The teen sexting panic

Nina Funnell questions the extent to which the discourse around protecting children is really about controlling, policing and pathologising them. Through century upon century, societies have located much of their moral panic and hysteria around a victimised view of youth. Whether it’s generational or technological change, the shock of the new has often been seen as deeply threatening to the moral fabric or the vulnerable, naïve individual. But is this fair? Funnell demonstrates, through an analysis of media surrounding the phenomenon of so-called ‘sexting’, that the popular reporting of physically candid image sharing is based on inaccurate and heavily gendered assumptions about victimisation and self-expression. Further, she shows that the consequences and repercussions of sexting have been exaggerated or misreported, particularly in cases ending in teen suicide. Additionally, by consensually producing and sharing nude or semi-nude pictures of their peers, many young people might inadvertently find themselves prosecuted under child porn laws and placed on the sex offender registry alongside mature-aged paedophiles and rapists. When this occurs, the breaches of privacy leading to such discoveries tend to be overlooked. Rather than fueling a risk-averse society driven by paranoia around child protection, Funnell suggests a gentler approach. Education should address the ethical as well as legal reasons not to share or circulate private images, she argues, and this education must take into account the ideas and choices of the young people it aims to advise

Between heat and light : the opportunity in moral panics

This paper argues that contemporary moral panic theorists are often too narrowly focused on either refining the sociological framings of moral panic theory or, alternatively, on applying that theory to case studies without asking how the theory might be used to frame strategic interventions into public debate and policy. It examines the way that conservative politicians and media commentators have appropriated the accusation that they are fuelling moral panic as proof that they are actively engaged in a fight for morality. It contends that moral panic theorists need to use their knowledge of how moral panics work in order to engage in strategic interventions into public debate and policy. It concludes with a call for scholars working on specific issues in the field to apply their research and redouble their efforts to ensure that evidence-based research is heard and understood.15 page(s

Perspectives on ENCODE

The Encylopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project launched in 2003 with the long-term goal of developing a comprehensive map of functional elements in the human genome. These included genes, biochemical regions associated with gene regulation (for example, transcription factor binding sites, open chromatin, and histone marks) and transcript isoforms. The marks serve as sites for candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) that may serve functional roles in regulating gene expression1. The project has been extended to model organisms, particularly the mouse. In the third phase of ENCODE, nearly a million and more than 300,000 cCRE annotations have been generated for human and mouse, respectively, and these have provided a valuable resource for the scientific community.11Nsciescopu

Expanded encyclopaedias of DNA elements in the human and mouse genomes

AbstractThe human and mouse genomes contain instructions that specify RNAs and proteins and govern the timing, magnitude, and cellular context of their production. To better delineate these elements, phase III of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project has expanded analysis of the cell and tissue repertoires of RNA transcription, chromatin structure and modification, DNA methylation, chromatin looping, and occupancy by transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Here we summarize these efforts, which have produced 5,992 new experimental datasets, including systematic determinations across mouse fetal development. All data are available through the ENCODE data portal (https://www.encodeproject.org), including phase II ENCODE1 and Roadmap Epigenomics2 data. We have developed a registry of 926,535 human and 339,815 mouse candidate cis-regulatory elements, covering 7.9 and 3.4% of their respective genomes, by integrating selected datatypes associated with gene regulation, and constructed a web-based server (SCREEN; http://screen.encodeproject.org) to provide flexible, user-defined access to this resource. Collectively, the ENCODE data and registry provide an expansive resource for the scientific community to build a better understanding of the organization and function of the human and mouse genomes.11Nsciescopu