Nearly a third of teenage girls have been sexually harassed online by children their own age, a study from Childnet suggests.
Some 31% of girls aged 13-17 have been targeted with unwanted sexual attention, compared with 11% of boys.
One in 10 of the 1,559 teens interviewed reported receiving threats of sexual violence, including rape.
The government is currently preparing new guidance on how schools deal with sexual harassment.
Other findings of the report are:
- 26% of teenagers have been a victim of online rumours about their sexual behaviour
- 12% of teenagers claimed they have been pressured by partners to share naked images
- 33% of girls and 14% of boys report sexual comments posted on images they share online
- 23% know of someone secretly taking sexual images of another person and sharing them online
- Half report seeing revenge porn - sexual images taken and shared without consent - circulating online
- Almost a third (31%) have seen people their own age creating fake profiles in order to share sexual images, comments or messages
- 47% have witnessed "doxing" where young people share personal details of someone who is seen as "easy"
The report found that sexual harassment occurred across a range of platforms, from messaging apps such as WhatsApp to social media sites such as Snapchat.
Project deSHAME
The research also revealed that young people face many barriers that can prevent them from speaking up about online sexual harassment. Over half of UK teens (53%) said they would just ignore it, with young people reporting a range of barriers that would prevent them from speaking up.
Project deSHAME is a collaboration between Childnet, Save the Children (Denmark), Kek Vonal (Hungary) and UCLan (UK), co-financed by the EU. It aims to increase reporting of online sexual harassment among minors and improve multi-sector cooperation in preventing and responding to this behaviour.
Visit www.deshame.eu to read the report and join a new network established to share learning about this issue.
Help & Support
Childnet International can respond to non-urgent queries about staying safe online. Please contact the police if you are being threatened or if you think a child is at risk.
If you are a child and you need to talk to someone for advice and support, please speak to a trusted adult or contact ChildLine anytime on 0800 1111 or chat to a counsellor online.
If you are an adult and you have concerns about the safety of a child contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.
Report to CEOP if you are concerned that an adult is behaving inappropriately towards a child on the internet: www.ceop.police.uk
