If there’s one industry which has thrived in the internet age, it’s porn. Thanks to the fact that practically everyone now has a broadband connection and a smartphone, the sheer accessibility of porn from almost anywhere in the world has made it an almost unavoidable occurrence when online.
Although it’s not to everyone’s taste, porn is perfectly legal as long as the performers and everyone involved is above the age of sexual consent. Unfortunately, a combination of kids with smartphones and a lack of proper sex education has meant that sexting and revenge porn are commonplace in schools across the UK. When those involved are under 16, things become problematic, with explicit images used to bully and intimidate in classrooms around the country.
A 14-year-old boy recently became the youngest person in Britain to be convicted of a revenge porn offence after selling two explicit images of his also-underage ex-girlfriend to a friend after she asked him to destroy them following their breakup. Chillingly, although only two images were distributed, police found 170 images that he was planning to share on his desktop, laptop and smartphone when they were seized.
Are schools doing enough?
One of the main issues with the story is the way it demonstrates that teenagers and young people don’t appear to appreciate the seriousness of sexting and explicit messaging, regarding it as little more than banter – this is where the problem stems from.
The technological advances of the past few years mean it is therefore not enough to simply talk about the birds and the bees when it comes to sexual education provided by schools. Due attention needs to be paid to educating children about sharing explicit images of themselves in terms of what it means for their own self-respect, other people’s perception of them and how it could affect the rest of their lives – what if they are found when applying for a job or for a university place?
Unfortunately, the current government guidance on sex education is fourteen years old, predating the internet as we know it today, and a 2013 Ofsted report found that sex and relationships education was inadequate in 40% of British schools – while some schools might cover the issues that surround sexting, others will rely on this outdated government guidance. They need to take the initiative and cover these topics on their own, because this is an issue that is growing, with four out of ten teenagers having sent at least one sext according to the NSPCC.
Is the government doing enough?
A new amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill that specifies a potential two-year jail sentence, quadruple the previous six month sentence, demonstrates that the government has highlighted this as an ever-growing problem. With 75% of men admitting to recording themselves during sex in one recent survey, this is an issue that leaves women in general, not just children, open to abuse and degradation. The United States is playing its part, with Hunter Moore, the founder of original revenge porn website Is Anyone Up?, pleading guilty to hacking and identity theft in the pursuit of nude photos in a Los Angeles court and now facing up to seven years in prison.
Could the UK government do more, though? Apart from introducing harsher sentences (something that will probably be considered should this new measure not curb the spate of revenge porn offences being committed), the guidelines and surrounding laws that involve child abuse and the Sex Offenders Register are fairly concrete. As mentioned above, they should be looking at updating the sex education guidance for schools to follow, but the Coalition is split on the issue, with Nick Clegg in favour of the update and David Cameron taking the opposite position. As such, it is unlikely that anything will be decided upon until well after the General Election in May.
Are parents doing enough?
Any parent would say that they are doing the best anyone can do, and that their job has become much more difficult when smartphones mean they can be completely in the dark about the way their child interacts with their friends and social group. While there are ways in which a parent can monitor and limit what their child does online and on their phone, this sort of controlling approach may alienate them.
Trust is a difficult thing to commit to as a conscientious parent, especially if they’re not sure that the child will make the right decisions in cases like these, but a lot can be achieved by having a frank discussion with them about the risks and issues surrounding the sending of explicit messages. The NSPCC suggests ensuring that they know what is acceptable to send in a photo, that they understand the potential consequences of sharing an intimate image and that they will have parental support and understanding should they be affected by the issue. They also have a helpline (along with one run by ChildLine) for young people to call if they feel the need to talk to someone about it anonymously.
Are social media networks doing enough?
Social media networks have struggled with their own policing over the years – trolls abusing women on Twitter, for instance, are able to continue simply by deleting their account and setting up a new one. They have attracted widespread criticism for this, but their user networks are so vast and there is so much information being shared at any one time that the only way they can pinpoint inappropriate content is when it is flagged or reported and brought to their attention.
In any case, the majority of explicit images are sent and passed around via the likes of WhatsApp and Snapchat, which are messaging apps rather than social network apps. There are no regulations around what can be sent or who can pass it on, so every message sent is done at one’s own risk.
Are apps doing enough to protect their users?
Could these apps do more to protect their users? Well, WhatsApp have introduced a basic encryption feature for Android users that doesn’t protect photos or videos, but it promises the feature will be made available to other operating system users and be able to protect multimedia messages, which is a start. Although images sent via the app will still be able to be passed on in subsequent messages, they won’t be accessible to hackers from outside the system.
Similarly, Snapchat has introduced measures designed to let users know if their message has been screenshotted by somebody using third-party software – while the app has always notified them of that, third-party software can be used to save a message secretly. Under these new measures, though, users will be able to see who has saved a message using any piece of software, so if they end up being leaked and passed around they will know who might have done it.
Step in the right direction
Whether these measures will reduce the amount of young people sharing explicit images of themselves remains to be seen, but it’s a step in the right direction as far as the apps are concerned.
While schools could be taking the initiative to better educate young people about sexting and revenge porn and the government could be helping them out more than it currently is, parents are supported by the NSPCC and other organisations to tackle this issue both pre-emptively and as a reactive measure. Working in conjunction with new privacy features on popular messaging apps, they may well be the people who make a difference in this particular battle.
Yasmine Bachir is a content writer and blogger.
