Several people I know use MySpace, an online social networking website. Most of them are younger than me, but apparently find me interesting enough to want to share their space with me anyway. I opened a MySpace account just so I could accept their invitations. I don't do anything there, I don't spend time there other than to occasionally check in on my friends and see their pictures. I'm just going to be honest here, but WHAT IS UP WITH TOTALLY PIMPING YOURSELF OUT ONLINE?
The following picture was a FRIEND of someone I know. It was posted on her MySpace page.
Give me a break! The girl is somewhere between 16-21 years old. And in one fell swoop, she's promoting the naughty nurse fantasy along with the lollipop fellatio deal. COME ON! I was so disgusted by this, I didn't even bother to check for new photos of relatives.Most of my experience with people in MySpace has been similar to this. Perhaps not quite as blatantly sexualized, but clearly provocative nonetheless. Teenagers and young adults, mostly female, putting up pictures with sultry faces and implicit poses. Clearly, the anonymity of being online would embolden people to act in ways they otherwise might not. If you were just going to a friend's house to meet some new people, would you show up as Naughty Nurse Betty? Probably not. But online, suddenly you're hidden behind this protective shield, and so many people seem to be okay with that.
I realize there's a lot of bad stuff out there. But I look at what today's youth are being raised in, and I honestly fear for my children. As much as we try to teach them right from wrong, build a strong family, instill religious devotion, this is still what they are growing up with. Mika is going into 5th grade, and he has friends already whose parents have given them MySpace accounts and posted YouTube videos. They had a beach party at school the other day, and one girl showed up in a bikini. Don't get me wrong, I love a good bikini. But her sitting around the classroom with every inch of her prepubescent body hanging out really bothered me. This is the same girl that calls our house, asks for Mika, and then giggles and hangs up when he gets on the phone. I can all but guarantee, in a few years this same girl will have her own over-sexed pictures on MySpace.
Where is the self-respect? Where is the pride in being a good girl? I don't understand it, and frankly, the potential windfall from it all will be devastating to our society. That may sound a bit melodramatic, but truthfully, what kind of mothers will these girls grow up to be? What kind of wives will they make?
I am disappointed to see so much of this. And I know I'm not just getting older and more cynical. It's wrong. Plain and simple.
22 comments:
I agree, it is COMPLETELY disgusting. I fear for my kids and what "it" will be in a couple of years.
I totally agree with you. Our children are not allowed to have an account, or go on it. My husband had an account once, because his high school baseball team said it would be easier for him to contact them if he needed to. We started getting very interesting emails from all sorts of girls, who claimed to know him and about our family. I honestly had a sick feeling in my stomach. Luckily I believe him, we have that kind of relationship. He cancelled it right away!
There is tooo much stuff out there for our kids to see/hear at school and in the media. I say ban it parents, unless you're going to monitor it daily!
AMEN! I had a Myspace account a few years ago to keep up with people I had lost contact with, but then, based on so many of the pictures, etc, I realized, uhhhh....I don't really want to keep up with these people!
The younger generation is getting to be a joke, and it's scary.
I don't do myspace, but I joined facebook just so I could spy on my little brother. It's so dumb. Seriously. I don't get it. There's nothing remotely 'real' on there. At least the ones I've seen. It's all a bunch of fluff to impress.
I'm totally with you on being scared for my children. I watched a scary internet stalker show on 48 hours ther other day and I was horrified. If people had any idea they would stay far, far away from it.
Just my blog is scary to me. I go back and forth on making it private.
Upon reading this, I took down all of my speedo-and-bathing-cap fetish pictures from MY MySpace.
Ok, seriously though, my kid puts up a picture like that on her MySpace, and my kid sees her laptop computer smashed into a million little pieces on her driveway, right next to her smashed digital camera, and smashed cell phone which I am no longer paying for. And my kid can get her own electronics again when she's 18, provided she can pay for it.
WHERE ARE THE PARENTS HERE?? We had these teenage girls in my ward in Florida. They'd show up to MUTUAL in belly-shirts, and to CHURCH in mini-skirts, or with calf-length skirts slit up high enough you could see the side of their thong underwear. AT CHURCH.
I was YM President at the time, and I thought briefly about bringing it up to the YW President, but I knew it would be useless, because she was THEIR MOTHER. When someone DID bring it up to her, her response was, "Well what can I do about it??"
Hi, Stupid? They're 14 and 15, don't have licenses to drive to the mall, and don't have jobs to pay for the clothes themselves. You, Mom, have FULL CONTROL- unless you willingly abdicate it.
Spineless parenting will kill us all someday. If you don;t have the wherewithal to stand up to your own kids, please, do us a favor and don't breed.
Amen and amen.
I rule.
I can almost guarantee that your kids will want a myspace account. Just because "everyone's doing it". Don't give in.....
My thoughts exactly.
My Space scares me.
