Ok. Maybe that's going a bit far. Because unlike the concepts of God and Satan, the humans known as the Jonas Brothers and Vanessa Hudgens aren't actual enemies. In fact, they have quite a bit in common. They're teens. Employed by Disney. Rich. Most likely friends. And idols to nearly every cable television viewing child in the US.
However, where the Jonas Brothers reign as the current torchbearers of the teen purity movement, Vanessa Hudgens exists as a lesson to teens and preteens everywhere: Don't take nude pics or videos of yourself and send them to anyone. Period.
Because if you do, everyone's going to see them. Not just your boyfriend/girlfriend, but Dad. Mom. Grandpa. That creepy dude who lives in the rundown shack down the block. All your friends. Your entire school (including the administration). Everyone in your city/town.
But let's not stop there. For once a nude digital photo/video is uploaded to the web, the world is its oyster.
Of course, that oyster may take that homemade porno or closeup crotchshot and turn it into a wondrous pearl. Like Kim Kardashian, riches and fame may come because of the... ahem... interesting way you move your behind during coitus.
However, for every Kim, there are a million people who never get famous for their porn. Their videos and photos get picked up by sites like redtube and sluttygf, destined to forever become masturbatory material for the unwashed masses.
I assume taking nude photos/videos of yourself is tempting because its so easy to do. With our steadily advancing technology, it's never been simpler to take a photo or video (cell phone), send it to someone, and have that file uploaded to the web. In minutes, your "private" photo/video becomes fodder for a public with an insatiable demand for (adolescent) pornography. The extent of that demand? Go to Google. Search for "nude teens", and you get just under 4 million results.
But we can't blame technology for everything. We must combine tech with the popularity of porn stars during the mid to late 1990s, the antics of celebs like Paris Hilton and Miss Hudgens, and the narcissistic nature of web culture. Only then do we discover what has created a legion of willing young porn stars and made digital pornography a societal norm.
You may argue otherwise. But when you read this respected study, and find that 20% of teens and 33% of young adults say they've posted nudes of themselves online, your argument falls flat.
Funny how porn has become the norm among teens, and virginity is now something of a taboo. My, how things change. In Part 4, I'll wrap it all up in one nice, tight package.
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