... to be profoundly depressed to see my 17 YO niece and so many of her friends in states of undress on their facebook profile pics?

[spicemonster]

Apart from nipples (which we know from the breastfeeding debacle are verboten on facebook), several of them are naked bar their pants/bikini bottoms. And of those that are wearing slightly more, most of them are pouting at the camera in the manner of a Zoo cover. I just find it hugely depressing. These are intelligent young women, doing their A levels or at university.

When I was that age, we were determined that we wouldn't be seen as sex objects and would have been appalled to have photos like that of us around, much less put it up as a profile picture for the whole world to leer at. And now it seems like it's all a bit of a laugh. No wonder sexism isn't taken seriously.

Ingles2 - is that right? Sex offenders register?

I think you should take that picture off your profile

so because life is hard SM, (for everyone not just the teen of today) we should accept our dd's entering into porn without a murmur, citing other womens battles???????
you're joking right?

yep, and they are really hotting up on it, especially in the states. Weekend womans hour, it was actually interesting for once

you could get in trouble for posting that picture here

oh and they had 17yr old girls explaining why too.

picture is gone. But of course it is freely available for anyone to see on facebook. Is it really illegal ingles? I will have a listen to that women's hour prog tomorrow

no,not eligible for sex offender register.she has not been cautioned or prosecuted nor a released convict

The sex offenders register contains the details of anyone convicted, cautioned or released from prison for sexual offence against children or adults since September 1997

I must admit that I had very similar feelings when looking on facebook for some old Romanian students of mine. When I was there in the early 90's the teenagers still dressed really young, much younger than UK teens. When I saw some of the profile pictures yesterday I was shocked at how quickly they had caught up with the west. Lots of pouting and scantily dressed teenage girls.

SM i dont understand your argument
I work with teens and i am not judging them. I appreciate that they live in a whole different world to us.
I feel sad that they are judged more for their looks than their brains.
Is that feminism?

i object to the lazy generalisations,inference female teens are vapid vacant.some are,some are not

the ease with which this propelled quickly toward a daily mailesque slating and moral hysteria was staggering

where did anyone call them vapid or vvacant?

no SM, that's not what they were saying at 5pm this very afternoon. Convictions for publication of indecent photographs of minors could end up with a criminal conviction and being place on the sex offenders register. Listen again and you'll see.

my words,but inferred here was Porn star,lack of individuality.ingles the photos as distasteful as you find them do not currently meet criteria for inclusion on Sex offender register

maybe there are changes afoot.but the register currently for those in criminal justice system

My experience of teenagers is of DH's sister and her friends. All of them are fully clothed in their profile and other photos on fb (17 and 18 year olds).

A lot of girls do have a look though, When I see my little brother's friends [he's 18] they all seem to be pouting and have one finger on their chin. It reminds me of those awful sexy chatline adverts.
As a teenager my particular group went through a phase of looking sultry. It was all about angst, not sexuality. The photos that I have seen have been overtly sexual. These are all of highly intelligent girls who have just gone off to uni but look like they should be on the pages of Nuts magazine.

SM I'm quoting R4... those photos are of minors and the clause is linked to publication. According to R4 it is possible.... they were very definite, it is illegal!

I heard from somewhere that 40% of the girls in Swindon dream of becoming glamour models.

I would like to think that intelligent young women were "merely" using sex to gain extra extra advantages on top of their intelligence and ability, but I fear the reality is that they have swallowed the media frenzy that being "hot" is more important hook, line and sinker.

There are many intelligent sound women in public life who could and should be good role models on the basis their achievements, yet many girls look up to the likes of Plastic Paris Hilton and Jordan. It really depresses me.

No,the register applies after a caution,conviction,release from prison

radio 4 link not listened to it myself yet

I was very shocked to discover two of my son's antenatal class contemporaries on Bebo in some considerable state of undress early in 2007- he was 12 and a half years old at the time, and so were they. If I had still had their parents' details, I would certainly have drawn it to their attention.

what really depresses me is the ease with which assumptions are made aspersions are cast

step back and look the majority of female teens are hard-working respectable

okay minority of schlock schlep media plastic titted orangey gals do exisit.doesn't mean all teens aspire to it

When I was a teenager I was quite goth, so all about wearing black. I remember my mother getting very peeved because I always looked a mess (certainly very far from sexy). At university I had my first serious boyfriend (now dh), and we really enjoyed annoying people with excessive snogging, and also experimented with risque photos. If Facebook had been around I guess I might have put them up. I'm not sure. I suspect that the teenagers in question are only thinking of their own social group, as teenagers are (usually) very insular in outlook.

Having said that my concerns about dd growing up too quickly is definitely a factor in choosing to live in Canada right now. I do think that current youth lifestyle isn't very healthy, too much binge drinking, sex etc. However I am also aware that this feeling is completely normal - adults have worried about teens for centuries.