MPs to debate the growing problem of young girls being pressurised into ‘sexting’

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sexting

MPs to debate the growing problem of young girls being pressurised into ‘sexting’

A teenage girl sends a naked image of herself to her boyfriend’s mobile phone. It’s not something she makes a habit of doing, but she wants to express the young couple’s intimacy. They split up, and she soon discovers that he has circulated that private message to all his friends – even to her parents – with a few button clicks.

Her story, told by Richard Piggin, deputy chief executive of charity Beatbullying, is one of many.

“Sexting” – the peer-to-peer sharing of explicit images – is increasingly common among young people, but can be anything but harmless fun. Amid growing concern from parents and campaigners, one MP will today demand that mobile phone companies do more to educate them about the potential dangers of this most modern method of flirting.

Ann Coffey, the Labour MP for Stockport, has tabled a motion set to be heard this morning. Drawing parallels with alcohol and gambling industry-funded advertising campaigns about the safe use of their products, she will demand that companies fund advice for teenagers.

She is pushing for “sexting” information leaflets to be provided with new mobile phones and wants the industry to pay for TV and press advertising, and to promote ChildLine. Mrs Coffey will say that the leaflet should “explain how, at the click of a button an image intended for private use, can lead to public humiliation and even fall into the hands of sophisticated sexual predators”.

The move follows the report by an independent parliamentary inquiry into online child protection, published last week, in which MPs wrote that “sexting” was of “great concern” to parents.

The problem is growing, according to Beatbullying, which carried out a survey in 2009 that showed 38 per cent of children aged 11-18 had received a sexually explicit or distressing text or email.

“The research back in 2009 uncovered for the first time the sorts of things young people were doing and the worrying nature of it,” said Mr Piggin, “but it is concerning that young people are finding it increasingly normal”.

This view is backed by research at Plymouth University which found that 40 per cent of 14 to 16-year-olds said their friends engaged in “sexting”. Research by Andy Phippen, professor of social responsibility in IT, found that 40 per cent of teenagers saw nothing wrong with a topless image and 15 per cent had no problem with naked images.

All organisations agree that criminalising those involved is not viable, but that education is the only path. A majority of teachers are aware of the problem, said Jon Baggaley, of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, but the young people “didn’t realise that adults knew this was going on” and they were able to discuss this.

Sexting by numbers

38 per cent The number of teenagers who have received a sexually explicit text or email.

27 per cent The percentage of young people who said sexting happens regularly or all the time.

1 in 4 Teenagers have received an offensive sexual image.

Figures from Beatbullying and Plymouth University

Bully: Documentary Film

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Bullying, Children, documentary, film, parents, suicide

More info:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marlo-thomas/bully_b_1382354.html?ref=uk

I’m not a movie reviewer, but I strongly recommend that you take your child by the hand this weekend — or several children — to see the new documentary film, Bully. The only problem is, you might not be able to find the film at your neighborhood cineplex. That’s because the Motion Picture Association of America has stamped the film “Unrated,” after a long and noisy battle over its original R-rating. So now it is up to the individual theatre owners to decide whether or not they will exhibit Bully. I urge them to do so.

But make no mistake, even if you have to drive your kids across state lines to see the film, your kids need to be in the audience — because, whether you know it or not, they may be among the 13 million American children affected by bullying every year. For them, this is more than just a movie. It is real life.

And in this real life, parents have been all but invisible — invisible in the school cafeteria, invisible on the playground, invisible on the school bus and online — unwittingly abandoning their children to face this torment alone. The film makes this painfully clear, whether it’s the dad who confidently recites that timeworn rationalization about bullying — “Kids will be kids” — or the school administrator who blindly insists to a worried parent that her students are “good as gold on that school bus” — intercut with a clip of a small boy being choked on that very bus. We come away from Bully feeling defeated and enraged.

Interestingly, the MPAA’s controversial decision about the film’s rating — based on its use of profanity and other violent language — could end up working in the children’s favor. Research indicates that bullied kids are not comfortable revealing their dangerous predicaments to their parents. But now that the rating has forced kids to see the film with an adult, the movie can do the revealing for them. And children will at last feel their parents there, by their side, seeing and understanding what it’s like to leave their house and wander unprotected into a scary world.

