Sexting Nude Photos Of Rival Leads To Teen’s Child Porn Conviction

Sexting pictures of yourself is dangerous, but sexting nude photos of someone else without that person’s consent can lead to a child pornography conviction. That is exactly what happened to a 17-year-old Canadian girl last week in Victoria Youth Justice Court, The Victoria Times-Colonist reports.

Because the girl, who resides in Saanich, British Columbia, was only 16 at the time of her offense, under Canadian law her name has been withheld from the public. But her story has gone very public, and it sounds like something out of a reality show.

In a classic teenage love triangle, the girl tried to protect her territory by sexting nude pictures of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend as a way to intimidate the rival into keeping her hands off.

The girl even posted one of the intimate shots to her romantic rival’s Facebook page. She acquired the naked pictures from her boyfriend, who had moved to the area from another community. In a rather ungentlemanly move to say the least, the boy shared the explicit shots of his teenage ex with his new flame, according to an account on CTV News.

The new girlfriend then took to sexting the images as a way to assert her dominance over her boyfriend’s previous gal pal.

“Sexting” is the practice of sending sexually explicit material via text message on cell phones.

The girl’s conviction after a one-day trial last Thursday on child pornography charges has led to protests from the 17-year-old’s attorney, who is challenging the stigmatizing child porn conviction on the grounds that it equating sexting and child porn violates Canada’s constitution.

“These child pornography laws were intended to protect children, not to persecute them,” attorney Christopher Mackie told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “It’s a heavy hammer to be using.”

Mackie filed the constitutional challenge last September, but because courts failed to make a ruling on it, the 17-year-old girl’s trial went ahead.

“We wanted to ideally avoid this kind of situation that we have now where my client has a conviction of child pornography,” Mackie told CTV. “If ultimately we succeed on the constitutional argument and it’s found to be unconstitutional, then she’s had to deal with the stigma of having been painted a child pornographer for the interim.”

Sexting as a form of cyberbullying has become a major issue in Canada over the past year, two teens now face child porn charges in the case of 15-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons, who committed suicide after images of her sexual assault circulated via sexting messages.