Posted on 05/30/2006 5:36:38 PM PDT by wagglebee
MySpace.com has quickly become the malt shop for today's teens – but, unlike Al's place in "Happy Days," this virtual "hangout" is also frequented by unsavory characters who are after our kids. What most teens see as just a fun place to connect with friends has become a sexual predator's and pornographer's playground.
As the New York Times reported May 27, the site's content has become so skanky that even some corporate advertisers, including Weight Watchers and T-Mobile, are either pulling their ads from MySpace or threatening to do so.
The pages of sex-film stars like Jenna Jameson and Tera Patrick are quickly becoming popular with America's teens as evidenced by the actresses' thousands of "friends" – other MySpace users who ask for full access to a user's page. Those pages, in turn, link to the stars' own homepages, which are often replete with explicit pornographic images.
Some of the stars' "friends" are as young as 14. Others are undoubtedly younger – one need only state his or her age, no ID or proof required. Most of the linked porn sites post a simple warning that says something like, "Click here to enter if you're over 18," and that's it.
And if it wasn't bad enough having porn stars market themselves directly to your children, try this: Some of the morally depraved individuals who operate behind the camera post profiles on MySpace as well – and they actually encourage girls to send them pictures and contact them about getting involved in the porn business.
Take Eon McKai, a Los Angeles man who works for VCA, a porn company owned by Hustler. In his MySpace profile, he admits, "I make smut" and puts this under the heading "Who I'd like to meet" (typos in the original):
Cool people not kids but young adults or poeple who fell like young adults that are open minded and like porn and want to be apart of my movement to make it better... If you want to be a porn star... I'm the guy that can make that happen for real... but I'll look you in the eye first to make sure you can hang...any Emo, Punk or Goth kids... your all my friends... be stylish and cute as all hell.
As with most MySpace profile pages, McKai has many "friends" who have posted messages and pictures. One is from a girl named Jess who writes: "hey love! i'm live on my web cam right NOW!! come play with me!!!" Then she lists a porn site that, she notes, is "free for myspace members!"
Perhaps more disturbing is the number of young women who note in their MySpace profiles that they consider themselves aspiring porn stars. One named Alice in Connecticut writes: "I am shy if you meet me for real but what goes on behind closed doors is a different matter! Just on here looking to meet new My Space people because I was bored and thought it could be a tad interesting...just a tad... LOL. I've been coming out of my shell lately and doing more modeling and stuff. Even though it is CRAZY, I really AM studying to be a porn star."
Many other profiles on MySpace can't even be quoted here because they are so vile. Even with all the negative media reports about pedophiles hunting kids through MySpace, most parents are still clueless about the content and dangers.
MySpace is just the latest example of the creeping oversexualization of our culture that I describe in my book, "Home Invasion" (written before MySpace became so popular with our youth). The truth is pornographers aren't content to exist only in their own sick little corner of the Internet: They've got to troll for new victims. And they do it by wading into what amounts to an Internet kiddie pool and snagging innocent kids. That's why your child's e-mail inbox is constantly filled with spam porn. It's why sites such as MySpace have been infiltrated by perverts. It's why you've got to be worried about what's going on within the "safety" of your own home if you have unlimited, unmonitored Internet access.
Parents, vigilance is key. Protecting your kids from Internet smut may be hard, but it's not impossible. Talk to your kids. Keep your computer in a common area. Limit Internet time. Know who your kids are chatting with online. And get an Internet filter – NOW! There are many great, inexpensive filters on the market, but I use the filter from BSafe.com.
When I first started researching the dangers and garbage prevalent on MySpace months ago, I asked my then-13-year-old daughter, "Kristin, do you know about a site called MySpace?" She replied with a sigh, "Yes, Mom. But I can't get to it because our filter blocks it out!" After whispering a prayer of thanks for such a great filter, I asked her, "How many of your friends have pages on MySpace?" She replied, "All of them." What followed, of course, was a serious discussion of why her time was best spent elsewhere. And guess what? She "got it." When I took the time to let Kristin know about the kind of folks flocking to the site to market to and even stalk America's youth, she instinctively understood that there are better places to hang out.
