Secrets Exposed: How Teens See Digital Harassment

Teenagers think the online world may be a place to explore but they often land into trouble. Sharing sexual content is part of the teen conversations online. The content start off as consensual between teens. However, things can go wrong. It turns the situation from being consensual sexting to nonconsensual sexting. This is when teens share intimate content without permission. This type of behavior is called image-based sexual harassment (IBSH) or image-based sexual abuse (IBSA). Imagine a scenario where you are online chatting and someone sends you an intimate selfie. If you share that selfie without the permission of the person then you have committed an act of IBSH. Now, imagine you were having a conversation with a person you had never met and they started to make you feel uncomfortable. You sent them a message asking them to stop yet they did not stop. That is IBSA. The situation can become a dangerous situation. It takes place in the digital world. However, it can have effects in the real world. People who do it do it for fun. In a cruel twist of irony girls can face the brunt of the torment. Here is why, it is because they are the ones who are forced to receive such images. They are the ones who have to face being called names. The fact that they get called names can be due to an image that was sent without their permission. Online, the teens get to speak freely.

They can say what they like. They say that they don't think these acts are harmful. They think they are funny. A study was done to understand why and how these things happen. The group doing the study asked 223 teenagers about their experiences. Some were victims. Some were the ones who did it. Some were both. The study was done in groups. The study found that the boys were the ones to do the IBSH. They are the ones who sent unwanted images. They also share images that were not theirs to share. The girls are the ones who end up being the ones who receive the unwanted images. Boys believed their acts of violence was harmless. They believed what they were doing was not a crime. Teenagers think these things are normal. They think they are funny and it is just part of the way teens interact online. It looks like there is a need for sex education in schools. Teenagers seem to need to be taught about these behaviors. They need to know the impact of these acts. They need to know that what they are doing is wrong. In a nutshell, teens need to be taught to respect others. Teens need to be taught what they can say and do online. They should be taught what happens if they send or receive these images. They need to know that sexual harassment is not normal and it is not right. They need to know that they should not share images that are not theirs to share. However, there are many things still that need to be understood.

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