“Not much good takes place at slumber parties for high school kids, and this case proves the point,” begins an decision upholding the right of high school girls to post sexually suggestive, lollipop-toting shots of themselves online without being kicked out of public school extracurriculars.
“The case poses timely questions about the limits school officials can place on out of school speech by students in the information age where Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, texts, and the like rule the day,” Judge Philip P. Simon wrote.
The Fort Wayne, Indiana girls were suspended from volleyball and show choir because the school deemed the photos, posted on MySpace, Facebook, and Photobucket, brought “discredit” on themselves and the school. The judge said that violated their First Amendment rights, equivalent to free expression, though he several times unfavorably compared the photos to say, wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. “I wish the case involved more important and worthwhile speech on the part of the students, but then of course a school’s well-intentioned but unconstitutional punishment of that speech would be all the more regrettable,” he wrote.
Here’s how he describes the photos:
During the first sleepover, the girls took a number of photographs of themselves sucking on the
lollipops. In one, three girls are pictured and M.K. added the caption “Wanna suck on my cock.” In another photograph, a fully-clothed M.K. is sucking on one lollipop while another lollipop is positioned between her legs and a fully-clothed T.V. is pretending to suck on it.
During another sleepover, T.V. took a picture of M.K. and another girl pretending to kiss each other. At a final slumber party, more pictures were taken with M.K. wearing lingerie and the other girls in pajamas. One of these pictures shows M.K. standing talking on the phone while another girl holds one of her legs up in the air, with T.V. holding a toy trident as if protruding from her crotch and pointing between M.K.’s legs. In another, T.V. is shown bent over with M.K. poking the trident between her buttocks. A third picture shows T.V. positioned behind another kneeling girl as if engaging in anal sex. In another picture, M.K. poses with money stuck into her lingerie – stripper-style.
Simon rejected the premise that the photos were obscene or pornographic. He did pronounce that “ridiculousness and inappropriateness are often the very foundation of humor. The provocative context of these young girls horsing around with objects representing sex organs was intended to contribute to the humorous effect in the minds of the intended teenage audience.” Put that way, it’s hilarious.
Court Upholds Teen Girls’ Right To Post Racy Photos Of Themselves Online [Forbes]
Image via mikeledray/Shutterstock.