Safeguarding

Do you feel confident tackling the

issue of sexting with students?
Sex-related messaging among teenagers is now commonplace, with three in five teenagers saying
they have been asked to take an indecent image of themselves. Hannah Crown looks at how school
nurses can best handle the rise of the ‘sext’.

‘When I was younger I was going

through a rough time and one of my
guy mates realised and decided to
take advantage of me. It started out
with nice comments and pretending
to be there for me and then he started
flirting with me. I thought I loved
him and so when he pressured me
into sending him a picture of me
in my underwear, I did. He showed
some of his friends and everyone
at school found out and other boys
started asking for pictures. He tried
to blame it all on me and spread
rumours about me. It ruined my
life and I hate myself for what I did.’
(Teenage girl)

T
he testimony above, given by a
teenage girl to Childline, is
illustrative of a trend which
involves children taking indecent pictures

of themselves, often under pressure from
someone else. It is linked to bullying
and even violence (Ringrose et al, 2012).
The huge rise in its popularity in recent
years has generated a flurry of surveys
and reports as charities struggle with the
mammoth task of trying to gauge the
scale the ‘sexting’ phenomenon. Last year,
a survey carried out by Childline found
that 60% of young people said they had
been asked for a sexual image or video
of themselves, 40% said they had created
an image or video of themselves (Internet
Watch Foundation (IWF), 2013).
What’s more, of those who sent the image
(about a quarter of the children surveyed),
a third said they sent it to someone they
met online but didn’t know in real life. The
‘The problems posed by sexting come from their peers—indeed, from their “friends” in
their social networks.’
‘about as common as exposure to sexual
or pornographic content online’ (Ringrose
et al, 2012). Considering around 473 000
6–17-year-olds visited an adult website
from a PC or laptop last December alone
(The Authority for Television on Demand,
2013), sexting is not something which can
be ignored.
A definition of sexting
ISTOCKPHOTO\Iconer
forwarding sexually suggestive nude or
nearly nude images’.
Sexting in context
Evidence suggests that a key reason why
young people sext was pressure from
other young people, or ‘technology-
mediated sexual pressure from [a child’s]
peers’ (Ringrose et al, 2012). The report
said: ‘The problems posed by sexting
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd

NSPCC report also found that ‘sexting’ is
Hannah Crown, Health
and Education Journalist
There is no single definition, and it is
likely that no one case will be the same,
but according to the NSPCC (2014),
sexting is the ‘exchange of sexual messages
or images’ and ‘creating, sharing and
come from their peers—indeed, from
their “friends” in their social networks.’ It
added that it was often coercive, and that
girls were most adversely affected, as ‘girls
suggested to us it was like a ‘competition’

190 British Journal of School Nursing May 2014 Vol 9 No 4

  Safeguarding

among the boys to see how many and

which types of photos they could acquire’.
The study also made a link with porn,
adding: ‘several boys talked about having
porn on their phone and porn was an
ordinary part of daily life.’
Frances Weston, psychotherapist, and
founder of the Brighter Futures practice in
Derbyshire said: ‘Porn is so easily available
nowadays, and so it naturalises these kinds
of images and produces the expectation
that young people will comply with their
peers requests. It is hard to say no when it
doesn’t seem inappropriate, especially for
young girls.
‘Sexting is just an extension of the sexual
inequality which has always been there.
In general a school is just going to be a
reflection of the outside world and if the
outside world is struggling with double
standards and the sexualisation of women,

