More than one in five girls experience ‘cyberflashing’
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
More than a fifth of girls have been victims of cyberflashing incidents, according to a survey into online harm faced by women.
The survey of 13-to 21-year-olds also found that more than a third had experienced sexist comments, a fifth have been sexually harassed and 16 per cent said they have been pressured to share nude pictures.
A futher 13 per cent said they had been victim to online stalking, according to the survey, which has been commissioned by Girlguiding.
Almost eight out of ten girls and young women have experienced online harm, which is having a negative impact on their mental health, the survey found.
Almost all of those who have been attacked online said they had experienced negative emotions and more than three quarters said their ordeal had made them feel “anxious, angry, scared, depressed or less confident in themselves”.
Just 15 per cent of the 1,000 women and girls, who were surveyed last month, think that social media is a safe place for them.
The figures have been released to mark Safer Internet Day and are part of the charity’s lobbying of MPs over the proposed Online Safety Bill.
On 9 February we’ll be marking #SaferInternetDay, highlighting girls' and young women's experiences online.
— Girlguiding (@Girlguiding) February 7, 2022
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While Girlguiding said the planned legislation “is a big step forward” it added “there is still work to be done to ensure blanket protection”.
“Girlguiding believes girls and young women should be able to use the internet freely, safely and without fear,” added Girlguiding chief executive Angela Salt.
“Sadly, our research highlights that there is still a long way to go before this is reality, which is why we are calling on the government to ensure violence against girls and women online, and it’s devastating impact is recognised and included within the Online Safety Bill.”
Girlguiding says tougher laws are need to combat online harm due to increasingly sophisticated tactics being used on online abusers. This includes using artificial intelligence (AI) to use deepfake video and imagery to target victims.
A small proportion of girls said that their images had been made nude using editing software.
The survey also found that girls with disabilities are “significantly more likely” to have experienced sexist comments that thier peers, as well as more likely to have been pressured to send pictures of themselves.
In addition, incidents of bullying and trolling are higher among 13- to 15-year-olds compared with older age groups, “suggesting it may stem from senior school culture”, said Girlguiding.
Measures to better protect children in the Online Safety Bill include making age verification a legal requirement for pornography websites in the UK.
Websites that fail to act could be fined up to a tenth of their global turnover.
Age verification for porn sites has long been called for by children’s campaigners to limit young people’s exposure to pornography.
“It is too easy for children to access pornography online,” said digital minister Chris Philp.
“Parents deserve peace of mind that their children are protected online from seeing things no child should see.”
