The popular website, MySpace.com, has led to five sexual misconduct investigations in Middletown. Young girls, aged 12 to 16, have reported being sexually abused by men they met online.
MySpace.com, an increasingly popular website largely patronized by teens, allows users to send messages, share photos, and exchange comments with friends. MySpace enthusiasts, especially younger users, often divulge a plethora of personal information on the site. While users often believe their peers are viewing the details, it is impossible to know everyone who is scanning the site and what they may be doing with the information.
None of the Middletown sexual assault investigations are currently considered violent attacks. Instead, they allegedly involved consensual sex while the victims were unaware of the older men’s real age. Last month, a 21-year-old man from Berlin admitted to having had 11 consensual encounters with a 14 -year-old girl.
“I started to use it less and less as time progressed, partly because of how sketchy it has become,” said Natasha White ’09, one student with an account on MySpace.com. “[But] I will continue to use MySpace as an easy way to keep in contact with friends.”
Though its creators claim that MySpace is “a place for friends,” Wesleyan students often find that the site is used for more than just building friendships. Emily House ’09 said that although online flirting has never amounted to much, in her experience, it has never made her feel unsafe.
“People exploit the system and send messages to all the girls at Wes who have profiles and tell them that they’re cute and not to be afraid to say ‘hi’ when they see them on campus,” said House. “God, does that guy not think that girls talk to each other?”
Not all MySpace profiles and relations are necessarily unsafe. It is up to the users to decide what information to post and which pictures to put in their site profiles. Allan Collins ’08, a devotee of the website, decided to post a slightly risqué photo of himself and noticed a change in his MySpace popularity almost immediately.
“After I put up a picture of me in my underwear, my site got a lot more hits,” said Collins.
MySpace has opportunities for mistreatment and potentially danger, but Wesleyan users don’t seem to be worried, as long as they know where to draw the line in the information posted for the online world to see.
“I don’t put incredibly personal information about myself online,” House said. “I think my information about where I go to school and my sexual preference is about as personal as it gets. The other stuff is just goofy.”
Director of Public Safety Dave Meyer said that there have not been any threats to Wesleyan student stemming from the use of websites such as MySpace. Nonetheless, he advises students to be careful.
“Any time students are providing personal information on the Internet, there is the risk that it could be accessed by anyone,” said Meyer. “Any type of personal information… residence information, addresses, social security numbers…We discourage it being posted on any type of website.”
Unfortunately, many middle school and high school-aged MySpace users are not as knowledgeable about the risks of disclosing personal information, or even agreeing to meet Internet friends. Due to the recent string of sexual misconduct cases in Middletown concerning the website, the local Board of Education is initiating a forum on the issue. Police are also urging parents to monitor the Internet activities of their children more closely.
Leave a Reply