it will be at school as well.’
The NSPCC report goes as far as to
say that sexting is ‘not a gender neutral
practice, it’s something that is shaped by
pre-existing gender dynamics’ (Ringrose
et al, 2012). It goes on: ‘Sexually suggestive
images are used as a form of ‘relationship
currency’ with boys asking for them and
with ‘pressures’ upon girls to produce/
share such images. ... Sexting gives girls
a ‘slut reputation’, is ‘gross’ and these
girls are thought of as ‘disrespecting
themselves’. It was notable that there were
no similar derogatory comments about
males by girls.’
Based on qualitative research from
two inner London schools, the study
also described the ‘context of normalised
sexism and sexual violence’ researchers
found. It said: ‘As well as routine requests
for photographs, comments about their
appearance, and discussions about their
sexual reputations, girls also experienced
considerable pressure from boys via
mobile internet technologies to perform
sexual acts on/for boys ... It is important
to convey the sheer volume of requests the
girls receive and the relentlessness of the
pressure upon them.’
Implications of
sending a sext
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
‘Once a picture is sent, evidence shows that it is often shared.’
pretending to be 17, said sexts are freely
available at her school: ‘In school there are
people who send each other messages, like
of themselves dancing in their underwear.
They get sent all round school, but it
doesn’t seem to stop them. People put
statuses up offering videos of people
touching themselves—if you message
them they’ll send it to you. People see
pretty much everything now.’ Sometimes
they are used as a boy or girl’s profile
picture on social messaging (Ringrose et
al, 2012). Both sexes will share, but boys
are more likely to spread sexts than girls.
A study by the University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston, in 2013, into
the sexting habits of ethnic minorities
found that males were almost twice as
‘As well as routine requests for
photographs ... girls also experienced
considerable pressure from boys via
mobile internet technologies to perform
ISTOCKPHOTO\Eurobanks
likely to share the message than females
(Fleschler Peskin et al, 2013).
As Richard Cotton, School Charge
Nurse, Stoke on Trent, said: ‘Every
teenage relationship goes through ups
and downs and teenagers can’t really see
long-term consequences, so combine the
two and the danger is the images will go
further than originally intended when a
break up happens.’
Weston added: ‘Exploration of sexuality
and flirting is no more prevalent than
it has ever been. Photos and love letters
have always been exchanged. The issue is
that teenagers often don’t realise just how
powerful the technology they use is.
‘Even in the context of a loving
relationship, there has to be so much trust

Once a picture is sent, evidence shows

that it is often shared. One 14-year-old
girl, who wanted to warn others of the
dangers of sending images after being
groomed online by a 42-year-old man
sexual acts on/for boys... It is important to
convey the sheer volume of requests the
girls receive and the relentlessness ...’

