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'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.

Offline Adelaide

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'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« on: December 06, 2009, 07:16:57 AM »
Hope Witsell was just beginning the journey from child to teen. The middle-school student had a tight-knit group of friends, the requisite poster of “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson and big plans to become a landscaper when she grew up.

But one impetuous move robbed Hope of her childhood, and eventually, her life. The 13-year-old Florida girl sent a topless photo of herself to a boy in hope of gaining his attention. Instead, she got the attention of her school, as well as the high school nearby.

The incessant bullying by classmates that followed when the photo spread put an emotional weight upon Hope that she ultimately could not bear.

Hope Witsell hanged herself in her bedroom 11 weeks ago.

Her death is only the second known case of a suicide linked to bullying after “knittingting” — the practice of transmitting knittingual messages or images electronically. In March, 18-year-old Jesse Logan killed herself in the face of a barrage of taunts when an ex-boyfriend forwarded explicit photos of her following their split.

Hope Witsell’s grieving mother, Donna Witsell, is now coming forward to offer a cautionary story in hope of sparing others the loss she endures. Appearing on TODAY Wednesday with attorney Parry Aftab, a leading Internet safety expert, Witsell told Meredith Vieira how her daughter’s life, once so promising, unraveled after one mistake.

The Witsells, from the small rural suburb of Sundance, Fla., are a churchgoing family. Donna admitted to Vieira she knew little to nothing about “knittingting” before her daughter’s drama, but she and her husband, Charlie, tried to teach Hope and Donna’s three children from previous relationships right from wrong in the cyberworld.

“As far as training them on the Internet and what to look at and what not to look at, yeah, we talked about it,” Witsell told Vieira.

But Hope got involved in a dangerous, all-too-typical teen game. In June, at the end of her seventh-grade year at Beth Shields Middle School, she sent a picture of her exposed breasts to a boy she liked. It’s an act that is becoming more and more commonplace among teens (a poll recently showed some 20 percent of teens admitting they’ve sent nude pictures of themselves over cell phones).

But a third party intercepted the photo while using the boy’s cell phone, and soon, not only had many of the school's students gawked at the picture, but students at the local high school and even neighboring schools were ogling it.

While Hope’s photo spread, her friends rallied around her in the midst of incessant taunting and vulgar remarks thrown Hope’s way. Friends told the St. Petersburg Times, which originally chronicled Hope’s story, that they literally surrounded Hope as she walked the hallways while other students shouted “whore” and “slut” at her.

“The hallways were not fun at that time — she’d walk into class and somebody would say, ‘Oh, here comes the slut,’ ” Hope’s friend, Lane James, told the newspaper.

Clearly, the taunts were getting to Hope. In a journal entry discovered after her death, Hope wrote, “Tons of people talk about me behind my back and I hate it because they call me a whore! And I can’t be a whore. I’m too inexperienced. So secretly, TONS of people hate me.”

Shortly after the school year ended, school officials caught wind of the hubbub surrounding Hope’s cell phone photo. They contacted the Witsells and told them Hope would be suspended for the first week of the next school year.

Donna Witsell told Vieira that she and her husband practiced tough love on Hope, grounding her for the summer and suspending her cell phone and computer privileges.

Choking up with tears, Witsell told Vieira, “She received her punishment for a mistake she’d made. You set rules and boundaries in the household ... You punish them and then you let it go. You love them. You continue to talk with them, you continue to try to keep that line of communication open, but most of all you continue to love them. You don’t shame them.”

Still, Hope had a very trying summer. A student adviser for the local Future Farmers of America chapter, Hope was allowed by her parents to attend the FFA convention in Orlando. But in a display of just how prevalent teen pressure is when it comes to “knittingting,” Hope gave in to incessant badgering from a group of boys staying across from Hope and her friend in a hotel room to provide them with a picture of her breasts.

Mounting pressure


The downward spiral of Hope’s life was unstoppable. When she returned to school this fall after serving her suspension, the school informed her she could no longer serve as a student adviser to the FFA. She finally admitted to her parents the abuse she was taking.

