Is implying that a teenager is a virgin defamatory? Has our society really sunk to such a level of depravity?

A Dallas family has sued Australia's Virgin Mobile phone company, claiming it caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and Web site advertisements without consent.

The family of Alison Chang says Virgin Mobile grabbed the picture from Flickr, Yahoo Inc.'s popular photo-sharing Web site, and failed to credit by name the photographer who took the photo.

Chang's photo was part of a Virgin Mobile Australia campaign called "Are You With Us Or What?" It features pictures downloaded from Flickr superimposed with the company's ad slogans.

The picture of 16-year-old Chang flashing a peace sign was taken at an April church car wash by Alison's youth counselor, who posted it that day on his Flickr page, according to Alison's brother, Damon. In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend," over Alison's picture.

The ad also says "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom.

The experience damaged Alison's reputation and exposed her to ridicule from her peers and scrutiny from people who can now Google her, the family charged in the lawsuit.

"It's the tag line; it's derogatory," said Damon Chang, 27. "A lot of her church friends saw it."

Now i'll agree that the use of the picture without credit or permission is probably actionable -- but I'm stunned by that last line. Calling a 16-year-old a virgin is derogatory? Her reputation has been harmed because people at her church have seen it? Are you kidding? What do they teach at that church?

I can certainly understand if they implied that she was sexually immoral -- but to argue that Virgin Mobile defamed Alison Chang for saying that she was not engaged in sexual activity seems to be a stretch. To argue that her reputation is damaged by calling her a virgin seems to indicate that she prefers to be known as sexually active, or even promiscuous. What does this say about her values and those of her family, church, and larger community?

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