Hope.

[maskitheclown]

This week for Idol, intrepia wrote about a girl named Hope who had killed herself over an issue of "sexting."
A person in my other fandom expressed her rage over the news-coverage fail and social blindness that happened here much more eloquently than I ever could, so I suggest you browse the comments.

This is the story *
Article *
NBC's piece *

And her parents are seriously a fucking prize.

In short:
Girl sends a picture of her breasts to a boy she likes.
Another girl finds it on his cellphone and distributes around.
Bullying starts.
School suspends the girl.
Parents ground the girl for a whole summer taking away her phone and internet.
Girl starts cutting. School makes her sign a contract saying she's not gonna do that again.
Bullying continues.
Girl kills herself.

Lesson to be learned here is apparently that texting photos of yourself naked is bad, and bullying is ok if you're bullying someone who totally had it coming. Also, technology is bad and there is absolutely no way for a grown person to influence a child, even their own.

I express my rage through sarcasm, I really don't want anyone to take that last paragraph seriously.

PS I'm sorry for spamming, but this needed a post of its own.

Comments

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

ugh. freakin' victim blaming bullshit.

*weeps*

[afterxbirth.livejournal.com]

ohmydear god they actually make you sign a paper saying you'll rather talk to and adult than cut yourself? has anyone ever told these idiots that signaling that cutting is a bad thing that should stop immediately is going to have the exact opposite effect of what they want?

[lstinhpfdm.livejournal.com]

This is a very sad situation. More upsetting because the adults in charge don't seem to see a problem with the bullying. My biggest beef is blaming this on technology. It's just tricky being a parent of a teen because all the "experts" seem to push these kinds of contracts when a child goes astray. Not sure what they really do.

Bullying is very difficult to combat once it starts, the best solution (which many parents can't afford) is to remove the teen from the school. I am speaking from experience here, moving across the country when I was a teenager (mid H.S.) was probably one of the best things to happen in my life.