Posts Tagged ‘nude pictures’

Last week on CNN HLN with Mike Galanos, I discussed Carlie Beck, the 20 year old cheerleading coach who was fired from Casa Roble High School in Orangevale, California, after it was revealed that she posed nude for Playboy’s website as a “Playboy Cyber Girl of the Week.” Well, now she’s moving up. It was just announced that she will be “Playboy Cyber Girl of the Month for June.”

On CNN HLN, I discussed both sides of the issue of her firing. Carlie has every right to pose nude, if that’s what she wants to do. She seemingly tried to separate her high school coaching from her nude modeling, since she used a different last name to pose — Carlie Christine — and the nude pictures are only available with a credit card. On the other hand, teens must be taught to not pose for risqué or nude photos, and that anything they put online can have serious consequences. So, their cheerleading coach obviously was sending the wrong message to her cheerleaders. Also, since one of the cheerleaders knew about the pictures and told the principal, then Carlie must have told that cheerleader about it. It is highly unlike that one of her students would have just happened onto the photos, because they were posted on an interior page of the site amid dozens of 1 inch square images of other nude women.  So if Carlie told the students where to look that would have been inappropriate.  

The moral of the story, however, is not about whether her firing was right or wrong. It’s that the firing made her “famous.” Instead of illustrating how nude pictures can hurt someone’s life, now Carlie gets exactly what she wants. She wanted to be a well-known model, which is why she posed nude. If she hadn’t been fired, then no one would have noticed her nude pictures in the sea of other pictorials of attractive nude 20 year olds. Now she’ll be the girl of the month, instead of just the girl of the week. All her dreams are coming true, thanks to the scorned cheerleader who precipitated her firing.  If she gets her way, then by next year, she may even get into the actual Playboy magazine! Maybe she’ll aim even higher and strive to be the next “Girl Next Door,” and move in with Hef. Wonder what message that would give the girls she used to coach.

With today’s release of “Sex and Tech” the new study from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmo Girl, we now know the realities of the problem of teens “sexting,” sending sexual content via cell phones. We now have statistics to back up the vague sense that many teens are doing something with their cell phones and online that could create a sexual crisis for them. 

The study found that at least one in five teens (22% of girls and 18% of boys) say they have electronically sent nude or seminude images of themselves. And 39% of teens have sent sexually suggestive text messages or emails to someone.

Moreover, the study found that what teens are doing electronically affects what they do face-to-face, offline. More than a third (38%) of teens say that exchanging sexy content makes dating or hooking up more likely, and nearly one third of teens (29%) believe those exchanging sexy content are “expected” to date or hook up.

Why are teen girls so eager to pose for scandalous photos? To please guys. An overwhelming 85% of teen girls say that sending sexy photos or messages keeps a guy’s attention. Three-fourths of girls 13 to 16 (76%) say sending sexy images is a “sexy presents” for a boyfriend.  Two thirds of teen girls (66%) who have sent sexually suggestive content say that they did to be “fun or flirtatious.”

Many teens don’t seem to understand that sending anything over the cell phone or Internet makes it public. The study confirmed that when sexy content is sent, it is not likely to remain private. More than one in five teen guys (22%) admit to having shared sexually suggestive messages that they received which had been intended to be private. And 39% of boys and 38% of girls have had sexy messages shared with them.

I will be discussing this study on television and I will write more about it here, including what parents can do about this. 

Here’s my definition of “Sexting.”

Sexting Definition: “Sexting” means sex texting — sending or receiving a text message that has sexual content. “Sexting” can also be defined as sending nude, semi-nude, or erotic pictures or video via cell phone. “Sexting” could mean sending and receiving a series of sexually explicit text messages for sexual gratification in the same manner as having phone sex. (“Sexting” is not used to refer to having sexual conversations over the cell phone, since that would still be called “phone sex.”)  “Sexting” may be intended to be flirtatious or provocative, or it may be used to request or arrange a sexual encounter.  — Dr. Sari Locker