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The 2009 NCPCF Smart Teens Essay Contest -- Winning Essay
May 28, 2009
National Coalition - St. Louis office
 
What's Wrong With Sexting?
by Christiana Zipay
Recently there has been an outpouring of stories about a new fad spreading among teenagers called sexting. I first learned that teenagers were sending nude and semi- nude pictures of themselves over cell phones from an article in People magazine. Since then I have seen this topic everywhere from magazines and Internet blogs to the nightly news. Personal reactions about sexting range anywhere from absolute disgust to absolute nonchalance. After gathering all the information I could about sexting, I feel that I am qualified to make my own decision, from my point of view as a Christian and my point of view as a logical human being. I have come to the conclusion that sexting is a terrible choice.
At first, I believed that the most important reason not to sext was purely practical, the horrific consequences imposed by society. The first story I read about sexting focused on two fourteen-year-old boys who were found with a nude picture of a friend's thirteen-year-old girlfriend on their cell phones. Both boys had their phones confiscated at school after a classmate reported the pictures. The school called the police and when they arrived they considered charging the boys with trafficking in child pornography, which could force them to spend time in jail and be registered as sex offenders. (1)
There are many stories like this one, where teenagers have been threatened and actually charged with lewdness in public, child pornography and other related charges. Though many people, especially teens and parents, strongly protest these harsh reactions, children as young as twelve have been convicted of crimes. (2) Though I personally believe that charging a fourteen year old with child pornography is ridiculous, I also believe that knowledge of these life-changing consequences should be reason enough to stay away from sexting.
For a long time I could not figure out how to write this paper. For me, the whole topic was already cut and dried. Sexting is bad because if you do it you could be charged with child pornography and thrown in jail, end of story. Eventually it occurred to me just how naïve it was to really think that fear of practical consequences would be the end of this story. Often times fear of breaking the law isn't even close to enough to stop teens from engaging in illegal and often extremely harmful behavior. I went online to look up some statistics to illustrate my point, and I found myself shocked.
According to the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, over seventy-four percent of highschoolers have tried alcohol, while almost ten percent of the students in this survey admitted to driving after drinking alcohol, a hugely irresponsible and often deadly behavior. (3) The statistics for teenage smoking and drug use are equally disturbing, and according to a survey done by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, roughly twenty percent of teens admit to sexting. (4)So if fear of legal consequences doesn't matter to America's teenagers, what is there to hold us back? Here I had to ask myself an important question. I have never experimented with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes or sexting, so what makes me any different then all of the other teenagers who have done these things?
The answer to my previous question is the real heart of this essay. That thing that makes me different from others is my faith in Christ, a faith that allowed me to delve deeper into this issue of sexting. I realized that while the practical consequences of this world may be harsh, the spiritual consequences of sexting have the potential to be even more devastating. I have read personal blogs in which people claim that sexting isn't wrong at all, that it's only harmless fun and that kids will be kids. My Christian faith has instilled a set of morals within me that make these comments seem not only completely off base but even repulsive.
The aforementioned blogs condoning sexting gave me a strong desire to intelligently contradict that opinion. To do this I went to the Bible and searched for pertinent verses. I believe that sexting is sexually immoral, but I have seen people comment that it is only innocent fun. Gospel writer Matthew supports my stance. "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (5) Girls who send nude pictures of themselves to their boyfriends are tempting the receivers into adultery, a sin expressly forbidden by the Ten Commandments. Likewise, the males taking these pictures and passing them around are not only committing adultery in their hearts but are spreading this sin around to others, allowing their girlfriends to be the subject of other peoples' lusts as well.
Another important thing to remember when thinking about sexting is that our bodies are not our own. God created us all and our bodies are a gift from Him, to be used in glorifying Him. 1st Corinthians says, "For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." (6) Also, our bodies are meant to belong to the person we marry. "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife."(7) I interpret this verse to mean that our bodies are meant to be a precious gift that we choose to give to the one special person with whom we will share our lives. Sending revealing pictures out to potentially be seen by many people cheapens this gift, and the personal loss is devastating. I know that when I get married, I want the experience of my body belonging solely to my husband to be special, not a 'been there done that' kind of thing, and it seems to me that through sexting people are giving that "specialness" up in exchange for some brief physical pleasure.
While sexting may damage personal relationships with a future spouse, it also has a way of directly wounding the person sexting. The National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy survey stated that about seventy percent of teens sexting meant the nude pictures to be seen only by their boyfriend or girlfriend, and the survey also shows that this would-be privacy often doesn't happen. (8) The much-publicized story of Jesse Logan presents one of the worst possible consequences of sexting.
In 2008, Jesse Logan sent nude pictures of herself to her boyfriend. Then they broke up, and the pictures didn't disappear, they were cruelly spread around Jesse's high school in Cincinnati, Ohio. This exposure led to malicious harassment and Jesse being denounced around school as a "slut." As a result of this tortuous treatment, Jesse often skipped school, afraid to face the cruelty of her peers. Though Jesse had the strength to anonymously go public with her story in the hope that the same thing wouldn't happen to anyone else, for her it was already too late. Depressed and alienated, eighteen year old Jesse hanged herself in July 2008. (9)
Sexting leaves scars. In exposing and therefore cheapening ones' own body one is sinning against God and against themselves. The feelings of inferiority and of being dirty that can come from being publicly called out for sexting can also come from within. The purity lost by sexting can't ever be regained. It is a mistake that all teens that sext will have to live with forever, whether or not they are caught.
Many blogs I've read on the cbsnews website said some interesting things about why sexting is okay. Basically, certain bloggers stated that human sexuality is a good thing and others wondered why people should be ashamed of their bodies. With comments like these, the bloggers were trying to validate sexting, but in trying to make their point, they also helped to prove mine. Human sexuality is a good thing; not only is it another of those wonderful gifts from God, but it is necessary for the continuation of our species. Our bodies are also nothing to be ashamed of, for we are created in God's own image. The problem with sexting is that our bodies and our sexual feelings are meant to be used in a certain way, namely, to honor and glorify Him. If sexting honors or glorifies anything it is only personal vanities and lusts.
So in studying this topic I have come up with three major things that are wrong with sexting. The first is that sexting is illegal and can lead to criminal charges. The second is that sexting cheapens one's body and therefore can damage future relationships and one's own feelings of self worth. The third and most important reason not to sext is that our bodies belong to God. Sexting is a sin against the purity of our bodies and the One who created them.
Bibliography
1. Hewitt, Bill. (2009, March 30). People Magazine. "The Dangers of 'Sexting'." Vol. 71, number 12.
5. Bible. Matthew 5:28. NIV.
6. Bible. 1st Corinthians 6:20. NASV.
7. Bible. 1st Corinthians 7:4. NIV.
Celizic, Mike.
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