1KA | Web surveys

Young people often ignore or look away from online violence, why is that?

Multiple answers are possible

They are often unaware of the options they have to try to end the situation or to step up and intervene if someone else is the victim.

They often do not care enough if they are not a victim themselves.

They may be scared to be targeted themselves if they speak out.

Young people who experience online violence can do several things in response. Which one is most important?

Stopping all lines of communication with the perpetrator(s)

Talking to a trusted person.

Dealing with the abusive content and removing it from the Internet.

Making a report.

When a young person is targeted by online violence, they sometimes want to give up using the Internet all together. Why should you advise against that, as a teacher?

Because then they let the perpetrator or bully win.

I would not advise against it. Young people should stop using Internet, because only then they avoid all risks of online violence.

It is not a long-term solution. Access to the Internet is vital to fully participate in society.

A young person is a victim of sexual exploitation. The exploiter blackmails her with an intimate photo. What steps should the victim take?

Talking to a trusted person, end all contact with the exploiter, collecting evidence of being blackmailed, making a report to the police.

Talking to a trusted person, end all contact with the exploiter, flagging degrading comments online, reporting the person to social media and the police.

Talking to a trusted person, removing the image from the Internet, making a report to the police

What can a perpetrator of online violence do in order to end the situation?

Sometimes perpetrators or young people who participate in online violence regrets their actions once they see the impact. They can remove the hurtful content or comments, apologize, speak up and/or ask for help to change their behaviour.

Nothing, the perpetrator is causing the situation, why should we address his/her role when we talk about responding to online violence?

A perpetrator can report oneself to the police and face the consequences, that’s it.

If a student discloses a negative personal experience during a workshop, what should you do as a teacher?

Tell the student that a workshop is not an appropriate moment to share this story and continue the workshop, in order not to lose attention of the rest of the group.

Remain calm, don’t judge, thank the student for sharing, signpost the student to a more appropriate time and place where they can share their story and get support.

Remain calm, listen carefully, do not judge, tell them you believe them, ask questions to understand what happened and who was involved, take adequate action and inform the student what you will do next.

When incidents of online sexual violence occur, the way in which teacher and school response is crucial. Why is this important?

It prevents harmful online content from being spread.

To avoid any negative attention from parents or media towards the school.

An adequate response is important in preventing further escalation, harmful behaviour and victimisation.

A boy and a girl have shared nude images with each other. While this was initially consensual, the girl discloses to you that she feels unsafe by her actions. What should you do as a teacher?

I would have a conversation with both the boy and the girl about the risks of sexting, without being judgemental, and then ask them both to delete the images.

I would call the parents and make a report to the police, sharing nude images of minors is illegal after all.

Out of the blue, a girl starts to receive lots of messages with ‘dickpics’ from strangers. It turns out that someone has created a fake profile with her photo and Facebook name on a dating website.

Multiple answers are possible

This is just a stupid joke. Nobody is harassing her in person. She can always block those strangers.

This is unwanted sexualization. She never intended to register on this dating website herself, nor did she ask for these images.

This is sexualized bullying. Someone has impersonated her and shared her contact details online without consent to encourage sexual harassment.

A girl suddenly started to gain weight after the 4th grade due to health issues. After an argument, her classmate started to spread ugly pictures of her saying that nobody will ever want to have sex with her.

This is sexualized bullying that includes body shaming

This is non-consensual sharing of sexual images, because the images were spread against the girl’s will.

This is a normal form of bullying, but there is no sexual element, so it cannot be considered a form of online sexual violence.