Virtual game, real threat
A 14-year-old girl tried to commit suicide after an 18-year-old man distributed a naked video of her on Facebook. Another 16-year-old girl has complained that a man is trying to blackmail her by threatening to advertise a nude photo of her on a social network. These are just two examples from a long list of similar incidents the police are currently dealing with.
Once upon a time, we would caution young girls against men they meet in the street, who pose as photographers or professional model agents looking for new talent; a man who promises to use his camera to bring out her "radiance." Today this "dangerous photographer" lurks in the cellphone and computer of every teenager. It may be invisible, but it is massive, threatening, and dangerous. The "shady photographer" is in the very technology of the virtual world.
While that photographer once upon a time distributed the pictures to all of his friends, maybe sold them or even perhaps reserved them for himself, today the situation is very different: He can distribute the "symbol" of his masculinity everywhere. He might also just threaten to do so unless the girl agrees to relations with him. Often, it doesn't even really interest him; What he wants is just the same proof of his manhood as his pre-technology predecessor; but the result can be devastating. Girls attempt suicide or simply fear leaving their homes. Sometimes, it causes these female youths mental damage. Anxiety, shame and the inability to deal with friends' giggles have a big effect, especially during the tender teenage years.
That's not all. In many cases, when an event of this sort relating to a male or female school-going youth reaches the school administration, it chooses to deal with the situation itself rather than going to the police. The school administration deals with the situation with explanations and discussions, keeping the issue within the school rather than taking it into the criminal system.
In the war on this growing phenomenon around the world, the age of the girls and young women who are the victims of such incidents is dropping lower and lower. We should focus on punishment, and only punishment, for all to see. In the Middle Ages, sinners were hanged in the town square; this is what we should do in these cases, metaphorically of course. These boys and men should be arrested; the criminal file hovering over their heads will teach them that their future, just like their victims' future, could be destroyed. They must learn how destructive and life threatening these dangerous games can be.
It's time to take off the gloves and stop hiding behind clich s and empty statements such as "the schools will deal with it." Such issues should be dealt with openly by the police.
Sixteen-year-old girls today are the 18- and 20-year-olds of previous decades. They are little women, or at least they think that they are, and this guides their actions. They want to be popular, beautiful and famous. They want to be courted and admired. But in fact their souls are still soft, draped with innocence, as is typical of their age. Sophisticated technology and growing permissiveness trip them up in the traps of adults. And here, it is our duty to be on guard and to protect them.
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