On the radio, girls as young as 12 are taking pictures of their privates

This has been happening for years, I got sent some when I was thirteen, (I'm not sure how old the girls were).

I think that although there are much easier venues out there to do these things now, that there really isn't much of anything different (as far as the bullying thing goes)

The sexting stuff.... that is clearly a lack of something. It may be a lack of proper parenting. It might be a lack of self respect on the part of the teens. In this case, it could be peer pressure, I don't think that I was much older than that when boys started pressuring other girls in my class to show them stuff. Does it make it right? NO!! Without a doubt no, but, the only way to prevent it, is to make sure, as the parent that you child knows that they are worth more than that, and shouldn't do it, not because it's morally wrong (although it is) but because deep down they know they are better than that.

If it gets to be too much, then they need to talk to a teacher, or the principle about it.

I've never had any trouble with cyber bullying as far as mobiles go. As far as the videos go, if you trust your children enough then you shouldn't have to worry about them having a phone. I haven't heard of anyone I know do the things you've described, so that may be a slight generalisation; obviously not everyone is going to behave irresponsibly when using a mobile. If you're worried about cameras you could always get them phones that don't have them.

However you are the parent so it's obviously up to you, I'm just saying that it's not always a bad thing to have a mobile when you're at an appropriate age like 13/14, especially for safety reasons.

If my mom found out my sister was doing something like that, she'd take a sledge hammer to that phone, spanked her butt bright red, and grounded her for six months.

Well we might be a bit slower in the land down under or I might just be taking notice now cause my son will be entering high school in 2011.

I am guessing you are a boy may I ask how you felt about the pics that you recieved and then what thoughts you had about the girls that sent them?

I do trust my kids however I worry that they will get sent this kind of stuff from friends/associates. My nephew who is 13 entered high school and was shown all this by his peers, I know I can't prevent it but I would like to minimise it's impact.

Why are people so stupid?

Look at what the younger ones talk about!
I worked as a mod on a chat site and the 10 to 16 years old were the worse.
We always would say,the kids are here,
Sometimes the older men would ask us to talk to these young girls to get them to stop showing pictures some as young as 12 and 13.
So its not just phones its cams in computers

That's my second biggest worry it feels like we have a epidemic in Australia when it comes to computer or cyber bullying and or sexually explicit material being seen by young kids and being sent by them.

It seems you can't turn on the tv on anymore without there being some sexual reference or nudity there do not seem to be many if any family type shows that don't involve sex in some way.

That's fair enough, it is pretty much unavoidable though, something everyone sees at some point, I don't blame you for wanting to ensure that your kids don't see them.

give them a mobile phone just don't give them one with a camera.

It's not that hard for the parent to get a mobile plan that doesn't allow the sending or receiving of texts messages.

My daughter better not do that. Not only will I take the phone away, she will also be working that month's bill off AND working of the value of the phone's MSRP without the bundled service plan. Basically "buying" the phone back from me. That could be what? $500-$600+? Yeah... she won't have a life for a while. At least the neighborhood will have cheap yard work labor for a few months. Oh yeah and grounded for the entire time.Can't forget that part.

I am Zeus, feel my wrath.

I dispair really. I'm so glad i had a boy, it would drive me wild thinking what my teenage daughter was up to.

She'd be wearing a chastity belt for sure.