well, at least it's not just the Christians who are confused

I just had one of those I'm so old moments... not that I was especially hip to my times, but evidently teenage sexual behavior has experienced quite the evolution. 

This phenomenon of "sexting" (a term I fully intend to propagate, seeing as how I take partial credit for getting the term "MTV virgins" into minor circulation) is obviously concerning to those of us over, oh, I don't know, sixteen. Nevertheless, I can't help but recall some of the brilliant ideas that my friends and I came up with at the height of our hormonal development. Fortunately, to my knowledge, there are no public records of the pant-less jaunts through the football field or our (in retrospect) bizarrely strip-tease-esque moments in Mt. Tabor Park (sorry Mom... you had to find out someday, right?). The defining ethic of those events laden with indiscretion, however, is innocence. 

Much as I agree, these little "sexters" must be taught a lesson for their own protection, let's not go overboard in painting them as some sort of malicious criminals. They're experimenting. They're trying to find acceptance. They're discovering their sexuality. Who among us can't say that we strove to meet all those goals through sometimes inappropriate and even harmful means? Let's redirect behavior. Let's establish a healthy way of conducting sexual education - something that moves beyond the abstinance/condom debate and onto holistic sexual identity. Let's empower, rather than repress. Let's teach kids to value their sexuality, rather than communicate that it's something criminal.

Amen?