We’ve not written about the sad case of Jessie Logan, who killed herself last year after nude photos she’d “sexted” to another high school student got sent to other students and, well, you went to high school.  You can guess what happened next.

But last week Miss Logan’s mother, Cynthia Logan, upped the ante.  Now she’s filed suit for wrongful death against the recipient of the photos, the students to whom he forwarded them, Jessie Logan’s high school, and the school’s security officer, all of whom, allegedly, either spread the photos, or failed to prevent other students from behaving like beasts toward Miss Logan once the photos got around, and failed to charge the students who’d received the photos with a crime for … receiving the photos.  Photos that depicted an 18 year old girl, or, as the law refers to people like Jessie Logan, an “adult.” Or as they referred to people like Jessie Logan when I came to be of age, a “Playmate.”

A very young adult, to be sure, who did an incredibly foolish thing.  But as an adult, Miss Logan was free to do all sorts of dangerous things that adults do all the time, such as joining the Army, smoking cigarettes, driving an automobile at high speeds, or getting a credit card. And voting, though that’s usually dangerous to other people, since 18 year olds don’t earn enough to pay taxes.

Or for that matter posing for nude photos, and distributing them as she saw fit.

I don’t blame Miss Logan’s parents for their daughter’s suicide, or their grief.  As Marc Randazza, discussing this case earlier, pointed out, the warning signs are generally obvious only in hindsight.  But as Scott Greenfield, also discussing the Logan case pointed out, most foolish choices have consequences, and the most foolish choice anyone made in this sad chain of events was that of Miss Logan herself.  An adult who was, as my grandparents would have put it in less progressive times, “free, white, and 21.”  (A phrase rendered obsolete by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 26th Amendment).  And as Marc and Scott have also mentioned, though not with as much vulgarity as I do, the elder Mrs. Logan has been working the publicity circuit as hard as she can.  She seems poised to position herself as the head of a future Mothers Against Sexting.

Of course when word gets around, we can expect Oprah, Good Morning America, Katie Couric, and the like to treat this case as one of utmost importance and to demand a ban on “sexting,” camera phones, and nude photos of young adult women.  All of these outlets, it’s worth noting, like my priggish, puritan co-blogger Ezra, think it’s perfectly acceptable to vilify a 20 year-old as a near-whore for for making the same choice Jessie Logan made, if her political opinions are incorrect.

As an old man of 41, I’d be happy to increase the ages for drinking, smoking, and sexting.  And voting, don’t forget voting.  But at some point, a child reaches adulthood, even if it’s as old as 40.   As a 41 year old, I’m not comfortable with giving up digital cameras.

Nor am I comfortable with giving up some level of personal responsibility for foolish choices made by adults, at whatever age the law determines you kids to become adults, just to please Oprah and Cynthia Logan.

Last 5 posts by Patrick

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