We must destroy the children in order to save them

[blowfish]

Sexting isn't responsible for shit. Bullying is responsible for quite a lot, on the other hand. One isn't (much of) a problem without the other, but the inverse isn't true.

It is true that the sexting in isolation isn't a big deal. But it won't just be in isolation, and if the content gets into the wild it will become an avenue for bullying that can be impossible to escape.

The thing is that bullying doesn't usually happen because someone was sexting, but because they were already being bullied and then convenient naked pictures show up.

[Ziggy Stardust]

It is true that the sexting in isolation isn't a big deal. But it won't just be in isolation, and if the content gets into the wild it will become an avenue for bullying that can be impossible to escape.

This is like saying that we should ban glasses because kids that wear glasses are more likely to be bullied. That is, admittedly, a pretty sill analogy, but to be honest I think your claim is a bit silly. I really don't think you can draw any systematic causal link between sexting and bullying, or show that the most effective way to eliminate bullying is by eliminating sexting.

[SCRawl]

It is true that the sexting in isolation isn't a big deal. But it won't just be in isolation, and if the content gets into the wild it will become an avenue for bullying that can be impossible to escape.

This is like saying that we should ban glasses because kids that wear glasses are more likely to be bullied. That is, admittedly, a pretty sill analogy, but to be honest I think your claim is a bit silly. I really don't think you can draw any systematic causal link between sexting and bullying, or show that the most effective way to eliminate bullying is by eliminating sexting.

You're right, I can't draw such a link. I can tell you that there have been high-profile cases recently in Canada in which images of this sort got into the public domain and, once this happened, became the proximate cause of bullying, which led to successful suicide attempts by girls in their teens. I admit that the problem here is the bullying; if we eliminate that, then we eliminate most of my objection to teens sexting. (The rest of my objection, the fact that the practice may lead to diminished employment opportunities, will evaporate given enough time, as the practice becomes more mainstream and less taboo.) And has been suggested, it can't be practically banned or prevented using laws or technology without causing unacceptable civil rights violations.

So how do you do it? All that's left is education. "See these nice, happy, teenage girls? They're all dead because some asshole they thought was a nice guy forwarded their naked boobie pictures, and then their natural predators, the bullies of the world, made their life not worth living. So think before you hit 'Send'."