All of this has led to a big question: Why? Why do so many women agree to unwanted sex? One answer is that their conditioning starts young. In a December study of sexting among to year-old girls, Sara E. Thomas of Northwestern University analyzed stories posted to an online, anonymous platform. She reports that most of the girls felt pressured to comply with requests to send naked photos of themselves to boys who demanded them. Some boys collect photos of girls like playing cards, assigning value to each image. Even girls whose images are considered valuable are cheapened. Today, teens still inhabit a culture that says that boys will be boys, and girls will be sluts.
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When Hannah Smith committed suicide after being viciously bullied on social media site Ask. We said we would force social media sites to be accountable for their lax moderation, and crack down on those tormenting teenagers to death with vile abuse. Why, then, less than a week after her funeral, did photos of a teenage girl performing oral sex on a boy in a field become the second worldwide trending topic on Twitter on Monday? And why were there endless jokes, insults and disapprobation slung her way, and not at the boy concerned? The incident happened during an Eminem concert at Slane Castle in Ireland. And immediately the girl was branded a slut online with hashtags: 'slanegirl' and 'slaneslut' fast becoming trends. When it comes to online safety, social media is repeatedly and unrepentantly failing teenagers. The usage of sites such as Twitter and Facebook has increased sharply over the past few years, and yet the care with which they are monitored seemingly has not. These social media suicides are a worryingy trend that shows no signs of slowing down, in spite of the damning press in the wake of its latest victim.
One of the Fastest Growing Forms of Cyberbullying
Once upon a time, only the wealthy and privileged could afford to have their portraits painted by a small, select circle of artists. With the advent of photography, parents of all backgrounds could have pictures of their children, which were coveted as documents of their development and a way to show off their innocent beauty and charm to family and friends. Today, with smartphones and social media, we all have in our hands the means to broadcast our pride and joy to the world. Ninety-two percent of American children have an online presence before the age of 2. Parents post nearly 1, images of their children online before their fifth birthday.
It was a way for the community to shame her for her adultery. Slut-shaming is a form of cyberbullying where girls are targeted on social media and bullied through degradation or humiliation for their sexuality. What this means is that girls are often ridiculed for the way they look, the way they dress and their presumed level of sexual activity. One-third of all middle and high school students experienced having someone make unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or gestures about them. While the methods vary, bullies often use social media sites to share explicit photos and videos. For instance, bullies and mean girls may take photos of the girls they are targeting and post rude or sexually explicit comments about their bodies. They also might engage in name-calling and sexual bullying. Sometimes a student might create an image of another teen that brands her a slut or shames her body in some way. For instance, in one situation teens created a series of multi-pane images accompanied by captions and posted these to Instagram.
