Digital “Sexploitation:” An Extreme Example of Cyberbullying

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This story out of New Berlin, WI, reports about very extreme case of cyberbullying.  It is reported that an 18-year-old male student posed as a female student on Facebook and tricked other male students into sending him nude pictures or videos of themselves.  There were at least 31 male students who apparently did so, and the offender in this case also reportedly coerced several of them to engage in sexual acts with him by threatening that he would post the pictures online and/or send them to others in the school.

We have certainly heard more and more stories lately of teens taking naked pictures of themselves or others and distributing them electronically.  Like anything, it is important to educate students about the risks inherent in engaging in these kinds of activities.  For example, teens all around the country are being charged with possession or distribution of child pornography for these behaviors–not to mention the social implications associated with this.  By the way, here is a short, but humorous video that can be used to educate youth about this phenomenon.

8 Comments

  1. I think it is time to face the facts. Lesson learned…hopefully. Yes they were tricked. Yes I feel sorry for their embarassment. Yes I think it is their fault. They took the pictures. They sent them. They don't need a scapegoat. They need to face the facts. Lesson learned…hopefully…

  2. I don't think we need to blame the kids who sent the pictures. Should they have sent them? No, but kids learn from their mistakes. The issue here is that the boy who misrepresented himself, then blackmailed the boys into during sexual acts, is the only one who committed a crime. He is the one at fault. These kids are going to have issues for the rest of their lifes from this one act of stupidity. They don't also need to be blamed for it.

  3. This is just sick. The boy was obviously gay and tormented to the point when he had to do this for any affection. I doesn't excuse his actions, but we need to look into it more.

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