On Sept. 11, Hope met with school counselors, who noticed cuts on Hope’s leg they believed to be self-inflicted. They had her sign a “no-harm contract,” in which she promised to talk to an adult if she felt the urge to hurt herself. But, attorney Aftab told TODAY, the school didn’t inform Hope’s parents of the contract. “In this case, the school blew it,” Aftab said. “They  never told the parents how at risk she was.”

The following day, Hope wrote in her journal: “I’m done for sure now. I can feel it in my stomach. I’m going to try and strangle myself. I hope it works.”

Donna Witsell went to Hope’s bedroom to give her a kiss goodnight. She was met with the most horrifying scene any parent could face.

“It was as if she was standing right there in front of me,” Witsell told NBC News. “Her head was hanging down. I said, ‘Hope, what are you doing?’ And then I realized there was a scarf around her neck.”

Hope had knotted one end of a pink scarf around the canopy of her bed and the other around her neck. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Attorney Aftab is at the forefront of highlighting the very real dangers of “knittingting” among the teen set. And even though Hope was incredibly young for knittingual behavior, a Harris Poll shows up to 9 percent of 13-year-old girls admit they have sent nude pictures of themselves on cell phones.

Aftab, who held Donna Witsell’s hand throughout the trying TODAY interview, told Vieira it’s often upstanding children growing up in good homes who have the biggest propensity to feel guilt over their knittingual actions, and most feel the stings of the bullying that comes afterward.

“Good kids are the ones this is happening to; Jesse was a great kid, and now we have Hope,” she said. “Good kids; they’re the ones who are committing suicide when a picture like this gets out.”

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34236377/ns/today-today_people/
There's a video there too.

Addy Note: That was just... I can't believe people.. It's horrible.. just.. wow...
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Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'knittingting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2009, 07:32:07 AM »
But they bring it upon themselves

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Offline Pryce321

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2009, 02:59:23 PM »
I must admit it is sad what happenned, and what people did was cruel, but there are other ways to get people to talk to you. You don't do things like that without knowing the risks, especialy when you're that young.
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Offline Kedzor

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2009, 03:27:25 PM »
lol knittingting, that wordfiler robbed this article of any seriousness

My brain pattern set does not make a reply is still more work to be mean?Are you saying we define ourselves through our interactions and expectations of individuals and think this board and it is harmless, cheesy fun in the second girl who has done that has any comments on like knights of the prisoner in which you have, or are at the same in spirit. But i'm staying here for semantics.

Offline ShinamoriAoshi

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2009, 05:38:11 PM »
Damn it Nick, you beat me to it.

Also, that was her fault, for trying to be an attention whore.
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Shin's the perverted hero, he wouldnt stoop to that level.

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Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2009, 05:39:11 PM »
and the first line: " Hope Witsell was just beginning the journey from child to teen. The middle-school student had a tight-knit group of friends,"

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Offline ShinamoriAoshi

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2009, 05:41:44 PM »
MMMMM GRAMMAR ERRORS.
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Shin's the perverted hero, he wouldnt stoop to that level.

omegadoomslayer (7:36:13 PM): You, Pryce and Whales are the Trio of Terrible

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frashprince55 (3:39:12 PM): Why thank you.

Offline Adelaide

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2009, 01:07:18 AM »
omg... guys she was 13... boo.. you guys are guys... I think its harder for you to relate to why she would do something like that... she was just a child though; children act before thinking. I wouldn't keep blaming her. I blame the school for her death. They didnt tell the parents when they found she cut?! "Here sign this and nothing else will happen!" and the next day she was dead... If they told her parents she would have gotten more help, and they would have been more cautious... She probably wouldn't have died... Stupid school..
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Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2009, 03:46:45 AM »
Well a lot of people do embarrassing stuff as kids and deal with the consequences instead of killing themselves, even tho at the time they wanted to or told people they would.
Everyone is at fault, the girl shouldnt have taken the pictures, the school should have notified her parents about her wounds, her parents should have taught her about how to deal with boys in an appropriate(and sucessful) way.
I'm surprised that the girl successfully hung herself, the alternatives are way worse when you do it wrong, and most of the time people do, and pay with the rest of their lives with disabilities and guilt.