I saw pictures of my beautiful niece that made me blush. What is UP with the provacative poses?
I could write NOVELS about the girls that I saw at baseball games...
I am off to go lock my girls in a tower until they are 30.
AMEN, sister, amen.
I don't get it either. But I absolutely agree with you that it will be part of a major downfall in our society. And what is so frightening is just how easy and anonymous it all is. We used to spy on our young women in my last ward as leaders to see what they were posting. Their parents had NO CLUE. It scares me.
Well, we know what happens to these women because they turn out to be the kind of mom that Jenibelle writes about on her blog... SCARY! It is sad how one mornonic generation just raises another.
I have a facebook account to keep in touch with my brother and it is LAME. Blogging is so much better but at least I haven't seen (yet) any nasty pictures on Facebook.
I'm sure you heard the story about teenage girls sending naked cell phone pictures of themselves to boyfriends and vice versa? Of course the pictures inevitably end up on MySpace once the couple has broken up...
Just one more thing to worry about.
Hey, here is a FABULOUS article I read about parenting; I saved me a copy to bring out when my kids are older and whining to me that I am such a mean mom:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2005-04-17-1.html
This is something my husband and I talk about all the time. We are truly scared for our girls. My husband always tells me we are going to move to a dome in the mountains where they have no contact with the outside world.
Ari is not allowed on the internet without us there and us knowing exactly what sites she's on. She just signed up with a Goodreads account, but her profile is set to private and only people she accepts (with our approval) as friends can see her profile.
I can't stand MySpace because it's like going to a really trashy bar or something. Leaves nothing to the imagination! I feel like I'm visiting a porn site or something when I go there. I do have a Facebook account and I haven't noticed it being trashy like MySpace and I love it. I originally signed up to donate to some charity but then had some old friends from college find me on there. I love it because I'm connecting with some good friends that I wouldn't have found otherwise. It also seems to be a little older crowd so it seems to be a little more mature, but I suppose that all depends on who your "friends" are.
I have had a myspace account for a couple of years now. It is literally the only way I can keep in contact with my ex-niece {don't ask}. I have gotten some weird messages from strangers as well. There are serious creeps out there. I'm not fond of myspace. I think it's teaching our kids far too much, too early, and exposing them to bad people who could seriously hurt them in a variety of ways. Yes, kids will be kids, but I'M A MEAN MOM! And honestly, I'm proud of it. If being mean means that my kids are safe....so be it. If being mean means that they aren't allowed some of these same "priveleges" as the other kids...so be it. We are enabling our children when we become permissive parents. My parents were "mean" too. I hated it growing up, but can now realize what they were doing for me.
Sorry about my book here. I'm writing a paper for a class I'm taking right now on pretty much the same topic. I could go on and on. :0)
Hi Andrea,
You don't know me, but I occasionally jump to your blog from Paige's.
I love what you said. You said it perfectly and MANY more parents need to hear it. Like on a national scale. Parents are reluctant to parent anymore, and it just makes me sad. And I don't even have kids.
Thanks for having the guts to put it out there as you see it...
Sister Ockey,
minha familia gostaria muito para comer jantar en sua casa. Ha seis de nos, Eu, minha mulher, meu filho com seis anos, uma menina com 4 anos, um outro filho milandro com 3 anos, e tambem temos uma menina criancinha com 4 meses, mas ella nao sabe falar nada. Entao voce vive perto de boise? Devemos jantar com Os Bastian tambem. Seja avisado que minha barriga e maior do que os outros e leva mais comida.
I seriously could not agree with you more! I have a MySpace page, but I rarely sign in. I only opened it to reconnect with some friends from High School. And to honestly spy on a few guy friends that went gay. VERY interesting!
Anyway, I feel so sad for these girls that think they need to sexual objects to get any kind of attention. What ever happend to mystery? It is so sad!
I completely agree with you.
It's wrong. Plain and simple.
Oh and one other thing: it takes me far longer and far more cash to purchase modest clothing for my daughter than for my boys. That disgusts me.
You (and Happyback) are awesome. Of course you're right. People are just too scared to be the boss of their kids.
I totally agree and it makes me sick and worried for my kids future lives. What is it that makes girls feel that they want to be porn? How do boys survive with it everywhere?
Amen. I agree with everyone else's comments. And I too think facebook is lame. Along with Hi5. Blogging is so much better.
I did an internet saftey thing for church and I found a statistic that was shocking - 90% of 8-16 year olds have viewed pornography online. It's everywhere and it's becoming accepted as normal. I can't imagine how much worse it can get!
My Space is not allowed here. My kids think I'm mean. I tell them I have to be mean so they'll move out when they're 18. My boys have facebook now, but they are in college and adults. They know how I feel about it and they've been taught. My daughter did a report on social networking on-line. I think it scared her. She hasn't brought up My Space again.
I have 3 teenagers and all I can say to your post is, "Amen, Sister!"
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