Drunken antics, sexual-related = display pictures
Log into your Facebook or MySpace account, search briefly and you will find the socially accepted genre for display pictures. Drinking in the streets, passing out, kissing a stranger; these used to be the source of acute embarrassment for one the morning after and now are posted for the whole world to see.
And what makes this worse is that the main offenders are young women. These girls are posting pictures of themselves in a drunken mess, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and pouring vodka with the other. In fact, girls are posting pictures that are much more problematic. These are the photos of themselves in lingerie, kissing their boyfriends, friends and strangers. These are the photos that boys consider an invitation to sex; the posing, the nudity and the sexual gestures. Many are going beyond an expression of individuality.
Today, many girls are peer pressured into exploiting their bodies and changing the way they look to suit their friends. Some of which become exposed to eating disorders, sexual misconduct, binge drinking, drug-use, violence and depression. The list goes on. And who would have thought that our social networking sites have become a domain for this behaviour and the consequences that follow.
A friend of mine created her first online account at the start of year 10. She became a victim to social peer pressure. Many of her friends had posted pictures of themselves partially naked. It seemed to be the cool thing to do. She wasn’t a size 6, nor was she ever insecure about herself, until now. Her pictures became promiscuous as the months went on. But she still believed she was too big compared to her friends, while others began to criticise her skeleton-like figure. Yes, she became a victim to anorexia and was hospitalised at the end of the year.
Not long ago, a girl from another school had posted indecent exposed pictures of herself online. Some of her peers then printed and posted these pictures around the school, humiliating her. She felt she was psychologically scarred for life and never returned to the school.
These are only two examples of the reality this problem presents.
These girls need to screw their heads back on, think about the consequences of their actions and think about the person they have or will become, or better yet, the person they have the ability to influence.
– Jade Dunwoody
