Officials explain to teenagers the dangers of sending revealing text messages

By Staff Writer

A law enforcement official in a Georgia county recently spoke with middle school students about the dangers of "sexting."

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jeff Roe, an investigator with the county sheriff's department, detailed the story of a high school senior in Cincinnati who killed herself following an humiliating experience linked to sex and cell phones. The girl sent a naked picture of herself to her boyfriend via text message, then the boy sent the photo to hundreds of other teenagers after the couple split up.

The explicit photo led some students to start calling the girl nicknames like "whore" and "slut," the news provider reports. The embarrassment was too much for the teen, who hung herself in a closet in her home.

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive images from one cell phone or electronic device to another. Roe's campaign to educate students about the risks of sexting is one of the most aggressive in the metro Atlanta area, according to the news source.

According to information provided by the National Association of Social Workers, adolescent girls with low self-esteem about their body image can develop eating disorders, depression and anxiety.