If she was a teenager with a phone, she was on there.
— Major Donald Lowe, with the Louisa County Sheriff s Office, on Instagram accounts featuring photos of area girls who were only partially clothed, naked or having sex. Earlier this year, the sheriff s office found more than 1,000 explicit images sent involving more than a hundred teens from six counties in Virginia. In a look at teens and sexting, the Atlantic lists different reasons for sexting — and the serious consequences that can follow. While some teens — mostly girls — are embarrassed or upset after their naked photos are exposed, usually after a breakup, others see it as no big deal. Some girls say they re proud of their bodies and that they are freely deciding to sext, Lowe says. As for the guys: [They] would pile [sexts] up. It was more of a baseball-card, showing-off kind of thing, one girl told the Atlantic.
Photo from Marin Independent Journal archives
