By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
Lansing, MI – A state senator hopes she can bring attention to sexy text messaging endemic among school-aged children. Democrat Gretchen Whitmer asked the chairmen of a few legislative panels at the state Capitol to hold hearings about the problems children face when they send text and picture messages of a sexual nature.
"So the question is, what tools are available to one, educate kids so that they don't do this, number two, empower parents so that they can disable the multimedia function in the phone of a 12-year-old, and three, to prosecutors so that they've got some common sense reactions," Whitmer says.
Whitmer, who is running for attorney general, says she doesn't think adolescents should be charged with a crime if they make the mistake of sending sexy content through a cell phone or computer. But she says the public needs to be aware that the risk of suicide increases among kids when the content is discovered or spread among their peers.