Adults may be horrified by what they see in Bully, but the kids know this world all too well. Directed by Lee Hirsch, the film captures the wrenching drama of schoolyard bullying — the hitting and harassing, the tormenting and tears, the grave suffering — in unflinching detail, as it zooms in on the daily battles waged by five bullied children, two of whom ultimately commit suicide. But sitting through the film will be worth every harrowing minute, especially to the children, whose only hope against this ever deepening crisis is the visible and vocal support of the adults in their lives.

The MPAA’s decision has incited a storm of protest. When Bully was first given an R-rating, a 17-year-old Michigan high-schooler, Katy Butler — who has been bullied herself — posted a petition on Change.org, demanding that the MPAA change the rating. When such high-profile and conscientious activists as Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp joined in the protest, the MPAA was effectively arm-twisted into changing the movie’s rating to a still restrictive “Unrated.”

But while all of this debate continues, the sad fact is: children are still dying at the hands of bullying.

This is why I am urging all adults — parents, guardians, caregivers — to take your kids to see Bully this weekend. I also encourage educators and school administrators to arrange school-wide field trips. Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned since launching our anti-bullying campaign last year — with the Ad Council, the Department of Education and funders like AOL, Facebook, the Waitt Family Foundation and the Free To Be Foundation (who have been major funders of the Bully Project) — it’s that, if we are ever to eradicate this deadly, modern-day scourge, we need to face the problem head-on — and together.

One In Four Children Subjected To Cyberbullying, Study Finds

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Cyberbullying

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02/06/one-in-four-children-cyberbullying_n_1257916.html?ref=uk

Hundreds of thousands of young people are being subjected to cyberbullying, with many being victimised for a year or more, new research suggests.

A study published on Tuesday reveals the long term impact of this abuse, with youngsters reluctant to go to school, living in fear of their safety and even resorting to self-harming or attempting suicide.

The Beatbullying survey of 4,605 children and young people in the UK, found that just over one in four (28%) 11-16-year-olds say they have been the victim of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is the bullying of another person through technology, such as mobile phones or the internet.

In more than a quarter of cases, the individual concerned was continuously targeted, suggesting that one in 13 secondary school children have faced persistent cyberbullying, the report claims.

The latest Virtual Violence II study says that with around 4.38 million secondary-aged children in the UK, it means that around 350,222 children have been the victim of persistent cyberbullying.

Of those that said they had been persistently cyberbullied, 23% said it last for a year or more, with 40% reporting the abuse lasting for weeks or months.

The study, which was commissioned by Nominet Trust and backed by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), reveals that the effects of cyberbullying are far-reaching.

A fifth of victims said that fear of bullies made them reluctant to go to school, while 19% said their confidence and dropped and 14% said they did not feel safe.

In addition, five per cent said they had resorted to self-harming and three percent admitted they had attempted suicide.

And it is not just young people that have been the victims of cyberbullying.

The study, published to mark Safer Internet Day, found that one in 10 teachers say they have faced cyberbullying.

Almost half of the 339 teachers questioned (48%) said they have heard or witnessed colleagues being harassed.

Nine in 10 (91%) of the teachers surveyed said this bullying was an isolated incident that had arisen out of something that happened in school.

But the study also claims that cyberbullying has left some teachers afraid for their safety, or that of their family, while others said they felt emotionally and mentally violated, or that their teaching had suffered as a result.

Beatbullying chief executive Emma-Jane Cross said: “Cyberbullying continues to be a dangerous problem for a significant number of young people and we must not ignore its complex and often devastating effects.

“We as a society need to take responsibility for both preventing such harmful and anti-social behaviour, and dealing effectively with incidents of virtual violence when they occur.

“An integrated approach where we see Government, schools, parents, internet service providers and charities like Beatbullying all working together to keep our must vulnerable safe.”

A second study of more than 1,300 teachers suggests that while the majority of school staff are confident that children are safe from internet harm at school, many are concerned that this is not the case at home.

Some 88% of the teachers questioned agreed or strongly agreed that their pupils know how to use the internet safely at school.

