School suspension over sexy photographs leads to lawsuit

[DesignFox]

I don't think there is anything wrong with sexuality. My problem is that if those girls are high school sophomores, they are not legal adults. If there are photos that the news site could not publish, I am concerned that they start to enter the realm of child pornography, and perhaps thats what the school was concerned about.

Since the girls did it themselves, I think a talk with the parents was more in line...not banning them from sports and making this a national sensation.

I mean, I'm friends with one or two teenagers on my facebook. While the rules are a bit more stringent on FB regarding photos, let's just say for example, one of these kids posts a similar photo of themselves. Am I going to get nailed as a predator because a teenager I happen to be friends with chooses to post a photo of herself in skimpy lingerie and it pops up in my news feed?

I didn't go searching for that. I have no desire to see something like that. What if these girls cause that situation for say, one of the boys on the football team who is 18?

That's the only part I'm kind of stuck on. I know the girls did this themselves. Of their own free will. No adult forced or co-erced them. Does that change things, legally speaking?

I mean, if a 15 year old girl set up a website of herself and her friends prancing around in their underwear, and the general public were invited to view it...wouldn't that set off some red flags? Couldn't that be used against someone if it was discovered? Or say they were falsely suspected of something, so their computers get scanned?

*shrug* I honestly don't know where the line is.

[Flyndaran]

...
I mean, if a 15 year old girl set up a website of herself and her friends prancing around in their underwear, and the general public were invited to view it...wouldn't that set off some red flags? Couldn't that be used against someone if it was discovered? Or say they were falsely suspected of something, so their computers get scanned?

*shrug* I honestly don't know where the line is.

So judge them overly harshly, because some other person may be overly harshly judged? That seems a bit silly.

[DesignFox]

So judge them overly harshly, because some other person may be overly harshly judged? That seems a bit silly.

Um...if you read my posts, I think I made it pretty clear that I thought the school over-reacted.

I was just making the point about *why* I think they may have over-reacted.

Honestly, I think the girls were being irresponsible. But, teens do stupid shit like that. It's part of being a teenager.

The advent of the internet has just made things like this more public...their actions might affect people other than themselves. In completely damaging life altering ways. Hence, I can see where any adults connected with these girls might be concerned.

[Flyndaran]

Um...if you read my posts, I think I made it pretty clear that I thought the school over-reacted.

...

Ok, I misread your post: sorry.

[DesignFox]

Ok, I misread your post: sorry.

Accepted. Sometimes I can get wordy. I also have a tendency to see both sides to a great many issues, so I can see where I might get confusing.

[tropicsgoddess]

Pretty asinine for the school to get their panties in a wad over something insignificant if you ask me.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I wonder what the principal would have done if some male football players had posted pictures of themselves in their underwear, flexing their muscles and making silly macho poses? I doubt he would have done a thing, it would have probably been considered a 'boys will be boys' moment.

There are still people in this country who see female sexuality as a very dangerous weapon that must be controlled and restrained at all costs.

[blas87]

I saw a photo in the newspaper for the upcoming "Hunks" who will be performing at a local bar during deer hunting season, just for us ladies stuck at home while our men go hunting.

A very attractive male can just as well be as dangerous as an attractive female.

Besides, a lot of times women are worse than men when it comes to that sort of thing....ever see the way women behave at those male strip shows? Ye gads.

I don't mean to threadjack and make it about strippers, but we do need to abolish this Stone Aged stigma that only women are beautiful and dangerous and need to be locked up and "don't do that!"......come on now.

[DesignFox]

I think if the boys were licking representations of a vagina and sticking dollar bills in g-strings, the principal would have just as much of a problem with it as the girls licking representations of penises and sticking dollar bills in fancy lingerie.

Big difference between making muscle poses.

Also, I really think the issue was that these girls are minors. Unfortunately for most adults, especially males, if they even glance at images like those girls posted, they can get labeled. For life.

Still, I think he should have called the parents, not ban them and force a public apology. If anything, by doing that, he drew more attention to the situation than was necessary, and in my opinion appropriate.

If the girls in question were 18 or older, than by all means, they can suck all the lollipop penises and dance around naked, half naked, whatever they want. No one faces time behind bars for viewing the images at that point. I think the girls need to be made to think about how their actions could affect the people around them- their *parents* need to teach them this.

I'm really glad the internet wasn't what it was back when I was a kid. I think these situations are difficult to deal with because...well, the internet makes the world a lot smaller! I'm sure teenage girls have been taking photos like the ones described since cameras existed. The difference was, it was easier to keep those photos private, and therefore, limit any effect they might have had on anyone else. (i.e. not showing up in anybody's browser history)

Anyway. That's my thought. While I agree there is a stigma attached to female sexuality, I don't think that's the problem in this case. It's because the girls are underage.

And I really think the school handled this inappropriately, but I think they probably didn't know HOW to handle it.

[jackfaire]

The difference was, it was easier to keep those photos private, and therefore, limit any effect they might have had on anyone else. (i.e. not showing up in anybody's browser history).

Since the Principal didn't use the internet to see the photos but rather was informed of them by a friend of the girls then couldn't the same thing have happened regardless of the medium the photos were displayed in?

[BroomJockey]

we do need to abolish this Stone Aged stigma that only women are beautiful and dangerous and need to be locked up and "don't do that!"......come on now.

Honest question linked to your phrasing. You say that you'd like to abolish the stigma "only women are..." Would you prefer that men be thought of that way as well, or would you like it if that stereotype was abolished completely. Not based on what's most likely, just, which would you prefer? I could see either way being a respectable choice.

[DesignFox]

Since the Principal didn't use the internet to see the photos but rather was informed of them by a friend of the girls then couldn't the same thing have happened regardless of the medium the photos were displayed in?

Possibly, yes. But I would think the number of photos floating about may be more limited.

I mean, take Facebook as an example. I have 70 friends. I post a picture.

BAM. There's 70 people and potentially any friends THEY have, able to view my picture.

No matter what you put the settings to, you don't really know who is viewing your information. Even though MY photos are set to only be viewable by my "friends" I don't know if they are viewing those photos at work, at a another person's house, who may be looking over their shoulder, if they cut and copied them, or saved them to those machines.

If I take a few polaroids of me in my undies, and share them with one group of friends...there are only a finite number of those photos floating around. (excluding the obvious new technology with printers/scanners where they could be duplicated). At any rate, the pool of people with access to those photos is more limited. Any trickle down of those photos will not be nearly as instantaneous and accessible as the photos posted to my Facebook.

Again, I don't think the principal handled the situation well at all. But I can understand the sense of panic for himself and all the people associated with those girls. Fact is, this ain't the same world it was 20 years ago. People are fast and relentless. Information spreads like a disease. If, god forbid, one of the men associated with these girls got labeled as a result of the photos, it doesn't matter what the girl's true intentions were. The damage to those adult's reputations would be permanent.

For the record, there are no photos of me past the age of 6 in my undies or otherwise. :-P The internet has A LOT to do with that decision now that I'm an adult.

[blas87]

In a perfect world, BJ, I would hope all adults could express themselves the way they wanted (legally, of course)......but then again, this thread is about minors so maybe I'm totally running this ship off course.

But while I'm at it, guess who gets to see male dancers, la la la la!

[BroomJockey]

But while I'm at it, guess who gets to see male dancers, la la la la!

Me, if I look in a mirror?

[blas87]

Well I guess I will be seeing you soon then! Make sure you have sticky underpants so none of those dollar bills gets away!