Sexting: You Are Responsible for Your Own Actions

Sexting: You Are Responsible For Your Own Actions.
Sexting is very popular among teenagers; it is used to send nude pictures or sexual messages via text messages, social networking sites and emails. When teenagers sext they do not think of the consequence of their action and later down the line they regret sexting. Jesse Logan is responsible for her own suicide. No one forced her to commit suicide it was her choice. Jesse could have asked help from her school counselor, she could have talked to her mother, and there were many things she could have done but she chose to end her life and no one is responsible for that except Jesse Logan.
In the article “Her Teen Committed Suicide Over Sexting,” Mike Celizic describes Jesse Logan as a cheerful, compassionate, fun and artistic 18 years old. Celizic tells us that Jesse sent a nude picture of herself to her boyfriend but, after they broke up the boyfriend forwarded the nude picture of Jesse to all the girls at their high school. Jesse hoped that the nude pictures would remain private between her boyfriend and her but to her dismay her ex-boyfriend made those pictures public. She was humiliated, tortured, bullied and harassed which eventually led Jesse to commit suicide.
Although Jesse Logan sent her boyfriend the nude picture she did not really think of the consequences that her actions could cause her. She never thought that she would be bullied for her actions of sexting. She was tormented and harassed because of sexting; the harassment caused her to start skipping classes which caused her grades to decline putting her education at risk. Celizic stated in his article that Jesse Logan’s mother only started receiving notices from school that her daughter has been missing classes. Cynthia Logan confronted her daughter about ditching classes that is when Jesse explained to her mother about the harassment at school regarding her sext that she had sent to her boyfriend. In spite of Cynthia Logan took Jesse’s car away and started dropping her to school, Jesse still skipped school because she couldn’t take the persecution from her school mates.
Bullying can be in many forms such as name calling, teasing, sexual harassment, pushing, hitting, attacking and etc. After Jesse Logan realized that her sext was sent to other people, she should have immediately went to see a counselor at her school to see what could be done with this situation. As the situation kept getting worse at school, Jesse should have gone to the counselor and if that did not help she should have gone to seen the principle to make the situation go away. But, Jesse did nothing except to keep taking the abuse, harassment and bullying.
A parent is there to guide, protect and teach the child right from wrong. You cannot expect the parent to be responsible for every little thing wrong the child does. Jesse knew the difference between texting and sexting; she also knew that her mother would not approve her of sexting but she did it anyways not worrying about the consequences. When her sext went viral around the school Jesse could have gone to her mother and told her about what happened but, she did not. Jesse did not tell her mother about the sext or the bullying until the school started sending home letters of her skipping classes. Even then Jesse did not tell her mother of the extent of the bullying. Cynthia Logan could have helped her daughter to figure a way out of the bullying.
There may be many people who may believe that the boyfriend is to blame for Jesse committing suicide because of him forwarding the sext to the other students. I do not believe that this is true because Jesse should have known better than to send a nude picture to her boyfriend even if she trusted him; you never know how the sext could have been intercepted or you send the sext to another phone number accidently. People might also believe that the bullies are responsible for Jesse committing suicide. I do not believe that because there are so many children being bullied each and every single day at school in some way or the other and you do not see them committing suicide. Yes, Jesse was bullied a lot at school but she did nothing to help herself. Jesse just let the bulling continue.
Teenagers need to know the consequences of sexting. You might think you are sending the sext message to the person you trust but, you never know who that sext message could be forwarded to. Teenagers do not think that they could be a victim of bullying because of texting but they are wrong. Once you hit the send button you can never undo the damage it may cause. Jesse Logan was a victim of bullying because of the sext she had sent her boyfriend. She did not think of any consequence that might cause her but, she was bullied and harassed which led her to commit suicide. Jesse Logan is responsible for her own death because she did not try to get help from her mother nor from school officials. Nobody helped her put the scarf around her neck and hang her; Jesse did that all by herself. Jesse Logan is the one and only responsible person for her committing suicide.

Works Cited

Celizac, Mike. “Her Teen Committed Suicide Over Sexting.” Today, MSN. 6 March 2009. Web. 27 September 2012.

Cited: Celizac, Mike. “Her Teen Committed Suicide Over Sexting.” Today, MSN. 6 March 2009. Web. 27 September 2012.