Teenage/Societal Issue

"You're 13? What's your bust size?"

News Articles

You’re 13? What’s your bust size? The Sunday Times May 6 2007
School fires coach who tried to hook up with ’13-year-old’ The Sunday Times May 13 2007

What would you do with a 13-year-old girl you just met? Well, sex is the answer for many pedophiles hunting for their prey on online chat rooms. Over the last 6 years, the number of men reported having sex with minors has increased significantly. In an experiment carried out by reporter Cheryl Tan, she posed as a 13-year-old girl on a relay chat room, and over 30 men approached the ‘girl’ to request for a sexual relationship with her, despite the ‘girl’ being under-aged.

This holds a large significance to our society as it is a pressing issue for local teenagers and a looming threat especially for maturing damsels. This is a worrying sight as girls face high risks of getting cheated on the Internet, evident from the fact that over 30 men came forward immediately to hook up with the ‘girl’. Despite laws put in place to protect our little ladies, it is perturbing that such perverts will get off the hook easily, as it will always be difficult to prove their intent of having sex with such under-aged girls, says criminal lawyer Sunil Sudheesan.

To many of us, boys at least, this might not seem like a big problem worth spending 2 minutes of our time to read about, what more 2 hours of our time reflecting upon. However, we have to get inside these little women emotionally, and imagine the pain of humiliation and shame that is brought about to them when they fall prey to such scenarios. I believe that the lady authors of the abovementioned news articles have done enough for us to understand these ladies’ traumas and the life-lasting impacts of such experiences.

Besides the viewpoint of a boy, a novel way to look at this is to encompass the perspective of a girl and a parent as well. To a girl, being cheated of her virginity might cause her to feel a sense of inferior complexity, and this might also result in depression or a lack of self-confidence. Perhaps they will be excited that someone recognizes their charm, but I think that it will generally be an awful feeling for them when such unfortunate misfortunes land upon them. In terms of a parent, this issue should cause them to feel concerned for their pubescent princesses. In my opinion, I feel that they should be very worried that their daughters might land up in such a plight.

Of course these viewpoints might have been wrongly portrayed, as I might not fully grasp the mentalities of a girl or a parent well. Because of my slightly nonchalant style, I might have misunderstood the deep emotions of such issues on people. However, I do think that I can apply my knowledge regarding this issue by advising my girl-friends not to meet anyone whom they meet online, not to give their personal information away, and always seek help from their parents, teachers or counselors if they are uncomfortable with certain people or scenarios.