The point here is that our teens are not dumb – they just need parents to guide them. Don't let your silence about a cultural fad like MySpace be misinterpreted by your child as a stamp of approval.
I believe the Internet has the ability to be one of the great liberators of the American family. It allows parents to work from home and puts the wonders of the world at our fingertips. But it is also a web of weirdoes. It's up to parents to harness the good and filter out the bad. With the millions of great sites that serve our families well, there's no need for our kids to spend time on a place like MySpace that refuses to act responsibly by filtering out the pornographers.
You wouldn't let a pervert or pedophile enter your home or speak on the phone with your child, would you? So why on earth are you letting your kids hang out with them online?
Too many parents would rather have their kids like them than worry about their safety.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
Porn, pedophiles, our kids and MySpace
Anyone who does not understand the potential dangers their children face on the internet is insane.
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Sounds like this writer has a smart girl for a daughter. The truth is if kids want to be on that site, they'll find a way to do it.
Another dateline induced panic. Did you know that if you back myspace into the garage door it could explode due to faulty engineering?
Monica's parents thinking the same thing.....now.
Of course kids will find a way onto MySpace if they want to, but that doesn't mean that parents should stand by and do nothing.
Won't-someone-protect-the-children ping.
I agree The weirdo's are out there, but this sounds like media induced hysteria to me
Some crimes and criminals have been stopped because kids know what to look out for and notify the authorities accordingly.
my step monster's granddaughter is 15 and she and all her friends have profiles on myspace and they all post provocative, suggestive slutty photos of themselves and vulgar descriptions of themselves that would scare the crap out of you. if their parents are aware and approve, we're f'd as a nation...how I busted her is too long a scary step monster story.
Ten to one that "Jess" is a 40-year old male.
You may think so, but it's mostly a case of constantly being exposed to over-hyped 24-hour news that you would not have heard about when you were younger. I don't think the crime statistics show that children are actually in more danger nowadays regardless of what people's perceptions are.
Honest.
=)
Most of the "garbage" on MySpace is spoof produced by girlfriendless 20-something males, greatly entertaining themselves by how society pretends to be so shocked over what every person knows and thinks about privately.
The rest of the crazies are terminal head cases who went bad many years ago, long before the internet. Their presence on the web is the least of their problems, and in any case has no relation to the internet itself.
Rate of Personal Victimization per 1,000 (excluding murder)
Age |
1993 | 1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
% Change 1993-1997 |
| 12 to 15 | 125 |
117 |
111 |
98 |
91 |
-27% |
| 16 to 19 | 121 |
125 |
110 |
106 |
100 |
-17% |
That said, a guy I know hopes to make it big with his own take on letting parents supervise their kids via Online Chaperone, which logs and watches for suspicious chat traffic.
I asked him what happens though, when the kids figure out how to un-install it :-) ... his point was, if your kids have admin rights on your copy of WinXP to begin with, they can disable any other program too ...
I am on myspace and its a pretty good way to keep in touch with friends without actually having to call them or write them a letter.
Do you have any more recent data?
Cheers!
I'm not really sure what this chart is supposed to be telling us because it covers the mid-90's and the explosive growth of the internet really didn't start until 96 or 97.
I think that keeping the computer out of the bedroom is one way to keep the kids on track.
One time my son accidentally went to a site that had naked women on it, and he quickly covered the screen and tried to change the website.
He didn't want his little sisters seeing the website.
He's very protective of his little sisters.
In our neighborhood, there are not many kids. The ones that do live here spend their days at daycare until 5 or 6, and their parents are divorced so they only spend half their time in our neighborhood.
Our old neighborhood had more kids that played outside. However, some of them were awful. My son did not like the other kids (for good reason).
Have you actually surfed MySpace? It's not where you want your children to spend time. And it's a dang shame the kids cannot have a cyber place for fun without the perverts and porn.
That was the best I could do on a quick Google search. No time to search more now -- maybe later. Do you have any data that indicates that children are being vicitmized in greater numbers now than previously?