Sometimes we don't survive our bad decisions, Addy.

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Offline Adelaide

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2009, 04:01:23 AM »
Hmph... I just think she was too young is all.. If she went around doing this my age, then killed herself for it, I wouldnt feel so bad for her.. but she was only 13, and new to the whole deal... thats whats sad.. is the lack of knowledge... and the fact that this was preventable
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Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2009, 05:08:31 AM »
Yeah it was preventable. The age is why it got so much attention, the younger kids kill themselves, the more the media digs in for seconds.
14 is the youngest age I've known a person to commit suicide. I was friends with him and his family when I was a little kid.

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Offline Adelaide

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2009, 05:49:07 AM »
Yeah.. I never heard of the 18 year old that was mentions, and I dont feel as bad for her; she knew full well what she was doing and should have thought about it more. Its not like there was no solution..
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Offline ShinamoriAoshi

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2009, 06:35:43 PM »
Ahhh. The cornerstones of human society.
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Shin's the perverted hero, he wouldnt stoop to that level.

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Offline tkoold

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #13 on: December 13, 2009, 12:05:45 PM »
Yeah school system and things did this this is where no tolereance and trating children like adults Blows it.. on the other hand as generations go kids push the boundries more then ever and theres 100's of bad apples to have set the tone so what do you do?
 
while the girl made a "un" mild mistake rather harmless overall, she was punished beyond beliefe in my book and then she was treated even worse by her peers in public when it is beyond likly that her peers have had done the same/worse things in their lives the whole school from the teachers to the students has somthin to be ashamed of even if they dont look in the mirror and admitt to it.

Offline Spenner

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #14 on: December 13, 2009, 01:22:33 PM »
I don't think people that young should really be forcing themselves into such emotional situations... really, if you're the right sensitive and literal type of person, it's inevitable for you to be broken in some way- sometimes just for a little bit, sometimes the pain may never leave the person; as you grow older you begin to realize certain philosophies that suit you and guide you on your way of moving on from things and accepting certain things. As a younger individual it's generally still a mysterious thing to be able to accept and forget, because the emotional stress can be too harsh on them.

So yes, while it is her own fault, it's not like she intended any of it to end like this. She did it in pursue of a greater outcome, and I can't say that I've never done something similar and had a negative outcome (e.x: trying to steal a cookie because you deeply crave one and getting caught and GROUNDED FROM COOKIES FOREVER- as one grows older you begin to realize that pleasure seeking isn't the most important thing in the world, depending what specifically you are seeking (love differs from satisfaction, say, with eating, etc)).

Yep.

Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #15 on: December 13, 2009, 02:30:37 PM »
I don't think middle schoolers should even have phones. PROBLEM SOLVED RIGHT THERE  [xmas1]

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Offline Kedzor

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #16 on: December 13, 2009, 02:50:52 PM »
They should just lobotomize everybody.

My brain pattern set does not make a reply is still more work to be mean?Are you saying we define ourselves through our interactions and expectations of individuals and think this board and it is harmless, cheesy fun in the second girl who has done that has any comments on like knights of the prisoner in which you have, or are at the same in spirit. But i'm staying here for semantics.

Offline Flashwerewolf

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #17 on: December 13, 2009, 03:21:44 PM »
with sharpened candycanes!!   [xmas1]

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Offline Spenner

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #18 on: December 13, 2009, 03:24:47 PM »
Oh god. Can't tell you how many times I've injected the tongue with a sharpened candycane end.  [assmonster]

Offline Kedzor

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Re: 'S3xting' bullying cited in teen girl's suicide.
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2009, 03:06:16 PM »
also her name is Hope. That's like naming your daughter Chastity, then 20 years later she becomes a prostitute.

My brain pattern set does not make a reply is still more work to be mean?Are you saying we define ourselves through our interactions and expectations of individuals and think this board and it is harmless, cheesy fun in the second girl who has done that has any comments on like knights of the prisoner in which you have, or are at the same in spirit. But i'm staying here for semantics.