls used to conduct a regular strip show using the shed at the bottom of our garden. I was the only boy invited there and I was the entire audience. At the end, they all used to frolic and gambol around the garden in the nuddy while I sat in a deckchair reading Whizzer and Chips.

[Cujo]

I have vivid memories from, when I was around 10-11 years old, of girls in my age group being extremely curious and they needed no persuading to get their clothes off either. By the time we were teenagers there must have been easily half a dozen girls and just a couple of us lads. The "worst" of the girls went on to become a sex therapist.

Ditto. I have similar memories from when I was about 10-11.

About a dozen 16 year old girls used to conduct a regular strip show using the shed at the bottom of our garden. I was the only boy invited there and I was the entire audience. At the end, they all used to frolic and gambol around the garden in the nuddy while I sat in a deckchair reading Whizzer and Chips.

[Thormaturge]

I sat in a deckchair reading Whizzer and Chips.

I was a lot more interested than you but I like to think that I helped a sex therapist along the path to her ultimate career. She was the daughter of my father's employer. Dad would have had a heart attack if he knew what I was up to.

[The Bold Rodney]

At the end, they all used to frolic and gambol around the garden in the nuddy while I sat in a deckchair reading Whizzer and Chips

Those were the days....the only thing new about this behaviour is the methods used to send and receive the images and like so many of us I remember the teenage vamps at school and the romps on the "playing" fields, woods, bycycle sheds etc. etc.

Alas nowadays the excitement isn't quite the same as the fleeting view of a fresh (low mileage) pussy or firm pert nipples was in those days.

p.s. I sure hope the wife doesn't read this post!

[Thormaturge]

Those were the days

Every generation is different. I expect my parents would have been shocked at what we got up to but no harm came of it.

Each generation adapts its behaviour to meet the opportunities open to it.

The main thing for adults, as always, is to ensure nobody gets hurt.

[drk411]

What it would be like in circa 2050 with our great grand children ?

T H I N K.