I've busted one of our children using Yahoo's "game" section with the chat under it(fooling Mom but not me). She was using her real name and gave out our phone number to someone after being warned. This was 6 or 7 years ago. I used this at that time:
http://www.pearlsw.com/support/faq/snoop.html
and basically had a keylogger to printout everything to an unbelieving Mom. Here's one for families with networks:
http://www.realvnc.com/products/free/4.1/winvnc.html
If you don't protect your children from predators, no one will. There are additional products such as American Familiy's filter, Surf Control, etc. if your children have internet in their rooms(VERY bad idea).
Do you really think the growth of the Internet is fuelling a parallel growth in child victimization? Do you have any data to support that?
http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/canstats.cfm
"An estimated 906,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2003. The rate of victimization per 1,000 children in the national population has dropped from 13.4 children in 1990 to 12.4 children in 2003."
And you can't just use e-mail to do this because....?
So is the solution regulating myspace in some way? I think not. I think the solution is regulating our kids.
I'll tell you this, the kids are becoming incredibly computer and Internet literate, and teh Internet is moving on to its next phases. They will be able to operate in a technological world that is leaving us oldsters behind.
Should kids be banned from the Internet? I don't see how, except by their parents.
Therse are stats "on child maltreatment from State child protective services (CPS) agencies.1", not stats on crimes committed via or accessed through the Internet
>"I'm not really sure what this chart is supposed to be telling us because it covers the mid-90's "<
Skipping over to 2003 data:
Age 12-15: 55.1 per 1,000
Age 16-19: 55.8 per 1,000
Way down from the late 90s data.
Source: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv01.pdf
I've been on this earth about 50 years, and I am astounded by how many people have stories of sexual abuse in their backgrounds. And those are just the ones I hear about, tip of a huge iceberg. This stuff is rampant, but it has been since long before there was an Internet or even a PC. I'm not saying the Internet isn't a tool for bad people, but how many kids were and are molested in person by a teacher, adult family member, older sibling, etc? the problem is not the Internet, the Internet is just flushing it out in the open. Maybe flushing is a good term.
That is the unvarnished and sad truth. I had lots of parents (for some reason, always Moms) tell me they were their child's best friend. I always wanted to say, "No, I know who their best friend is, and it's another 15 year old, and you should hear the things she says about YOU." But I didn't.
susie
No "kid" who is an aspiring porn star is anywhere near "innocent".
You are moving the goalposts because you have no data. The question is not about "crimes via the Internet" it's about whether children are safer today than they were in the past no matter what the source of the criminal, be he picking up Joani and Chachi at the malt shop or picking Britney and Jared on Myspace. My data points to children being much safer today than they ever have been previously -- less rape, less murder, less kidnapping. Where's your data?
Any idea what those stats represent? Who gathered the numbers? I'm sorry, but that chart doesn't mean anything without a little more info.
susie
Conceptually I don't see anything wrong with the idea of these social networking sites. MySpace got big by playing up the music angle and a lot of starting out, indie-label bands have used it to get new fans. I joined mainly to browse the music listings and listened to mp3s from a few bands where I eventually bought their CD.
Unfortunately the perverted trash of society has latched onto it as a means to spread more trash. Most of the messages I get are "join my porn site to watch me strip on my web cam" type of junk. The pernicious thing about it is that its done under the guise of being real people (namely hot women) who want to be your friends. A lot of idiot guys actually fall for this so the scams continue to grow. I rarely visit the site at all anymore. As an age 30-ish guy I am way too ancient to be on this site anyway.
Aww...sounds like you have a great son! Good job! :)
susie
Yes I have but my space has the same problems that similar sites have. my point being the problem is not limited to My space,and also that the press seems to singled it out for fomenting hysteria about the internet
You are exactly right. People are just more aware of it. Need I remind people that Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year old cousin. That wouldn't be tolerated today and was common 50 years ago.
I followed links to go over there a few times. I did a little looking around. What I saw made me feel quite hopeless about the comming Generation. Forget about corrupting these people. They are already corrupted. Witchcraft,sex,drugs,parties,Mean spirited. It is very scary to see. Hollywood and liberalism has created a real mess.
It sounds like you have great kids! You should be proud! :o)
I don't think this has much to do with what we're talking about. Further down it indicates that most of the perps were parents. So, how can those stats mean anything when talking about internet dangers to children? I don't think kids are meeting their parents on MySpace! ;)
susie
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