Congress circulates 'sexting' primer

While Representative Anthony Weiner continues to refuse resigning his post, despite being entangled in scandal because of sexually explicit text messages he said he exchanged with women over the past three years, the research side of Congress has circulated a report on some of the detriments of text messaging, including a primer on sexting, the New York Times reported.

The report, Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress, was meant to provide material to Congress that it may wish to consider in future legislation.

The 17-page report, dated May 18, describes sexting as a term coined by the media that generally refers to youth writing sexually explicit messages, taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others in their peer group, and transmitting those photos and/or messages to their peers.

The sexting portion of the report primarily focuses on issues raised by minors engaging in activity that is legally defined as child pornography even though, the report is sure to emphasize, Sexting is not the same as a child sending a sexually explicit photo to an adult.

The report is mum on the issue of sexting by members of Congress.