I really don’t watch much TV, especially during the day, however today I happened to be home, when a friend told me to tune into DR Phil.  The episode was Dangerous Teen Trends, the episode had a number of stories, but one that stood out was the story of a 12 year-old girl who had entered into the dangerous world of online sexting.  The parents felt their daughter was safe, she had no computer to access the internet without supervision, but what they didn’t know is that seemingly innocent video game she had was more than just a game.  The girl had was using the hand held video game to access the internet and had entered a dangerous and adult focused world of sex.  Soon she set-up a profile saying she was a 16 year-old porn star, giving explicit details of her life and engaging in online sexually based chats.  All the while her parents had no idea she could access all this from the game…nor did I, thus they thought she was beign safely protected on the internet.

The young girl had emassed over 800 pages of graphic chat-room conversations with older men, including one she is known to at least have met and had sex.  After explicit conversations with a 19 year-old, she then gave her own address and other personal information, for which he then came and picked her up and dropped her back home.  This incident is frightening for endless reasons, which could have been the door opener to countless other potential dangers and abusers to both herself and her family, including sister.

After the incident above her secret was quickly discovered and she has since been isolated at both home and school, she is literally been put on lock-down, including an alarmed bedroom door.  The young girl seems to have little remorse for her actions, however it is clear there is much more too it…there always is.  One at such an age the full consequences of ones actions are not clear, and this poor girl hasn’t even yet to face the pain of her actions, much of which will come years later as she truly comes into her own.  The reality seems to be that she has taken these drastic means to seek attention, and these actions while bring the attention or focus of the family, it also is compounded by negative attention that it brings due to the sexual stigma in the family and at school.  However what other drives, including abuse, which have pushed her into such actions are yet unclear.

As one who has seen first hand the realities of child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking, including those who have been prostituted on our own streets, the story only stresses how sexualized our society has become and how more and more closed our eyes have gotten.  The average age of a girl who is prostituted on the street is 12-14 years-old, and the dangerous world of sexting is a door wide open into the world of modern slavery.

To see more on the episode click here, and for previous post on child porn and pedophilia click here, including other posts on sexting.