May 2014 Vol 9 No 4 British Journal of School Nursing 191

 Safeguarding
ISTOCKPHOTO\kali9
‘...’
‘There is a role for school nurses to play regarding the education and preparation of
parents about online porn and sexting at an early stage.’
between people for sexting not to do harm,
and you can’t rely on that level of trust
being there. Teenagers are often more [at
the] technology-savvy end of the spectrum
but they don’t fully grasp the implications
of what happens when things go wrong. It
can lead to very negative self-esteem and
feeling suicidal’.
One particularly shocking consequence
of sexting is that the vast majority of these
‘home-made’ images end up as porn on
the internet. Around 88% of sexual images
or videos originally posted on social
networking sites or sent via text are made
public on other websites (IWF, 2012).
These ‘parasite websites’ have often been
created for the sole purpose of offering
sexually explicit images and videos of
young people. As Susie Hargreaves, CEO
of the Internet Watch Foundation, says
(IWF, 2012): ‘We need young people to
realise that once an image or a video has
gone online, they may never be able to
remove it entirely.’
The law
Taking or possessing an indecent image of
a child is a criminal offence. The offence of
192
taking, showing or distributing an indecent
photo of a child all carry maximum 10
year prison terms (The Crown Prosecution
Service, 2012).
According to guidance on sexting
(Aynsley et al, 2013): ‘Children need to
be aware that they may be breaking the
law. Although unlikely to be prosecuted,
children and young people who send or
possess images may be visited by police
and on some occasions media equipment
could be removed. This is more likely if
they have distributed images.’
However, the current Association
of Chief Police Officers (ACPO, date
unknown) position is that: ‘ACPO
does not support the prosecution or
criminalisation of children for taking
indecent images of themselves and
sharing them. Being prosecuted through
the criminal justice system is likely to
be upsetting and distressing for children
especially if they are convicted and
punished. The label of sex offender that
would be applied to a child or young
person convicted of such offences is
regrettable, unjust and clearly detrimental
to their future health and wellbeing.’
British Journal of School Nursing
What can school
nurses do?
Help define a coherent policy
Aynsley et al (2013) suggest that: ‘Each
school has a clear policy detailing the
action to be taken. All staff should be
familiar with this police and parents and
pupils should be made aware of it.’
The guidance provides steps to take in
the event of a sext being discovered and
is tailored for a variety of situations, such
as disclosure by a student or rules around
searching a device, and who and how
it should be dealt with. Key questions
include the type and legality of the image,
how widely the image has been shared,
and if other pupils and/or young people
are involved. Ensuring child protection
policies are followed is a crucial part of
any policy.
US guidance on sexting in schools
from the Youth Online Safety Working
Group (2009) also suggests determining
in advance the appropriate punishments
for students.
Jane Wright, lecturer in Specialist
Community Public Health Nursing at
Buckinghamshire New University says:
‘Sexting is clearly linked to bullying,
so it has to be included in the school’s
bullying policy. Emotional health and
dealing sensitively with young people is
obviously something school nurses are
well trained in, so they should contribute
both to the policies being made and the
actions taken in the event of sexting
being discovered.’
Allow anonymous reporting
Wright suggests that school nurses
encourage the setting up of confidential
areas on school websites or separate sites
allowing pupils to submit confidential
questions to a school nurse, or a text
service to a nurse’s work mobile, which is
already common practice in some schools.
She adds that such a service may avoid, in
the first instance, the ‘face-to-face contact
that can be quite difficult for young people
in these situations’. An anonymous survey
may also be a way to gauge current levels of
sexting, Cotton adds.
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
Encourage a positive
and open culture
The senior leader of an East Midlands
school, which has had several students
come forward voluntarily to report cases of
May 2014 Vol 9 No 4
  Safeguarding
sexting, said the school’s success had been
in part due to the culture it had created. He
said: ‘[Sexting] has been a focus for us in
terms of alerting students to the dangers.
It’s about giving them positive choices—
making sure they feel confident enough to
come forward, and able to use the internet
to its full potential but while being fully
aware of its dangers.’
He added: ‘We’ve experienced mainly
kids sending each other messages which
might then get sent on to one of their
friends’, though he agreed this may just be
the tip of the iceberg. The cases involved
children from year 7 to year 11 and there
had been more serious cases where the
school had not shirked seeking police
involvement. One was where a picture had
been sent by a stranger to a pupil, which
is still under police investigation. Another
case involved a teacher finding a group
of boys looking at an indecent image of
a female pupil from a different school on
a mobile phone. He said: ‘It was taken
very seriously, the phone was temporarily
confiscated, and a number of parents were
involved. The boy was interviewed by
police. The experience had a deep impact
on them.’ No charges were brought.
He said proactive approaches taken by
the school include:
„„Inviting a child protection officer to talk
to pupils about sexting, and also to hold
a second, evening session for parents on
the subject
„„Using materials from CEOP on sexting
proactively, particularly as part of the
ICT curriculum
„„Holding an ‘internet safer day’ where
discussions are held within the school’s
vertical tutor groups on online safety
„„Several assemblies on the issue (as
‘this is something that needs to be
constantly reinforced’).
He added: ‘From my perspective I don’t
want my teachers to go around having to
check pupils’ phones all the time. It should
be an educational issue. If a teacher thinks
there are indecent or explicit images on
a smartphone he or she does have the
power to take it from the child.’ (According
to new legislation brought in under the
Education Act 2011, a device can be
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
examined, confiscated and securely stored
if there is reason to believe it contains
indecent images or extreme pornography).
The idea of open discussion forums
on issues such as sexism in society or
May 2014 Vol 9 No 4 British Journal of School Nursing
‘One particularly shocking consequence of
sexting is that the vast majority of these
‘home-made’ images end up as porn on
the internet.’
