14yo girl facing felony child porn charges, 10 years for selfie

The key word here will be "consent".

Can a minor consent to taking sexually explicit pictures of themselves? Can they consent to distributing them? The law says minors cannot consent to anything sexual in nature. So where does that leave the two above questions?

Example 1: 20yo babysitter (lets say a female) takes a nude pic of her 14yo charge on 14yo's phone because 14yo wants to send it to her 14yo BF as a present. 20yo WILL be charged with producing CP because 14yo cannot consent. Does 14yo get charged with distributing CP to her bf?

Example 2: Same as above but no babysitter involved. So who gets charged with what?

Legally a very slippery slope. If a minor can consent to take nude pics of themselves in a sexual nature then what else can they consent to?

I am all in favor of max punishments for child porn offenses, but this is just stupid.

She has a picture of herself. If she looks at herself nude is she guilty of voyeurism? If she always wants to know where she is does that mean she is stalking herself? If she is under age 18 and masturbates...just burn her at the stake I guess.

a reply to: Theprodicalson

I'm well aware that children can't be watched 24/7. Thanks, anyway.

What I am saying is that, imho, of course, that child seemingly had no lines drawn. What sort of parenting allows that sort of behaviour from a 14 year old child?

So my question remains, where the Hell were the parents?

That's not to take away the girls responsibilities...but the parents get to garner some of the blame, as well.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Theprodicalson

I'm well aware that children can't be watched 24/7. Thanks, anyway.

What I am saying is that, imho, of course, that child seemingly had no lines drawn. What sort of parenting allows that sort of behaviour from a 14 year old child?

So my question remains, where the Hell were the parents?

That's not to take away the girls responsibilities...but the parents get to garner some of the blame, as well.

Where did you read that her parents knew or even allowed their daughter to send nudes of herself?

a reply to: CynConcepts

You'd be wrong.
What I do know is that it is unusual for a 14 yr old girl to post nude pictures of herself to boys.
If you think otherwise, then I have doubts you have brought up your own kids with solid values.

a reply to: CynConcepts

Isn't that the point of this entire episode? They, obviously, didn't know, nor, apparently, did they bother instilling some form of knowledge that it's not even remotely appropriate for a 14 year old to be sending nudies of herself.

Isn't the job of parents to instill the knowledge of what is, and just as importantly, what isn't appropriate behaviour regardless of whether or not they are there watching, or not?

It's easy to make 'em behave when you're there. The real trick to successful parenting is to have that same behaviour when they aren't there watching.

I can only go by what my parents would have done...had there been such a thing as electronic media when I was a child. Rules would have been set. Ironclad. Inviolable. Upon certain knowledge that the privilege would be revoked, permanently if any hint of abuse was discovered. ...and they'd have checked.

In no way would I have got away with anything even remotely like this.

The parents screwed up. Period.

a reply to: seagull

Good christ you must get nosebleeds daily in that ivory tower of yours. Anything less than perfect behavior at all times is a failure in parenting? One can only wonder where all these absolutely perfect parents are hiding out at, because it sure seems like a lot of teens occasionally do something stupid at one point or another. It's a shame their parents weren't perfection incarnate.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: seagull

Good christ you must get nosebleeds daily in that ivory tower of yours. Anything less than perfect behavior at all times is a failure in parenting? One can only wonder where all these absolutely perfect parents are hiding out at, because it sure seems like a lot of teens occasionally do something stupid at one point or another. It's a shame their parents weren't perfection incarnate.

It's hardly perfect behaviour NOT to post nude pictures of yourself to other kids.
That would be pretty standard behaviour for kids.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Theprodicalson

I'm well aware that children can't be watched 24/7. Thanks, anyway.

What I am saying is that, imho, of course, that child seemingly had no lines drawn. What sort of parenting allows that sort of behaviour from a 14 year old child?

So my question remains, where the Hell were the parents?

That's not to take away the girls responsibilities...but the parents get to garner some of the blame, as well.

Who said the parents did not set rules and ban such things?

Teenagers break rules. Its in there nature.

The parents likely had no idea until it hit the fan.


I deal with teenager nudes regularly in my job.
When the parents are informed they never had any idea there sweet "angel" had done such a thing and often hit the roof with anger at there child for breaking there argeed upon phone rules. One parent smashed there daughters phone as punishment.

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: seagull

Good christ you must get nosebleeds daily in that ivory tower of yours. Anything less than perfect behavior at all times is a failure in parenting? One can only wonder where all these absolutely perfect parents are hiding out at, because it sure seems like a lot of teens occasionally do something stupid at one point or another. It's a shame their parents weren't perfection incarnate.

It's hardly perfect behaviour NOT to post nude pictures of yourself to other kids.
That would be pretty standard behaviour for kids.