But only 58% thought that pupils had the skills and knowledge to use the internet safely at home.

The survey, commissioned by Vital, the Open University’s Professional Development programme for teachers, also found that 91% of secondary school teachers and 52% of those working in primaries reported that their pupils have experienced cyberbullying.

Skinny male models and new fashions fuel eating disorders among men

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'bigorexia', 'manorexia', anorexia, binge eating, Body Image, bulimia, Bullying, Eating Disorders, fashion industry, Male Eating Disorders, mannequin, masculinity, skinny male models, stigma

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/16/skinny-models-fuel-male-eating-disorders?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Skinny models, clothes designed for unrealistic body shapes and pressures at work are all fuelling an increase in eating disorders and body anxiety, as well as a rise in demand for cosmetic surgery. For men. Fat is no longer just a feminist issue, since the number of men suffering problems with food and body image is rising fast, with experts suggesting that 40% of binge eaters and a quarter of anorexia and bulimia sufferers are male – compared with 10% a decade ago – while the equivalent rates for women have not changed significantly.

Along with the rise in so-called “manorexia” is the body dysmorphia condition of “bigorexia” – men who become ever more muscle-bound in their obsessive pursuit of the perfect six-pack body.

Eating disorder campaigners are worried that a shift in men’s sizing in fashion is exacerbating the crisis and have criticised a British mannequin manufacturer for its latest super-skinny male model that they say could encourage vulnerable boys and men to starve themselves in a repeat of the “size zero” trend that encouraged many women to endanger their health. Next month Rootstein will debut a mannequin with a 35in chest and a 27in waist – 12in smaller than the average British man.

The firm said it was just reflecting demand and a shift to gender-blending fashion led by the slim and cool: Mark Ronson, Russell Brand, designer Hedi Slimane, and a new crop of male models, like Calvin Klein’s Tomek Szmulewicz and Top Man’s Sam Bennett. It talked of allowing “the boys a little of what the girls were getting with a beautifully angular physique that’s all about the youthful thrill of life on the edge”.

The mannequin’s designer, Kevin Arpino, said demand was up for smaller models. “It is a collection dictated by current fashion trends for skinny jeans and very tight tailoring, as seen everywhere from Topman to Gucci and in the edgier fashion magazines like Numéro. It’s a trend which you can see in celebrities and rock stars – Russell Brand has a little bit to do with it. But I am sure that muscle boys will have their time again.”

But for Rob Richman, 35, a recovering anorexic from London, it’s a deeply worrying shift. “I’m staggered, shocked, at what the fashion industry is doing now, trying to mould men to aspire to a different shape than one that is natural, the same as they did with women. Between the tiny sizes and the six-pack look, the pressure on men just seems to have escalated,” he said.

“In my early 30s I couldn’t get clothes to fit me and I would have to buy girls’ jeans; now I can get tiny sizes on the High Street. You’re telling teenage boys to reach unrealistic and unhealthy sizes. Of course you get guys like Pete Doherty and Stephen Merchant who are naturally tall and thin, but this is about pressure to conform to a false ideal. We should allow men and women to be the different shapes and sizes they naturally are.”

Richman, who developed his eating disorder aged 12 after years of vicious bullying at his public school, said he used to be the only man at treatment clinics or hospitals. “Now I’m never the only guy. Ten years ago if a guy went to his GP it’s unlikely they would think of him having anorexia.

“Now all the ones with the really chronic levels are the men.”

But whether men are developing the “excessively muscular or excessively skeletal” shape, said Dr John Morgan, a leading eating order specialist, the risks are high.

Eating disorders have the highest morbidity and mortality rates of all psychiatric illnesses. Bullying can be a major trigger towards eating disorders in boys as young as seven.

“Ironically the government’s anti-obesity campaign has had a flip effect of making perhaps slightly overweight boys more likely to be picked on and bullied. Interesting that, while one in four children are overweight, two in three think they are,” said Dr Morgan.

“The rates of body image disparities are indeed rising among men. Ten years ago a young woman and a gay man suffered similar rates of risk while the attitude of the heterosexual male was much more ‘we’ve got beer bellies because we’re men and we don’t care’, but now that’s changed quite significantly.

