The Daily Newds 10/21/08

• Naked parties at Yale feature body painting and dancing under black lights.
• Another Illinois bartender has been arrested for serving drinks in the nude.
• PG Porn is sex without the nudity, but with twice the violence.
• James Franco says that he was "uncomfortable" during the shooting of his nude scene in the new Gus Van Sant film about Harvey Milk.
• Two children were "removed from the home and placed in protective custody" after a nude photo of the 3 year-old showed up at a film processing store.
• An Australian school has suspended the entire senior class after many of them ran around the campus wearing only g-strings and school ties.
• Several Bakersfield College students demonstrated topfree in support of gay marriage in California.
• An agreement has been reached in Newark, Ohio, so a 15 year-old girl will not have to register as a sex offender for sending nude photos of herself by cell phone to some classmates. In a related story, 10 students have been suspended and more action could be on the way over a similar nude photo incident at a Michigan school.
• "Perfectly Aged" is the title given to a nude calendar featuring seniors to raise money for the Council on Aging in Pensacola, Florida.
• Guess which body part "Pricasso" uses as a paint brush.

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The Holiday Newds 10/13/08

• Over half of Austrian male youths rely on pornography for their sex education. Australia basically has the same problem.
• "It's almost macabre that people are paying £4,000 a week to strip buck naked and enter a white tiled room with concentration camp bright lighting."
• More fallout from teenagers sending nude photos of themselves with their cell phones. A Virginia assistant principal was arrested on a felony charge for obtaining a photo of a female student as part of a school investigation. An editorial in the Newark Advocate states that the arrest of a 15 year-old Ohio student for sending a nude photo of herself by cell phone is overreaching and unreasonable. And a 13 year-old Texas boy was placed in juvenile detention on child pornography charges and has been suspended from school for receiving a nude photo of a female classmate. “He doesn’t know what a felony means. He doesn’t understand what pornography means,” said one parent.
• Australian police are installing a network of closed-circuit cameras around the Gold Coast to be used during the motor car race next week. Police claim that the cameras do not violate privacy laws and are designed to catch people engaging in criminal activity, and are not for focusing on women who traditionally bare their breasts from high-rise balconies.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked

Problem Child

A new story today indicates that the 15 year-old teenager from Newark, Ohio, who was arrested and charged with felonies relating to child pornography, was taken aside and warned of her behavior a month ago, after a presentation in her school by officials from the Licking County Prosecutor's Office.

While the details are still sketchy, it appears that everyone knew that this girl was sending nude photos of herself with her cell phone and were doing everything possible to warn her and give her a chance to stop. This presents a very different side of the story which explains the harsh treatment of arresting her and detaining her in jail for a weekend.

I still contend that charging this child with felonies and tagging her with sex offender status are extreme punishments, but there is leeway in the law to allow for a judge to modify any punishment.

Certainly she is being used as an example by prosecutors to send a strong message to any other kids thinking about sending nude photos with their cell phones, but at what cost? This girl is obviously troubled and needs some serious counseling, and throwing this sort of life-altering burden upon her will only add to her despair. I cannot imagine her state of mind at this moment, having lost her reputation, her friends, her school, and her freedom, all at such a young age. They are all potentially driving her into a suicidal state.

This is not murder, or destruction of property, or any other violent act. It is not theft, or drunk driving, or actual sex. It is a photograph. This kid is growing up in a country where the media is saturated with sexual imagery, and pornography is available to anyone of any age with an Internet connection. When once the mating game was played out at sock hops and drive-in restaurants, it is now done on Facebook and MySpace, electronically and with sexy photos.

It should be no surprise when a child imitates adults. Instead of throwing the real pornographers in jail, who are actually licenced and protected by the law to go about their business, it's far easier to target the tender young victims and ruin their lives.

Maybe this kid is a bad seed, a real problem child. I simply do not know. But I hope that she gets a break somewhere along the line and can eventually lead a normal, happy life.

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked