澳大利亚新南威尔士州政府于日前推出一项教育活动旨在打击目前在学生当中盛行的“色情短信”风潮。该政府表示，此类包含裸体照片或者色情内容的短信在传播过程中可能会被发布到因特网或转发到更多人的手机中而无法完全清除，最终招致性骚扰或者性伤害事件。为了配合此次活动，新南威尔士州政府还引发了大量宣传单页，让学校、父母和学生都进一步了解传播色情短信的不良后果；同时建议父母查看孩子的社交网站页面，以防色情内容的传播。

Teens sending nude¹ or suggestive photos of themselves over their mobile phones are being warned -- "sexting" can damage your future.

Australia's state government of New South Wales launched an education campaign this week to combat the growing practice of "sexting," saying these images or sexually explicit² text messages can be posted on the Internet or forwarded to others, which can end up in harassment³ or even sexual assault.

"Sexting," a play on the term texting, has become a concern for parents and schools internationally with the proliferation of mobile phones with cameras and social networking sites, but such images can be classified as child pornography by law.

"Young people often don't think about the consequences of their actions. What they think is an innocent joke or harmless flirting⁴ can be very damaging if it falls into the wrong hands," said NSW Community Service Minister Linda Burney in a statement.

"It is frightening to think that once these images are online or on a phone, anyone anywhere in the world can access them. It is then impossible to retrieve⁵ and delete them. They are there forever and can damage future career prospects⁶ or relationships." She said government departments had received reports of girls as young as 13 sending sexually explicit images to their boyfriends on their mobiles phones, which were then passed on to other friends and even further once the relationships ended.

In the United States, a survey last fall found one in five teenagers said they had sent or posted online nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves and 39 percent said they had sent or posted sexually suggestive messages, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy⁷.

Teenage actress Vanessa Hudgens, star of the successful "High School Musical" franchise⁸, last year had to live down the scandal of her semi-nude pictures, meant for boyfriend Zac Ephron, ending up online.

Several prosecutions⁹ have been undertaken or threatened in the United States and one girl, Jessica Logan, 18, from Cincinnati, committed suicide after being taunted¹⁰ when a nude photo of herself sent via text was circulated at her school.

The NSW government has produced a fact sheet for schools, parents and youngsters to warn about the possible lifetime consequences of sexting while Burney was hitting the airwaves to publicize the campaign: "Safe Sexting, No Such Thing."

Burney is also urging parents to talk to children about the issue and to check their social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook for any inappropriate images.

"More and more parents are telling me how worried they are about their children making a silly mistake that can affect them for the rest of their lives," said Burney.

"Reports from concerned adults are becoming more frequent... a dangerous consequence is the risk of public humiliation¹¹, harassment or even sexual assault."

Vocabulary:

sexting:  (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit photos or text messages electronically, primarily between cell phones. 发送包含色情照片或文字内容的短信。