They are all doing it. Its a endemic problem in schools.
Seriously its a huge problem. They see it on TV and in the media and copy, then they see freinds doing it too and copy.

originally posted by: UKTruth
a reply to: CynConcepts

You'd be wrong.
What I do know is that it is unusual for a 14 yr old girl to post nude pictures of herself to boys.
If you think otherwise, then I have doubts you have brought up your own kids with solid values.

No it not unusual. I wish it was buts it not.


Its wrong but not unusual.

a reply to: UKTruth

I'm not certain what world you live in, but kids sexting isn't exactly uncommon. No, not every single one of them is doing it, but it's certainly enough of them to make it not uncommon. It's also not appropriate for them to look at porn but that still happens. It's not appropriate for them to smoke, but it still happens. It's not appropriate to skip class, but that still happens.

There's a long list of things it's not appropriate for minors to do, and every single thing on that list still happens.

The gleeful willingness to pass such final judgement on these parents over one incident and knowing not one single other thing about them is laughable. All the more so because we have absolutely zero indication as to what the parents did in regards to this sort of thing before hand, and after it happened.

a reply to: Shamrock6

This is not sexting. It is a 14yr old kid posing nude pictures of herself. There is something wrong with you if you think that is normal behaviour.

a reply to: seagull

My point was that there is no guarantee that when your sweet angel hits puberty and is more influenced by peers in school, will not rebel against what they believe is your old fogey ideas!

My own daughters are all grown up and raising their own children. They have all become much closer with me now. They realized I really was just thinking of their own safety. As teenagers, They assumed I just could never understand what they were going through.

As parents, we all try to be even better than our own parents were. We base those decisions on our own perspectives of personal experiences. Each new generation does the same. So I do not instantly condemn parents and accuse them of being enablers or negligent. I have not seen yet where this girls parents had been shown to be either. Only strangers speculations.

Edit add: I will leave this as my final comment! I have to check on my Christmas bacon-wrapped ducks and get back into my Christmas spirit. All of my children, their husbands and grandchildren will be arriving in a few hours to celebrate the holiday! Merry Christmas to all of you on ATS.

a reply to: UKTruth

This is not sexting.

Clearly you are utterly misinformed as to the subject matter being discussed, so there's no need to continue to engage with you.

It is a 14yr old kid posing nude pictures of herself.

And sending them to a boy she likes. That's sexting.

There is something wrong with you if you think that is normal behaviour.

Stuff it.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: UKTruth

This is not sexting.

Clearly you are utterly misinformed as to the subject matter being discussed, so there's no need to continue to engage with you.

It is a 14yr old kid posing nude pictures of herself.

And sending them to a boy she likes. That's sexting.

There is something wrong with you if you think that is normal behaviour.

Stuff it.

Then don't engage?
There really is something seriously wrong with people that think kids sending nude pictures of themselves is normal. Seriously wrong.

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: UKTruth

This is not sexting.

Clearly you are utterly misinformed as to the subject matter being discussed, so there's no need to continue to engage with you.

It is a 14yr old kid posing nude pictures of herself.

And sending them to a boy she likes. That's sexting.

There is something wrong with you if you think that is normal behaviour.

Stuff it.

Then don't engage?
There really is something seriously wrong with people that think kids sending nude pictures of themselves is normal. Seriously wrong.

No one is saying its right.


But its a thing that is very common and happens all the time.

You cant hide from that fact. Most of year 8 and up (12-16 year olds) are doing it.
I try and stamp it out when i encounter it with my pupils but it still happens.

originally posted by: UKTruth

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: UKTruth

This is not sexting.

Clearly you are utterly misinformed as to the subject matter being discussed, so there's no need to continue to engage with you.

It is a 14yr old kid posing nude pictures of herself.

And sending them to a boy she likes. That's sexting.

There is something wrong with you if you think that is normal behaviour.

Stuff it.

Then don't engage?
There really is something seriously wrong with people that think kids sending nude pictures of themselves is normal. Seriously wrong.

Funnily enough, the only person to use "normal" on this entire page is yourself.

Seems Freudian to me.

a reply to: CynConcepts

Edit add: I will leave this as my final comment! I have to check on my Christmas bacon-wrapped ducks and get back into my Christmas spirit. All of my children, their husbands and grandchildren will be arriving in a few hours to celebrate the holiday! Merry Christmas to all of you on ATS.

Happy Christmas right back to you!

Bacon wrapped ducks sounds interesting. Enjoy that and your grand-kids.

a reply to: Shamrock6

This is something that doesn't just go away, especially if the having to register as a sex-offender is actually carried through with.

Ivory tower? Hardly. Good lord, dude. I broke rules, too. I just don't see this episode as a "typical" teenage rebellion. We differ in that opinion, obviously.