‘It's only a picture’: sexting, ‘smutty’ snapshots and felony charges 1

The title of this article comes from a statement made by teenager Amanda Dagsher quoted in an article about the current popularity of sexting. She said: ‘I mean, you don’t have to have parents’ permission to send a picture’ (Choi 2009). But in contradiction to the phrase in my title, a photograph is always more than ‘only a picture’. One extreme and tragic confirmation of this claim was reported in July 2008 when an 18-year-old Cincinnati woman sent sext photographs to her boyfriend. Their romance soured and her angry exboyfriend sought retribution by sending these sexted photographs to his school classmates and friends. The humiliation and harassment proved too much for her, resulting in her suicide by hanging in her bedroom (TODAY Show.com, 6 March 2009) (Benzel 2009; Choi 2009; Searcey 2009).