Looking under what rises to the top: personal information in online searches

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: ljean <ljean () ljean com>
Date: December 11, 2008 5:07:02 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Looking under what rises to the top: personal  
information in online searches


On Dec 11, 2008, at 5:16 AM, David Farber wrote:
> A survey (http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/sextech/) whose results
> were released today by the The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and
> Unplanned Pregnancy shows that a large percentage of teens and young
> adults create sexually suggestive photos and text messages--and send
> them around to others rather promiscuously.


Suggestive text messages from teenagers! We should shut down the net!

I am concerned that this looks more like shaming than supporting. "Oh  
those nasty girls sending nekkid photos!!!" And censoring sexual  
discourse  has always been a very good way to silence the discourse on  
women's health and sexuality. The real threat is violence, not sex.  
And the best response is to invest seriously in fighting sexual  
violence through investment in stopping domestic violence, and even  
doing the most trivial, like actually processing rape kits* or  
enforcing protective orders.  Taking unwanted sexual contact  
seriously, even if occurs when the woman was (OH MY GOD!) drinking, or  
even if she sent naked pictures. The worst thing we can do is assume  
that photos are consent, and replace support with opprobrium  for  
young men and women who are victims of violence in their explorations  
of their sexuality.

So one of the things about being female on the internet (and young as  
I once was ;->) is that it is a safer place to explore sexuality and  
sexual aggressiveness than any physical space esp for young women. You  
can try on roles, express budding confidence that your body is indeed  
attractive, be bold,  and not be subject to the risk of physical  
violence. And let us not kid ourselves, teenage and twenty-somethings  
are at very high risk of physical sexual violence in physical space.  
You cannot actually be assaulted on the net, really. You can be  
tracked, and that is a serious privacy problem, but it is the violence  
and not the sex that is the problem.

Focusing on the sexual expressions of young women is historically  a  
prelude to censorship, not protection. Preventing pregnancy is about  
educating young people about contraception and making women's health  
care readily available. Not stopping them from sending naughty  
pictures. Embarrassment never killed anyone. Sexual and intimate  
violence on the other hand .....

Violence is wrong. Sex is not wrong. Sex is good.

Brown (director of the NCPTUP) states the problem this way:
“You do it through a lot of hard work and talking to a lot of people.  
We have to find way to make it not okay to have an unplanned  
pregnancy. We have to make it not cool.”

Women don't have unintended pregnancies because they are "cool". That  
is why they are called "unplanned". They have unintended pregnancies  
because of lack of information, health care, and sometimes just bad  
luck.

My takeaway: Time to donate to Planned Parenthood.



*LAPD Reports Backlog Of 7,038 Unanalyzed Rape Kits, Oct 20 2008
* The National Institute of Justice estimates that at least 400,000  
rape kits are sitting untested in police stations and crime labs  
across the country June 30, 2008





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