Persuasive Essay On Sexting In Schools

Sexting in Sexual Education

According to the Merriam - Webster dictionary : “sexting means the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone” whose first use of the word was in 2007. Since then sexting has skyrocketed and become a trend thanks to media networks. But the consequences that came with the popularity sexting were grave. Jesse Logan was a 16 year old high schooler from Sycamore High School whose life ended because of the events that followed after she had sexted her boyfriend and her boyfriend had sent the photos to others in their school as well as other schools. “She was being attacked and tortured … When she would come to school, she would always hear, ‘Oh, that’s the girl who sent the picture. She’s just a
whore,’ ” said Jesse Logan’s mother and her friend. (Celizic TODAY). And Jesse Logan isn’t the only one who faces the same challenges that appear with sexting or being affected by sexting. “39% of teenagers admit to sexting … 4% of cell-owning teens ages 12 to 17 say they sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image or video of themselves to someone via text message.” (Pew Internet and American Life Project (2010) ). The issue of sexting cannot be solved by banning as that is not a logical solution as many will still continue to sext and social media allows people to use fake identities and continue to post sext photos / videos or expose others who have sent sexts. The only way to limit those who become affected by sexting or those who participate in sexting is to educate these teenagers as part of their sexual education. All students should become aware of what sexting is from a different viewpoint than what the media portrays and what their peers define it as so they can fully understand its concept and then make their own decisions based on what they’ve learned.
Teenagers are the most affected group by sexting also face the highest chance of experiencing bullying and/or cyberbullying. (Evidence here) The adolescents group is fully enveloped in media which allows them to see and share explicit pictures or videos received by others which will lead into the bullying of the individual(s) within the photo/videos. As females are the most exposed from sexting they face “Slut-shaming”, a very popular form of bullying that specifically targets females for being exposed of having done something that is seen to be sexualizing. Slut shaming can take on both physical or mental forms of bullying. It has led to girls becoming depressed / suicidal and their image continues to be shared around so that many others can ridicule them. (Evidence here) Girls such as Jesse Logan spoke out from her experience and tried to reach out to all girls on the dangers of sexting but it’s hard for one girl to go against a trend whose popularity grows at a rapid rate and is used by a large amount of teenagers. High schools in America have over (%) (Evidence Here) of teenagers in the entire nation. If sexting was to be taught as part of their sexual education it can address these instances that will be very familiar to the students as they will have heard/seen them themselves and then understand what the individuals had done to have come to a place where they were exposed and bullied for their sexts. High schools can also describe “slut shaming” as it goes hand in hand with sexting and explain the consequences of doing so just as they talk about the effects of bullying/cyberbullying on their peers.
To explain sexting in a school would be beneficial to the students and the parents as it would have a more structurally organized and approved lesson plan.
Sexting is a tricky and sensitive subject to discuss just as sex, drugs, and contraceptives. Yet, those subjects are still taught and discussed in schools in ways to fully inform students with the intentions to prevent harmful effects occurring to the students from one of the topics. Parents are made aware of when a student is about to learn about health which is around the age of (add age here). If parents know that their student is learning about sex, drugs, contraceptives, and sexting under the supervision and the teaching of a teacher they can be assured that the school will not present false information or attempt to make the student participate in these risky behaviors. Being taught in school will also assure that the students will not be blinded by what their peers feel on the issue. A teenager listening to a teenager who does participate in sext may not be able to explain sexting in its full aspect and leave out the parts which prove how dangerous it can be. (find article on showing how students who do something can influence others) . Teaching sexting in schools just like they would any of the other subjects can offer students extra information which may be what stops them from participating in a dangerous act such as
sexting. The greatest concern that comes from sexting is it’s ability to influence the sexters into having sexual activities from such young ages (Evidence here) .