Sexting laws in many jurisdictions can be a little icky when it comes to teenagers. As we’re all aware, teens love to sext. They will send sexts from whatever device they can get their grubby little teen hands on. Such is the way things are. If you have something that is capable of sending nudes, then by Jove, teens will send nudes from it.
This obviously presents problems for laws intended to criminalise child sex. Teens under eighteen who sext with other teens under eighteen can be slammed with some very adult convictions if they’re caught doing it. The maximum penalty in New South Wales is fifteen years jail, and you can land yourself on a child sex offender registry.
NSW is currently in the midst of a parliamentary inquiry into the sexualisation of children will hear a submission today from Youth Action which argues that the current laws are draconian. CEO Katie Acheson says that “for many young people these days, sexting is just one of the ways they express their sexuality.”
They’ll recommend urgent action to backtrack these laws, which aren’t really suited for a modern, mobile phone environment. Instead, they propose strengthening penalties for ‘revenge porn’, so that non-consensual sexual content would be the target.
Probably a good idea. Any system that whacks a teen on a child sex offender registry for being a teen who does totally consensual hormonal teen stuff probably needs another look.
Source: Youth Action.
Image: Getty Images / Westend61.
