 "Photo: Tamir Kalifa/The Daily Texan")
More than 20 percent of teens admit to sending or receiving sexually explicit picture messages, or “sext” messages, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
The increasingly common practice comes with dangers far more serious than teens might suspect, Abbott said at a press conference hosted by the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline. The organization hosted the event to draw attention to the issue of sexting and to help teens understand its dangers and consequences.
Most of the explicit photos are sent as a result of partner pressure, and according to Abbott, teens fail to realize that 20 percent of sext messages are passed to a third party.
“Teens need to understand that sexting implicates sexual crime,” Abbott said. “Images of teens sent by way of telephone or the Internet involve child pornography, and it is important for teens to understand that it is inappropriate and possibly illegal to send anything that involves a picture of themselves or another teen that exposes [them] sexually.”
Abbot said sexting points to a larger issue among teen dating — emotional abuse.
Partners use these photos to control their significant others and force them to stay in the relationship for fear of the images being released, he said.
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and although the topic of sexting may seem juvenile, the larger issues of emotional abuse and partner pressure do not end after high school graduation. UT offers resources for dealing with abuse in dating and sexual relationships.
Jane Morgan Bost, associate director of the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center, is in charge of the Voices Against Violence program on campus, which offers information and support concerning relationship violence, such as meetings for victims of abuse or stalking.
Bost urged students to visit the Web site and look at upcoming events on the calendar or to call to set up an appointment with a trained mental health counselor.
Candice Hopkins, director of the helpline Web site, said 75 percent of teens report being aware of an abusive dating relationship. Trained teen advocates focus on helping students strategize how to confront partners, peers and parents about digital harassment, rumors or abuse. According to Hopkins, the helpline serves teens around the country with one-on-one anonymous phone calls and a 24-hour chatline with teens.
Megan Guilbeaux, a 19-year-old student at Austin Community College, has been volunteering at the helpline since she was 16.
“A lot of the chats and calls are from scared teens who stay in abusive relationships because they are scared of their parents seeing the pictures if they get passed around,” Guilbeaux said.
Bost said that a national movement centered around dating-abuse survivors and their allies must take place.
“This is not just a woman’s issue. This is a people’s issue. It involves every one of us, and we all need to get informed and get involved about different kinds of pressures and abuse in relationships,” Bost said.
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