Naughty nude pic epidemic

What do Kanye West's ex-girlfriend Amber Rose, US politician Joe Stagni and millions of giggling teens have in common? Believe it or not, they are all into sending sexy pics of themselves by mobile phone. This practice, knows as sexting, has been going on for a while but has now hit the big time as the pictures start popping out into the public domain.

Just this week model Rose was in trouble for allegedly sending X-rated pictures of herself to Safaree Samuels, the boyfriend of rap star Nicki Minaj. The female rapper apparently found the pics of the sexy model when she was scrolling through Samuels' phone. One allegedly showed a nude Rose touching herself. Rose denies sending the pics, but Minaj is fuming.

In the US, politicians have proved they are right on the button when it comes to the latest trends - well, certainly those related to sex. Last month there was the drama over the sexy Twitter messages that led to the downfall of New York Representative Anthony Weiner. He's the fool who accidentally publicly tweeted a "bulging crotch" photo that he was sending to a female follower.

Now a Louisiana politician, Joe Stagni, 47, has been bust for sexting a saucy photo of himself to a female employee. The picture of the married lawmaker showed him standing in front of a mirror in his underpants with his hand holding up his shirt to show his soft, bulging belly. It sounds horrendous!

And I'm afraid this is only the tip of the iceberg. Hackers claim they have pictures of at least 50 female celebrities stolen from their cellphones. These include High School star Vanessa Hudgens, Justin Bieber's girlfriend Selena Gomez and actress Scarlett Johansson. Now I can understand that many of these girls don't mind showing off their bodies. But why would they send the pics by mobile phone or leave them on their phones to be hacked into?

Judging from some of the pics I have seen, most don't seem to be studio-posed shots which are then transferred to their phones. Oh, no, these are of the "hold the camera and stand in front of a mirror" style. In most cases, they are not flattering. One of the latest to make the rounds was that of Rihanna's ex, Bobby Brown, the 21-year-old singer who recently dyed his hair blond. His "camera in the mirror" snap showed that when it comes to hair colour, the rug did not match the curtains!

While I am desperate not to sound like an old fuddy-duddy, what blows my mind is when a girl sends off a nude pic of herself to a boyfriend when their relationship is in trouble. Is it meant to make him realise what he is missing out on or make him feel jealous? Surely by now she must realise how easy it is for him to press send and give all his mates a peek at what he is giving up.

We all know why the schoolkids are doing it - they don't know any better. I hate it when I sound like my parents, but it's hard to believe the teens of today don't realise the implications of what they are doing. A study from the Pew Research Centre reported that 15% of teens aged 12 to 17 said they had received sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude images of someone they know on their cellphones. From what I have seen, that figure is understated and it's certainly on the rise.

Lawmakers are trying to clamp down on this in the US and a number of pupils have been charged with possession of pornography after sending and receiving nude pictures. But will it make a difference? I doubt it. Only two decades ago, I hear, schoolkids passed notes to people they fancied in school. When I was in school we used text messages to chat. But nowadays, teens seem to think nothing of using their cellphones to pass on saucy messages and nude pics, not realising the consequences. Instant texting, pictures and videos have become an integral part of courtship behaviour - and try telling anyone to stop flirting!

So what's a well-bred lady (or a man of distinction) to do? I like the advice given by Reese Witherspoon: "When I came up in this business, if you made a sex tape, you were embarrassed and you hid it under your bed. And if you took naked pictures of yourself on your cellphone, you hid your face. Hide your face!"