Scandalous: Middle-school girls invade Friendster

No, this isn't about the mysterious spots on Gwyneth's back. No, this scandal has more of a New York Magazine than New York Post feel to it.

It seems that Friendster has been overrun with 14-year-old private school girls. A number of young women, grinning in their photos with mouths full of metal, often surrounded by five or so middle-school clones, are claiming to be anywhere from 18 to far, far older (the most popular age they pick seems to be 21). Yet strangely they make reference to things like "Nightingale '08" and "Spence girls do it better." Their interests and testimonials are awfully heavy on the sleepaway camp references for a group of supposed 20-somethings.

They like Buckley boys, they make the sort of sexual innuendo people make after having maybe once gotten to second base (i.e. using said sort of terminology), they list their extracurricular activities; most importantly, they list their friends. Basically, they use Friendster as a clique-record-keeper. But Friendster does not just link them to fellow Interschool young women. There is, believe it or not, another possible audience for these sorts of profiles.

What exactly do these girls want with their "Serious Relationship and Dating, Men"? Think of the men who get off on girls with braces who like ballet, chillin' in the Hamptons, and horseback riding, and who can't wait till starting upper school at Riverdale. These girls are advertising themselves as wealthy jailbait, whether they like it or not.

While the online dating/networking/friend-linking service is ostensibly for those 18 and over, nothing stops people from claiming to be any legal age they feel like. Plenty of profiles have, say, a picture of Nikki Hilton, a claim that "Nikki" is 76 years old, that "her" occupation is U.S. senator, and so forth. In other words, surfer beware.