The Dispatch and the Girls Gone Wild phenomenon

I was reading through the Dispatch.com front page today when I chanced upon a story with the headline Teen girls' cell phone invitations bare all by Charlie Boss. Many of her stories (yes, a her -- I was totally surprised when I find out) tend to be about the texting, Myspace and general technological habits of teens.

Even as a member of the current high school class's generation (I guess), it was surprising to me that this kind of stuff is going on. I remember getting a cell phone right before I went to college in the summer of '04 and thinking I was hot shit. Then, when I was working at McDonalds' a couple summers ago (glamorous, right?), I decided to go see a movie with some of my co-workers, the majority of whom were 17-19. They were all text-messaging continuously throughout the movie. To each other. Continuously.

Anyway, point being, if it was a shock to me I can only imagine what effect it would have on parents.

The article quotes a Reynoldsburg detective named Brian Marvin (PS, never trust a man with two first names):

"I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed" online, he said. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity."

I'm sure scores of surfers will now comb through Myspace and Facebook on Google looking for "basic striptease" and "sexual act" and "teen" now. (Where are these underage teens with their online sexual acts??? they will ask themselves. I'm missing out!!!

The article also contains images of girls offering anal sex and oral sex (is that simultaneously?), texting naked photos of themselves to boys in the same classroom. Once again, the headline is Teen girls' cell-phone invitations bare all.

Of course, all the quoted students in the article are male. There is mention of a Westerville South "teen" sending pictures of his penis to his classmates. So wouldn't the headline "Teens' text messages bare all"?

The quoted "expert" sources in the article itself are always egalitarian, referring to the students as "teens" and not "teen girls." So why focus solely on girls taking their clothes off on picture messages? Don't guys do the same thing?

This kind of stuff just makes me feel like the increased sexualization of girls is something to be scared of, while if boys do the same thing it's not as big of a deal. Either the editor or the headline writer really dropped the ball on this one. Add something not really understood by the readers of the Dispatch (text-messaging) and "hot teen sex" and you have a recipe for a gender-inequality sandwich. (do sandwiches have recipes? I guess complicated ones might).

Editors note, the presence of the words "anal sex" "teen girls" "penis," et. all should result in some interesting Google hits. If you are one of those surfers, please refer to www.teengirlshavinganalandoralsexwithpenises.com.