How Gay Teens Can Protect Themselves Online

The Internet has made it easy for millions of people around the world to communicate and be seen. Never before in history has there been a better venue for instant access to a person's life, via the Internet and MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, personal blogs, web pages, photo-sharing sites, and countless others that have led the way for millions to create a presence online.

One can post not only his or her interests, where he or she works or goes to school, hopes, dreams, likes and dislikes, but current, up-to-date pictures. But what happens when teenagers get caught up in the glory of online exposure? Do they even stop to think about what it is they are posting in regard to risk factor and personal information?

Pedophiles exist on the Internet in countless numbers. There have been well-documented television shows such as Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator, where men think they are meeting a young teenage girl or boy in a chat room, then go and meet in real life, but instead of a child, they come face-to-face with a camera crew, and are ultimately busted. Not only are gay and lesbian youth a target for these types of predators, but may also be singled out by homophobes and countless other people, some in so-called moral decency groups, that may want to make an example out of a flamboyant gay teen, and ultimately, cause them psychological harm.

Some may argue that the gay teenager has a right to freedom of expression, and I couldn't agree more, but the world is far too dangerous of a place to be careless, especially around the age that he or she may be coming out and at this young age, do not have an inkling of consequence.

There are some sites where there are personal photographs, suggestive to say the least, comments made by friends that should be kept private, videos, text messages made public and more, that not only show sexual preference but also contain personal info about their high school, groups, bands, where they will be meeting later on and more!

This type of carelessness is like an open invitation to a deranged person, who may become fixated on a young individual, for the wrong reasons. I have seen sites where the videos where cute and funny, but with grown men leaving comments, some even posting their pictures with their own little children. Grown men should not be interested in the sites of gay teenage boys, and this is a red danger flag for the targeted youth.

So what is a gay teen to do if they want to express themselves? If they are on MySpace, simply set your profile to private. Then only your friends can see your page. If your page is set to private, then your friends will be protected as well. Unfortunately most teens, regardless of sexual orientation, will not do this, for they want to show the world who they are. If this is the case, there are some small things all teens can do to protect themselves from predators and other dangerous people.

Number one: Do not reveal where you live! It is easy to go to a small town and find out a teen's high school if a predator knows the name of the town.

Number two: Fudge your age. A lot of people say they are 99 years old, putting in the wrong age so people won't know how old they really are. If you aren't a public figure, this can be a good deterrent to prevent identity theft as well.

Number three: Do not put down where you regularly hang out. This is the most obvious. Again, if you need to communicate with friends other than text messaging, set your MySpace profile to private. You can always switch it back around again after your personal plans for the night are deleted.

Number four: Don't use real names, even first names. Many people use aliases when online, and this can protect your identity. After all, a regular picture is just a picture, and there are countless photographs of people online, though some people's photos are used in identity theft, but a younger person is less vulnerable in this way.

Number five: Be careful about accepting certain friend requests from strangers on MySpace and other sites. A pedophile can trick a youth into pretending they are someone around their own age. This is easily done as well by using fake photos and lingo. If you decide to set your profile to private, you may get requests from people who pretend they are like you, so they can see your personal info. Be cautious, especially if your profile is already set on private.

With these simple precautions, a gay teen can enjoy expressing themselves, and utilize the wonderful world of great online sites such as MySpace without drawing unwanted attention from the wrong people.