Sexting hysteria
To the Editor:
When I first heard about this new scourge being practiced by 20 percent of kids around the country, I sat down with my five children and told them that once the numbers reached 80 percent, no one would care any longer. Until then, I warned them to be careful of the pictures they take and send, because our culture of hysteria about sex is out to get them.
Case in point: 17-year-olds who make love to their 16-year-old girl/boyfriends and end up sharing sex-offender status with rapists. Legislators who created this monster are realizing the damage they’ve done by overreacting, but none stepped forward in fear of looking soft on sex crime.
Fortunately, kids often see things more clearly than we do. Every generation takes another step to distance itself from the tragedy of Puritanism. Our grandparents did as a reaction to Victorianism. Our parents were forced to look at the world, including sexuality, more realistically in the shadow of World War II. We busted down more doors with the sexual revolution of the ’60s. Our kids have already decided the outcome of gay marriage and view us as reactionaries for clinging to the wrong side of a ridiculous issue.
Craig Hallenstein
Woodstock
