Why Kids Sext Hannah Rosin Summary

In "Why Kids Sext," Hanna Rosin addresses the phenomenon of teen "sexting," a term which she attributes to the sending of nude photographs. This includes everything from willingly sending a photo of oneself, to sending a photo of someone else to a group of one's friends. Rosin states that this practice has been on the rise since around 2003 and that it became evident that it was a problem in 2009, with a scandal in Pensylvania. Since then, sexting has continued to be a serious issue in many high schools, and even some middle schools. Rosin attempts to explain why teens are partaking, and how it should be dealt with. To answer the question of "Why," Rosin focuses on a recent high school scandal involving disturbing social media accounts. Local teenage boys had set up Instagram accounts for the purpose of publicly sharing nude photos of teenage girls. Many girls attending the school were horrified to find their photos posted on these accounts, without their consent or knowledge -- or at least that's how it seemed at first. Rosin …show more content…
Sometimes they are nothing more than consensual teen experimentation, and she argues that this should not be considered illegal. However, she also mentions some more serious cases that have raised concerns about sexting in general. Rosin states that "Michael Harmony, the commander of the southern-Virginia branch of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force... has dealt with a 13-year-old who posted her naked picture on MeetMe.com and had grown men show up at her house. He’s investigated a 17-year-old boy who blackmailed a girl into sending him naked pictures, and another boy who threatened to send out the naked pictures a girl had given him if she didn’t have sex with him." Cases like these go beyond regular teen sexting, and support the reasoning behind some states' reluctance to passing any sexting-specific laws at all, not wanting to risk being lenient on child