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Teenage girls bullied over sending 'sexy selfies'


Posted by Sally O'Brien, on 04/09/2014. Teenage girls bullied over sending 'sexy selfies'Tags: Parenting Teachers


Sexting has become such a problem in schools with young teenage girls that it has prompted The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre’ (DRCC) into taking action and creating a module available for transition years students called ‘BodyRight’, a sexual-awareness program.

Using phone apps such as VIber and Whatsapp, girls are being pressured to send inappropriate and intimate photos of themselves where they are then used in an exploitive way.

The DRCC regards this as ‘exploitation, bullying and harassment’ constituting this as sexual violence.

Leonie O’Dowd of DRCC told the Irish Independent that ‘sexting’ was increasingly prevalent and “youngsters don’t really understand the implications or the consequences of their actions, either for themselves or for their friends. “Some kids use it as a form of bullying. These intimate images can have a severe impact on those involved for the rest of their lives.

BodyRight will teach young people that it is not okay or appropriate to send intimate photos of themselves and it will teach teenagers the negative repercussions of what will happen if they do. From the DRCC:

“The Programme aims to increase awareness of the importance of respecting others and their integrity including their physical integrity; to allow young people to develop an understanding of what behaviours constitute sexual violence, harassment and sexualised bullying; to provide information on the law and to give young people a chance to consider and understand the meaning of consent to a sexual act”

The DRCC released their annual report yesterday that showed figures for 2013, which saw a ‘disturbing increase’ in calls to their office regarding sexual violence from that of 2012. With 78% of callers been female and 22% of callers were male. The DRCC offer therapy and support to victims of sexual violence.

Earlier this year, a group of Dublin web developers created a new app called ‘Selfiecop’which helps to deter and detect unsafe behaviour in kids and teens, particularly 'sexting'. 


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