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Youth-produced sexual images
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Quayle, E & Cariola, L 2017, Youth-produced sexual images: A victim-centred consensus approach.
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Download date: 05. Dec. 2021
YOUTH-PRODUCED
SEXUAL IMAGES:
A VICTIM-CENTRED
CONSENSUS APPROACH
1
Acknowledgements
This study is a continuation of the previous SPIRTO project which was funded by the European
Safer Internet Programme as a Knowledge Enhancement Project. The SPIRTO project, which
was completed in 2015, resulted in a series of training materials, reports and educational films
on sexting for practitioners and parents (http://www.spirto.health.ed.ac.uk/). The current project
is funded by the ESRC Impact Accelerator Account to promote Knowledge Exchange and Impact
Activities across the social sciences.
Our thanks to the young people who completed the Delphi Study, and those who facilitated contact
with them, and to the participants in the three symposia who shared their expertise with us. We
are grateful for the engagement of representatives of the Scottish Government in this research.
Particular thanks go to staff from NCA CEOP Command, Police Scotland, Norfolk Constabulary and
Marie Collins Foundation who offered invaluable input and support throughout.
Authors
Ethel Quayle, Reader in Clinical Psychology, School of Health in Social Science, University of
Edinburgh.
Laura Cariola, Post-doctoral research assistant, School of Health in Social Science, University of
Edinburgh.
June, 2017.
2
Foreword
Cases of youth produced sexual imagery or sexting are increasingly being reported to
the police as new and current technologies become accessible to a greater number of
children and young people. Whilst it is important to not forget the positive benefits of
this, it is clear that this can also present significant safeguarding challenges and new
opportunities for exploitation by those persons with a motivation to do so. I welcome
this valuable research and the insights it provides from a child’s perspective as well as
the challenges faced by professionals when responding to this issue. We are clear that
primarily these cases should be treated as a safeguarding issue. We are also clear that
we should seek to avoid unnecessarily criminalising children and young people and only
pursue a criminal justice response when aggravating circumstances require it. To this
end, in conjunction with the College of Policing we issued updated advice for all police
forces in England and Wales in November 2016. This was developed in parallel with
UKCCIS who produced interlinked advice for schools. We will continue to invest in this
area and welcome new research to ensure that our responses are evidence driven and
that ultimately all victims receive the best possible service. Clearly along with an effective
investigation more needs to be done from a prevention and education perspective
to ensure the risks are understood and places of support highlighted. This should be
alongside more investment by industry to prevent imagery from being further distributed
and delete content where it has not been consensually taken or shared.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey (QPM)– Norfolk constabulary & national policing lead
for Child Protection Abuse Investigation (CPAI) and Violence & Public Protection
(VPP).
3
Executive summary
The report reflects the views of a sample of young people who have taken and shared
sexual images of themselves, and three groups of professionals whose work exposes
them to the challenges of managing these cases if, and when, they come to light. The
aim was to complement existing UK procedural guidelines for Schools and Colleges
(UKCCIS, 2016) and Police (College of Policing, 2016) through explicitly seeking the
involvement of adolescents (Study 1) alongside those of multiple stakeholders across
three sites (Study 2). This work is supported by ESRC Impact Accelerator funding and
follows the earlier work from the SPIRTO project.
•
Both adolescents and professionals recognised the importance of maintaining a
child-focused approach, which showed sensitivity to the social, cultural and personal
needs of the child, and that embraced both the range of professionals involved as
well as parents or caregivers. This inter-agency working requires not only a recording
of the case upon discovery or disclosure, but a mapping of who should be involved
in the child’s social system, and a plan for how information can be shared and
managed. This in turn necessitates an understanding of the significance, and
recognition, of behavioural and attitudinal signs, which may indicate that images have
been exchanged, either within a relationship or the wider social system.
•
Potential tensions between the roles of parents, caring professionals and those who
represent the legal process need to be made explicit and managed in a proportional
way. This should acknowledge the shifting purpose and function of youth-produced
images and the consequences for the child of loss of ownership, and the challenges
of managing a breach of trust that this probably implies. This sits alongside the
difficulties in understanding whether these images meet the criteria for indecency and
the degree to which coercion in their production or sharing has taken place.
•
Both groups expressed the need for support of the child through all elements of the
process, an avoidance of a judgemental stance and sensitivity by parents and
involved professionals to the potential shame and humiliation felt by the child. This
also means working with the child, providing information about the procedures that
will be followed (including the management of the images) and keeping the child,
as well as other key individuals, informed at each stage.
•
Working with children requires patience and sensitivity. There is a need to avoid
inappropriate social and cultural stereotypes and an acceptance that the child
may need help to develop effective coping strategies to deal with the responses from
family, friends and acquaintances after sharing self-produced images becomes
public knowledge. It is important to note that this may also be the case where digital
devices, such as smart phones and laptops, have been confiscated as part of the
inquiry process.
