Oh dear Alan, abuse? You're not very good at this discussion stuff, are you? Never mind, I'm sure the chance of the media hounding you like the Princess you seem to think you are is vanishingly small...

As for not "It's not as if any of these lasses posed for public exposure in the mass media!" (love the hysterical exclamation point, Your Highness):http://tinyurl.com/h2jub7l

I'm sure that if you can tear yourself away from peering out the back window of your chauffered mercedes long enough to read the link, you'll find that thw website is now apparently back up, after the single offending image of an underage girl was removed...

Alan B,

I agree that returning the photos or deleting them would have been the manly thing to do.

Perhaps with a return message saying "Not interested in digital dolls."

If a girl sends a nude photo to a boy it is not a sign of endearment.

More likely the girl is attempting to manipulate, entrap or play some type of game with the boy.

The boy will have to learn how to handle that type of female behavior and female manipulation, or they will pay a much higher price later on.

'It’s an easy narrative to sell to stay-at-home Mums, resentful at yet another boring round of washing and vacuuming while Dad goes off to have “fun” at work. It’s an easy story to sell to women who have a biological clock ticking away that drags them from a career at its peak. It’s an easy sell to women who choose or are forced by circumstance into low-paying work. It’s an almost too easy sell to women facing marital breakdown and divorce.'

Well ... yeah. It IS an easy sell. You see, men as a rule don't have to face a life of boring washing and vacuuming; men don't have to drag themselves from a career at its peak in order to start a family; men are not usually forced by circumstance (i.e. having to be always, always available for their families' needs) to accept low-paying part-time or casual work. And men facing marital breakdown and divorce do not face the centuries' old tradition that they have to assume the custodial burden of children and the reduced employability/earning capacity/financial security that single custodial parenthood entails.

'Nothing is your fault girls, it’s those terrible men (and boys) oppressing us! If only we had women in charge…'

Oh, your poor, poor things. This is a much bigger problem than men feeling sorry for themselves. Blind Freddy can see that posting nude selfies of women online without their consent and rating them on their f*ckability/rapability is criminal in its potential to destroy lives.

If you want a gender equality argument, why aren't there hundreds of young men posting nude selfies to their girlfriends? Because, culturally it's a wussy and unmanly thing to do. Whereas the culture continually entrenches a belief in women that their worth is all tied up in their desirability. A lot of women grow out of this, but young girls are still enthralled by their conditioning - and should be legally protected.

Killarney, I agree that this is a much bigger issue than people "feeling sorry for themselves". It's about people spreading fear in the community, just as you are doing on this site.

If young women don't want their images to be "rated" by young men, then perhaps they should consider not posting them to seek attention, because after all, it's all about the attention, isn't it? "Look at me, aren't I sexy?". It's straight from the pages of Carol Gilligan's great work on the stages of female moral development.

The link in my last post made it quite clear that this is a complete beat-up: the Children's e-Safety Commissioner has investigated and after spending 2 weeks being pressured by the confected moral outrage of fearmongering nitwits has found just 1 image that was objectionable and so the site is back up.

My suggestion to young women is to stop listening to bitter old crones trying to spread fear and hatred. They and the rest of us would be much better off.

I note that you weren't up to the challenge I set in my last paragraph.Surely there's something a great defender of the right of women to blame men for everything can think of that's more important that this for feminist women to focus on?

Craig Minns

I would agree that feminists are encouraging women to portray themselves as being perpetually oppressed.

However the whole issue of sexting and taking nude photos with spyphones is now totally out of control.

Up to 50% of 13 to 15 year olds have sent nude or semi-nude photos of themselves.

It is highly americanised practice and totally stupid.

It is junk socialisation, that would go with junk food, junk movies, junk media etc.

There really needs to be a push to ban spyphones in schools and greatly reduce the use of spyphones among young people.

If not a special type of mobile phone that can only be used by young people to send messages to parents and family members, and that is all.

Interactive, I don't share your concerns about the use of phones. Quite the contrary, in fact: in my view the portable computing device offers an enormous opportunity to create a better and more integrated community. It's still a very young technology.
I'm also unconvinced about the problems you see with young men and women distributing pictures of themselves. With the greatest of respect, it reminds me of the fuss made about the wearing of bikinis back in the 50s. As Hasbeen pointed out, you can see semi-naked women on any beach and many other places during the summer months.

Someone made the point to me that the whole issue is highly reminiscent of the superstitious belief of some primitive tribes that photos somehow embody the person by stealing a part of the soul and I can't help but agree.