What Is Sexual Abuse?

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Pressure to share nude images often comes from dating partners, not just strangers.

Coercive image requests are sexual harassment and hurt teens' mental health.

Online safety for teens requires teaching relationship skills such as consent, boundaries, and communication.

Ever since we’ve had access to the internet, we have been worried about strangers interacting with children online. This makes sense. The high stakes of online grooming and sextortion mean that we must prepare children to be skeptical of online-only connections and recognize the warning signs of exploitation. Young people are on board. While many form meaningful online-only friendships, youth consistently report wanting stronger privacy settings and protection from unwanted contact from strangers.

But what if it’s a boyfriend asking for the photo? Not just once, but again. And again. And again.

A study reminds us that while we tend to focus on risks from online strangers, pressure to send nude images often comes from someone our kids know.

The majority of teens today do not engage in sexting, or sharing intimate images, whether with strangers or people they know. It also isn’t rare. According to recent data collected by Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin, co-founders of the Cyberbullying Research Center, about one-third of teens had either sent or received explicit content.

Sharing nudes is never without risk. But when photos are shared without pressure or coercion and stay with the intended recipient, the research suggests the mental health impacts can be minimal.

Unfortunately, unauthorized sharing is common. Hinduja and Patchin found that fully half of teens who shared a sexual image or video had it shared with others without their permission or were subjected to sextortion. This violation can have significant negative impacts on young people's mental health, school performance, and social lives.

Image-Based Sexual Harassment

A group of researchers recently set out to better........

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