Would Tiger Woods have ‘sexted’ Joslyn James, “Have you ever had a golden shower done to you” if he had not had dexterous fingers coupled with a sexually repressed youth of too much golf and too few “play dates”? Probably, but lascivious thoughts are not unique to uptight golfers who consistently hit fairways. The educated elite, the athletes and the horny middle schoolers alike participate in the sexually ravenous phenomenon of ‘sexting’. The apt portmanteau combines two of today’s hottest topics: Sex and texting. Why have amorous love letters of generations past and the sensibilities required to pen them, devolved into 160 character blips of the id?
Let’s ask Tiger Woods. His sexts became structurally unemployed when he defaulted to T-9 word at the 19th hole. Better yet, let’s ask Kenneth Kratz, District Attorney of Calumet County, Wis. This 50-year-old man who lettered in law and was once chair of Wisconsin’s Crime Victim’s Rights Board must resign because he ‘sexted’ a 26-year-old domestic abuse victim and she wouldn’t have it. Ironic.
Kratz sent some 30 sexually aggressive texts over three days to Stephanie Van Groll before she alerted authorities, all the while fearing Kratz might drop charges against her abusive boyfriend if she didn’t acquiesce.
Calling Van Groll a “tall, young, hot nymph” through a ‘sext’ message provided Kratz a sense of detachment perfect for his cellular ejaculation. Kratz wielded the power of text to dominate this already victimized woman. Downtrodden by physical abuse, Van Groll had to then fend off a creepy, but powerful, DA.
An accomplished DA throwing away his career because of a mid-life breakdown is tragic. Wisconsin’s judicial system has lost a great asset, as lecherous as that asset may have been. Kratz has been Calumet’s top prosecutor for the past 18 years. Having put countless rapists and murderers behind bars, he must now resign before his duly warranted Oct. 8 hearing, but the fact remains: Ken Kratz did much good for America’s Dairyland. Clearly, Kratz has issues, but we should all heed how this new medium aided and abetted the crime.
Marshall McLuhan, famed communication theorist, proclaimed “the medium is the message.” The very nature of the medium – how we communicate – is the message. McLuhan would overlook the content of the question of whether a girl has ever been urinated on; rather, he would underscore the medium that the query was posed through, which was texting. McLuhan forewarned that the “medium is like the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.” The “sexter” becomes lost in the act of texting, no longer cognizant of the message he is writing. Texting drugs the watchdog, and Kratz would be McLuhan’s poster boy.
Through the millennia, social interaction has been governed by the medium; as it matures (or degenerates) so too does message content. In our tweeting, Facebooking, BBM-ing world, thoughts are often censored, not by conscience, but by SMS letter limits. ‘Sext’ messages hump the mind’s prurient thoughts and inseminate the palm, bypassing sensibilities.
I am no “sextist.” I believe technology must harmoniously integrate with human interaction. A healthy “sextual” relationship can thrive in a world saturated with newfangled gizmos; however, ‘sexting’ must only occur between two consenting cell users.
Love letters have thus been Darwined out by the “I wanna bang u so bad” text. No longer must the battle weary soldier meticulously craft heartfelt notes, ever in fear of the Dear John. Now he can shoot “back-home-Sally” a BBM and get an instant response. The lovelorn cowboy understood Pony Express letters to his beloved had better be tender enough to make up for the wait. No Morse code operator ever dot-dot-dashed his way to a late night booty call. Today’s Tristan knows not loving prose and fair Isolde suffers. In sum, the mediums by which wooing occurred dictated reflection. Now, depending on how horny and drunk I am, I can pump out as many passionate ‘sexts’ as my heart (and liver) desire. But as Kratz has learned, danger is lurking: An impulsive ‘sext’ may shoot the solider in the foot, lasso the cowboy and land the operator’s (and DA’s) broke ass on the street.
Lack of ethics contributed to the downfall of pro-golfer and DA. I, guilty as well of hand-held perversions, may have been branded a lecherous, ‘sexting’ creep on a few occassions. I fear I may have even ‘sexted’ some of you, dear readers. Indeed, as blurry as texting parameters are – even our seasoned DA insists he just texted, did “nothing wrong” – it is incumbent upon each of us to know the rules. Most certainly, ‘sexting’ a woman with whose protection you have been entrusted is an egregious no-no.
Dennis O’Reilly ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in English and economics.
