By Kathleen McAleese
Editor‐in‐Chief

Unfortunately, sending nude pictures has become a prominent part of high school culture that, for the most part, has flown under the radar of many adults in the Westford Academy community, as well as high school communities across the nation, until now. In light of recent criminal allegations, many students are talking about who is to blame, and who isn’t.

The fact is that pornographic and inappropriate images will be taken in high school. This will hold true as long as phones have cameras and cell phone applications like Snapchat exist. Just because this activity is illegal does not change the predicament, however. Speeding while driving is illegal, alcohol is illegal for individuals under 21; people speed, people drink while underage. The illegal act of sexting, while it shouldn’t be done in the first place, should be responded to in a manner that incorporates less blame and more reform.

Even though sending pictures is illegal, that does not mean that people on the receiving end have the right to distribute those pictures. A person who gets a picture of a girl assumes the responsibility to not send that image around. That same moral standard must be put in place if a boy sends an image of himself.

Unfortunately, there have been more recent cases where female students are getting reprimanded for images of themselves that male students have been treating as trading cards. An issue of this gravity needs to be treated with the respect it deserves; this responsibility falls upon students of any gender. These images are not “just nudes.” These images affect students’ lives.

Both girls and boys sext, and the act is illegal for both parties if one is under the age of 18, but blaming girls for images of themselves that have made rounds through countless inboxes solely because of the disrespect for an individual’s privacy is not only counterproductive but is showing the student body that girls are in the wrong because boys send their nudes around. Both parties are doing an illegal act, but one of them is being outright malicious. Even when an individual sends an image of themselves, that person is not waving their right to be treated like a object. 

Girls are being shamed for sending pictures because certain individuals have taken the liberty in distributing inappropriate images of them, magnifying the initial crime. Many stand by the argument that anything put on the internet is public and has the ability to be sent around, and while this is true, the internet is and can be a very scary place; the receipt of an image of another’s body does not, and will never, warrant any inappropriate action on the receiver’s side. When an underage student sends a photograph in confidence that the image will not be shown, sent, printed out, or otherwise distributed, the receiving party should show just a bit of human decency to responsibly manage the situation.

Yes, pornographic nudes are illegal if the parties involved are under the age of 18. They go both ways: both male and female students send inappropriate images. In a perfect world, pornagraphic images of underage students wouldn’t be sent around, but these images aren’t going away. Responsibility falls on individuals who take the risk to sext. When you send a picture of yourself, you are breaking the law, but when you send a nude of another person, you are committing an act that qualifies as sex-offender status, and you may just be ruining a life.