Is it a good idea to encourage teens to "get sexty"?

Every once in a while, I happen upon an ad in the real world that makes me stop and ask WTF?

This one I spotted at the Rideau Centre, Ottawa's nexus of teenage wildlife. It's a campaign for The African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario (ACCHO) to encourage African, Caribbean and Black youth to get tested for HIV/AIDS.

The campaign site, getsexty.com, uses youthful images and language to explain the risks of HIV to s specific segment of Canadian youth.

But why "get sexty"? And why so much focus on smartphones?

If you've been isolated from all media for the past decade or so, "sexting"explicit messages or (increasingly) photos via smartphones. Some believe that it's the latest dangerous fad for teens, although it has played a part in adult political scandals. It's so popular, apparently, that new apps seemingly developed specifically for consequence-free sexting are the new thing.

What does that have to do with HIV prevention? Unless you're encouraging people to sext instead of having actual sex, not much. If I were to take a professional guess, it seems that this campaign is just trying too hard to jam as many youthful cultural references into its approach.

From the campaign site:

HT! HIG? You've just hit a totally dope site that speaks to African, Caribbean and Black youth about getting tested for HIV/AIDS. Whether you are a boy, a girl, trans, straight, lesbian, gay, bi, or questioning; Canadian-born or a newcomer ... this is all about you!
Chill out and get some of the deetz on what you need to know about HIV/AIDS testing in Ontario. Before you go make sure you check out the resources section for more info on HIV testing, healthy relationships and sexuality. Don't be shy - this is a safe place to find information or to share it. So open up and let it rip!

The "get sexty" contest references smartphones and sexting superficially, but the promotion itself has little to do with either. You don't even enter by texting — it's a simple online form.

I hate to criticize a cause with such an important mandate, but it's a shame its advertising ends up not only coming across as clueless, but as unintentionally endorsing risky teen behaviour. Better luch next time, I guess...

Is this app just asking teens to sext?

Snapchat, which has just been made available for Android devices (it's been on iPhone for a year), is an app that lets people put an expiry date on the photos they share with friends on their mobile devices.

As of October 28, they were celebrating "over 1 billion snaps" shared worldwide. Users set who can see their pics, and how long they can see them for before they are deleted from the snapchat server. If the recipient takes a screenshot, the sender is notified — but cannot erase it.

The main product benefit advertised is speed: "real time picture chatting" that goes faster than e-mails or other messaging (since the picture lives on an external server).

At the Apple Store, the app has the following disclaimer:

Rated 12+ for the following:Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive ThemesInfrequent/Mild Sexual Content or NudityInfrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude HumorInfrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References

In other words, they just expect — even sanction — that users are doing all the unfortunate things they do with their camera phones now. But does making sexting seem safer actually encourage it?

That might not be fair. I imagine the encouragement will come from horny jerks on the other end of the line, who will use the "temporary" nature of the picture as a reason for oversharing.

But snapchat has this warning for its customers:

When you send or receive messages using the Snapchat services, we temporarily process and store your images in order to provide our services. Although we attempt to delete image data as soon as possible after the message is transmitted, we cannot guarantee that the message contents will be deleted in every case. For example, users may take a picture of the message contents with another imaging device or capture a screenshot of the message contents on the device screen. Consequently, we are not able to guarantee that your messaging data will be deleted in all instances. Messages, therefore, are sent at the risk of the user.

As Buzzfeed's Katie Heaney concludes:

The app's message, then, is a mixed one: We don't guarantee security, and we can't imagine you using this for anything unseemly. But here are some tools to make sexting easier. Not that we think you're sexting. It's the app equivalent of a head shop.

Anthony Weiner Condoms

Well, that was quick...

By the people who brought you Obama Condoms, comes a prophylactic that can protect your penis from going viral.

F'd Ad Fridays: Teen Sexting PSA edition

This video is by Think U Know, and Australian NGO that educates youth and parents about digital safety.



Why is this PSA for a good cause "effed", you might ask?

I'll allow Hoyden about town to answer:

"What I see here is one girl being held responsible for the behaviours of a whole bunch of people: her classmates, her arsehole of a love interest, her teacher. And by holding her responsible, we get to skip out on their responsibility for their own behaviours, and we get to skip out on how misogyny shapes these reactions. The shithead who forwarded her text on is just behaving as boys do, right? (And certainly the ‘look how bad she has it for me, she sexted me!’ only underlines the bizarre binding together of sexual conquest and hierarchies of masculinity). The arsehole who assesses her body and then approves, knowing that approval is shaming. The ridiculous letter advising her to ‘wear black tomorrow’, seeking to shame her further. The stares and shame of her classmates and teacher."

It's a classic "blame the victim" mentality. Might serve as warning to girls, but it hardly explains to the boys (and other girls) how sharing stuff they know they're not supposed to is morally reprehensible and can land them in jail.

Also, a cameraphone in the bathroom is never a good thing.

Thanks to Slutwalk, for sharing.