“There’s a broader crisis of masculinity in our society and men are facing the same growing pains that women went through in the 50s and 60s.

“Men are being presented with many more choices, and while choice is liberating, for many young men they struggle through and there remains a lot of stigma attached to them admitting weakness; it’s such a threat to the male identity.

“The difference between men and women,” Dr Morgan went on, “tends to be that men focus on shape more than weight, and also men have the extra issue of being expected to be an ideal which is not incompatible with health, so George Clooney might have a great body but we’d also expect him to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, whereas Keira Knightley would struggle with the mountain, but that would be expected.”

The eating disorder charity Beat protested furiously at the Rootstein mannequins. A spokeswoman for Beat said that men and eating disorders was an issue that now had to be taken seriously and the charity was campaigning hard for more awareness among GPs.

“More and more men are coming forward. Generally speaking, there is just as much pressure on guys as women to have a certain body shape. Imagery presented as something to attain, skinny styles, and making sizes smaller, it’s all a dangerous ideal,” she said. “Men are subject to the same insecurities around their body and self-image as women are.”

Former TV host Steve Blacknell, 57, developed bulimia months after starting a new job in the image-obsessed music industry.

“The pressure to be thin and lovely is the same whether you’re a girl or a bloke in that world, and it’s impossible, just as the washboard stomach is an unreachable thing.

“I’d take down and burn every image on those men’s magazines and advertising hoardings of rippling abs, along with those mannequins.

“It’s hard enough being a bloke coping with an eating disorder – imagine then having to look at images like that, imagine the pressure.

“I work with the corporate world now, with men who know that how you look is very much part of the package you are presenting and so how you look is important.”

And that workplace image is what is fuelling the increase in men going for cosmetic surgery, said Liz Dale, director of the Harley Medical Group. The company has seen a 55% increase in men having “tummy tucks” and a 23% rise in Botox treatments, in the first two months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. “Men are a lot less embarrassed than they would have been 10 years ago. Now they are quite proud of looking after themselves and coming in for Botox and skin peels. They don’t want to look like celebs, they want to look thinner and healthier. We see a lot of City men where the pressure is more pronounced to look good,” said Dale.

John Updike wrote in a 1993 essay: “Inhabiting a male body is much like having a bank account; as long as it’s healthy, you don’t think much about it. Compared to the female body, it is a low-maintenance proposition: a shower now and then, trim the fingernails every ten days, a haircut once a month.”

Lord Byron thought having to shave every day was as bad as women having to deal with the pains of childbirth. Although Byron had his own issues with food – he was a binge-eater, according to Dr David Veale, consultant psychiatrist and co-author of Overcoming Body Image Problems – neither he nor Updike would have recognised the expectations placed on the modern man.

“There is still greater pressure on women than men,” said Veale. “But undoubtedly some men are more vulnerable – they put all their worth and identity into their appearance. At the severer end of the spectrum it is just as common to have a male sufferer as a woman.

“Eating disorders in women may well be more biologically driven with genetic links, but for men it seems to have a more sociological aspect. An individual who is teased or bullied or humiliated or suffers emotional neglect at a crucial stage of their life obviously is going to feel that impact.

“Generally human beings go around thinking we are a lot more attractive than we actually are, and the greatest paradox is that men with eating disorders are actually more unattractive the harder they try to sculpt themselves into the perfect aesthetic, not because of their bodies but because of the behaviours and their obsessions.”

PERFECT FIGURES

■ Byron, Kafka, Elvis Presley, Elton John, Uri Geller and John Prescott all suffered from eating disorders.

■ The average British man is 5ft 10in tall, has a 39in waist and weighs 13 stone, heavier than most fellow Europeans.

■ The Royal College of Psychiatrists estimated last year that one in every 1,000 young men and seven in 1,000 young women have an eating disorder.

• Symptoms of anorexia include worrying about weight, exercising more, and being unable to stop losing weight. In men and boys, erections and wet dreams stop and testicles shrink.

■ Overall male cosmetic surgery grew by 21% last year, including an 80% rise breast reductions. The most popular treatment remains nose surgery

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/05/skinny-male-mannequins-eating-disorder?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487