how our use of technology is changing
can also be ‘useful ways to encourage
children to look at each other differently’,
said Weston. She added: ‘It’s a good idea
to set up open discussion groups where
children are encouraged to look at the
culture of how men and women see each
other and ask questions such as whether
it is OK to have naked pictures of women
in newspapers and not of men. This is a
positive way of tackling these issues in
their broader context.’
Drive home the importance
of PSHE
Prime Minister David Cameron, while
giving evidence to the Liaison Committee,
said ‘we can do better in terms of sex and
relationships education ... and I think we
can add into the guidance that is produced
better guidance ... on some of the modern
problems of cyberbullying, sexting ...’
(Parliament TV, 2014)
The patchy commissioning of PSHE and
the fact that it is non-mandatory subject;
however, is a huge blow for modern health
threats such as sexting. Wright said: ‘A lot
of children are not going to get education
about sexting from anywhere other than
PSHE, unlike sexual health for example
which you might get in science lessons.
Those who don’t have it are missing an
opportunity for youngsters to talk about
it, which is vitally important.’ She added
that the links between exam results and
‘The patchy
commissioning
of PSHE and the
fact that it is non-
mandatory subject;
however, is a huge
blow for modern
health threats such
as sexting.’
emotional, behavioural, and social well-
being, mean the case to be made to any
school about the importance of PSHE
is ‘clear’.
Educate the adults too
There is a role for school nurses to play
regarding the education and preparation
of parents about online porn and sexting
at an early stage. Cotton said: ‘Parents at a
primary school recently were horrified at
the idea of including any mention of porn
in a puberty lesson, yet I know of at least
one primary school where a boy in Year 5
sent a message to a girl in his class asking
her to perform an oral sex act on him. I
don’t think some parents are aware of how
easy it is to find porn online how much
access kids have.’
Further information
The Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Centre (CEOP)
‘CEOP works with child protection
partners across the UK and overseas
to identify the main threats to children
and coordinates activity against these
threats to bring offenders to account.’
It is aimed at protecting children from
harm online and offline.
http://ceop.police.uk
The CEOP’s Thinkuknow website is
aimed at children and young people,
parents and carers, and professionals.
www.thinkuknow.co.uk
NSPCC
The NSPCC has a special information
section on sexting aimed at parents.
www.nspcc.org.uk
Childline
The childline website offers
information on online and mobile
safety, including sexting.
www.childline.org.uk
193
Safeguarding
Cotton and Wright both talked of the
importance of teachers educating children
about ‘mutual respect’ and their right to
make choices of their own free will. Cotton
added: ‘Teachers have to raise awareness
of the respect aspect of it—saying that it
is not respectful of someone to ask for a
picture of them or respectful of yourself to
send one. And they should educate about
the wider implications of sexting.’ Wright
calls for joint working, involving teachers,
police, parents, and school nurses at an
early stage.
Mathey and Mathey Diliberto (2013)
sum up a school nurse’s role thus: ‘The role
of the school nurse necessitates awareness
of issues surrounding sexting along with
the capability to proactively educate
students, staff and parents on the dangers
of sexting. Students are empowered when
provided the knowledge that only they
control their own image.’ BJSN
Aynsley C, Davies H, Girling S, Hammond R,
Hughes T (2013) Sexting’ in schools: advice and
194
support around self-generated images What to
do and how to handle it. www.parentsprotect.
co.uk/files/Sexting%20in%20Schools%20eBook-
let%20FINAL%2030APR13.pdf (accessed 30
April 2014)
Association of Chief Police Officers of England,
Wales and Northern Ireland (date unknown)
www.ceop.police.uk/Documents/ceopdocs/
externaldocs/ACPO_Lead_position_on_Self_
Taken_Images.pdf (accessed 30 April 2014)
Fleschler Peskin M, Markham CM, Addy RC,
Shegog R, Thiel M, Tortolero SR (2013)
Prevalence and patterns of sexting among
ethnic minority urban high school students.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 16(6): 454–9
Internet Watch Foundation (2012) Young people
are warned they may lose control over their
images and videos once they are uploaded
online. www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/news/
post/334-young-people-are-warned-they-may-
lose-control-over-their-images-and-videos-
once-they-are-uploaded-online (accessed 30
April 2014)
Internet Watch Foundation (2013) ChildLine and
the Internet Watch Foundation form new part-
nership to help young people remove explicit
images online. www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/news/
post/373-childline-and-the-internet-watch-
foundation-form-new-partnership-to-help-
young-people-remove-explicit-images-online
(accessed 30 April 2014)
Mattey B, Mattey Diliberto G (2013) Sexting—It’s in
the dictionary. NASN School Nurse 28(2): 94–8
British Journal of School Nursing
NSPCC (2014) Sexting. www.nspcc.org.uk/help-
and-advice/for-parents/talking-about-sex/
sexting/sexting_wda96795.html (accessed 30
April 2014)
Parliament TV (2014) Liaison Committee takes
evidence from the Prime Minister. 14 January
2014. www.parliament.uk/business/commit-
tees/committees-a-z/commons-select/liaison-
committee/news/evidence-from-the-prime-
minister-areas-of-questioning-14-january-2014/
(accessed 30 April 2014)
Ringrose J, Gill R, Livingstone S, Harvey L (2012)
A qualitative study of children, young peo-
ple and ‘sexting’. www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/
resourcesforprofessionals/sexualabuse/sexting-
research-report_wdf89269.pdf (accessed 30
April 2014)
The Authority for Television on Demand (2014)
44,000 primary school children access porn
websites in one month. www.atvod.co.uk/
news-consultations/news-consultationsnews/
atvod-publishes-research-showing-scale-of-
underage-access-to-adult-websites (accessed 30
April 2014)
The Crown Prosecution Service (2012) Indecent
Images of Children. www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_
to_u/sentencing_manual/indecent_images_of_
children/ (accessed 30 April 2014)
Youth Online Safety Working Group (2009)
Interdisciplinary Response to Youths Sexting.
www.naag.org/assets/files/pdf/gazette/
An_Interdisciplinary_Response_to_Sexting.pdf
(accessed 30 April 2014)
© 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd
May 2014 Vol 9 No 4
Copyright of British Journal of School Nursing is the property of Mark Allen Publishing Ltd
and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without
the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or
email articles for individual use.