Phone Sex: The Dangers of Teen Phone Sex in a New Technological Age
Phone sex used to be more of a paid adult service. It was not uncommon for a male teenager to engage in this activity by dialing a 1-900 number after reading his father’s adult magazine while he was home alone. This was mostly an impersonal experience and usually the perceived voice was never the one that was announced. We all know the cliché jokes about phone sex operators, no need to delve too deep into the subject. It was just more impersonal and expensive, but there was never a threat to either party more than a whiplash from the father when he got a phone bill.
These days, there are no $3.00 per minute fees, phone sex is free. This activity no longer belongs to the employees of a sex agency and some involuntary adolescent, but now it is carried out by adolescents, university students, professionals, singles and married men.
What has changed more than who participates in the act of phone sex is the technology with which it is performed. Today’s cell phones are increasingly acting like personal computers, and with camera phones capable of capturing snapshots and videos, phone sex is more interactive than ever. Smartphones allow easier interaction with voice, Internet, video, and text.
What makes phone sex more dangerous than at any time in the past is the fact that many of the images transmitted can be stored and shared with others. The wrong images in the wrong hands can feed predators, stalkers and sex traffickers online, making this dangerous for both women and men. If your image can be shared with others, then there is a chance that your phone number and other personal information can also be shared, making you easy prey. You don’t need to have phone sex with a stranger for a stranger to have your private photos and videos, remember that.
Protecting your teens from this threat may take more than just talking and trusting. The only way to be 100% sure that your teen isn’t broadcasting X-rated photos of themselves is to not have text or internet enabled with their cell phone service. It sounds harsh, and it won’t stop your teen from engaging in this internet activity at home, but at least they’ll be safe at home, right? Yes, your teen can still use her phone and say lewd things, but minimizing the tools available that allow you to enrich the act with additional means is at least one measure to protect your teen.
The act of sending text messages via a cell phone for sexual purposes is now referred to as “SEXTING.” This method may include exchanging photos with picture-enabled text messaging phones or service-enabled phones.
The threat with cell phones is that your teen can easily be away from home while engaging in and even arranging sexual encounters over the phone. Mobility is the threat, and it can become much more dangerous when combined with additional technology. A predator can now check a victim’s appearance beforehand, use fake photos of itself to lure the child, and meet without the child knowing the truth about that person’s age or behavior.
The scariest statistic about sexual predation is that the majority of rapes resulting from phone and Internet sex are of adolescent males. Most of these crimes go unreported due to humiliation or the fact that the child is exploring her sexuality. Parents tend to turn a blind eye when it comes to male adolescents, believing that it is mainly women who are the victims of sexual predators.
Be cautious and aware. This is a new era, and the same old games can result in a bigger loss than a large phone bill.