Just A Guy Thing

If you’re a teenager who lives in Illinois, it sucks to be you. The great state of Illinois, home of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama, recently passed a law is considering a bill (House Bill 2537) that makes it illegal to distribute a videotape or nude image of another person without consent and with the intent to damage a person?s reputation.

The bill – originally promoted to save teens from the horrors of sexting – also makes uploading nude images to the Internet a criminal act. So if you’re at a frat party and some drunk girl drops her top, leave your camera phone in your pocket (but only if you’re in Illinois).

Amazingly, the bill that was passed that’s being considered is better than the original, which would have cracked down on anyone distributing nude images or video. So if you were emailed a nude photo from a friend and then forwarded it to someone else, you would be liable for criminal prosecution. Thankfully, the Illinois Senate came to their senses and amended that part of the law.

Even so, if we’re trying to protect teenagers from sexting, is criminalizing the act really the way to do it? Is sexting really that pervasive a problem that we need to outlaw it? And don’t lawmakers have something – anything – better to spend their time on?

Update: House Bill 2537 has not yet been passed and the article has been updated to reflect this.

photo credit: danorth1