•
Concerns were expressed about the difficulties of involving professionals and parents
in educational and training events that increase knowledge of technological change
and the opportunities and risks that this brings. A lack of awareness about
differences in the age of consent for sexual activity and the taking and sharing of
sexual images needs to be addressed. For children and parents, educational
strategies, with a focus on healthy and respectful relationships, might best be
delivered by and with children, rather than to them. Ways of providing peer support
should also be explored.
4
INTRODUCTION
In June 2015 we completed the final work on the SPIRTO Project (Self-produced Images
Risk Taking Online: www.spirto.health.ed.ac.uk) which was an EU project funded by
the Safer Internet Programme. The goal was to build an evidence base of the risks
associated for adolescents with the move to merged technology, particularly in relation
to hand-held devices. Our focus was on risk related to the capacity to generate sexual
content (often described as sexting). We wished to understand the different contexts
behind the creation and sharing of these sexual images and the consequences for the
young people involved. The final aim of the project was to develop training materials
for professionals working with young people and parents. This would seek to provide
information, enable further discussion with young people about risk, and examine
effective ways of sharing knowledge. This work followed from an earlier EU-funded
project (ROBERT: http://childcentre.info/robert/), which concerned online behavior that
resulted in sexual abuse. The results of interviews with young people who had been
sexually abused by someone met online indicated that images were often created as
part of that abusive relationship, either through the use of a webcam or handheld device
(mobile phone) which, in part, may have resulted in further coercion and limited the
likelihood of disclosure. These results coincided with reports from organisations such
as the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that high numbers of
identified children were associated with self-produced sexual content and an influential
study by Wolak, Finkelhor and Mitchell (2012) who had collected arrest data for online
sexual offences at three time points (2000, 2006, 2009). Between 2000 and 2009 there
was a substantial increase in the number of arrests, with approximately half of these for
possession of ‘child pornography’ only (the term used in these reports). The increase
in arrests for production of ‘child pornography’ was largely driven by ‘youth-produced
sexual images’ which were taken by children 17 years or under and which met the legal
definitions in the US for ‘child pornography’. In most of these cases the person arrested
was an adult who had solicited images from a minor, also reflected in that there were
more adolescent victims and ones where they were face-to-face acquaintances with the
person arrested.
The large number of academic publications (across multiple disciplines) over the last
10 years, alongside reports from government and civil society organisations, is a good
indicator of concerns about the recent phenomenon of ‘sexting’. Self-produced digital
content appears to capture a sexual ‘private moment’ and potentially turn it into a
public one. Increased opportunities for this to happen coincided with the availability of
inexpensive web cameras and camera phones (subsequently smart phones) and the
possibility (and encouragement) to create digital content. The, at times, heated debates
that followed reflected what Rollins (2015) called ‘the vexing issue’ for parents, schools,
legislation and criminal justice and, given that whatever role self-produced images are
serving seems to be as important now as when it first came to our attention, raises
questions for some as to whether this is a social issue that we should be investing in
changing (Strassberg, Cann & Velarde, 2017). The term sexting became associated
both with ‘self-produced child pornography’ (Leary, 2010) and an expression of the
adolescent’s sexual identity and thus protected by Articles 8 and 10 of the European
Convention on Human Rights (Gilliespie, 2013). As part of the SPIRTO research we
completed a systematic review of the literature (Cooper, Quayle, Jonsson & Svedin,
2016) which examined the motivational, lifestyle and personality factors that influenced
adolescent ‘sexting’ practices and which explored the research evidence within the wider
context of contemporary social and visual media cultures and gender. Not surprisingly,
the results indicated remarkable variation in terms of context, meaning and intention
5
and noted the potential for consensual and non-consensual aspects of this activity (also
indicated in the framework developed by Lee & Crofts, 2015). The evidence indicated
that while youth-produced sexual images may be a means of flirting, or enhancing a
sexual relationship, it could also highlight potential vulnerabilities to sexual victimisation
or to participation in risky sexual behaviours. The review also noted the link between
‘sexting’ and social expectations of gendered sexual behaviours. Females often derived
less pleasure from their experiences and were more likely than males to be seen in a
negative way by their peers. Ricketts, Maloney, Marcum and Higgins (2015) noted that
‘deviant’ peer association (including associating with others who ‘sext’) and Internetrelated problems (similar to what has been called Internet addiction) were also associated
with sexting by adolescents. This compares to the results of a large qualitative study
by Stanley, Barter, Wood, Aghtaie, Larkins, Lanau and Överlien (2016) which indicated
that although youth-produced sexual images were normalised and seen as positive by
most young people in their sample, it also had the potential to reproduce ‘sexist’ features
of pornography, such as control and humiliation. A willingness to engage in ‘sexting’
by Dutch adolescent females (but not males) was also associated with ‘sexy selfrepresentations’ on social media (Van Oosten & Vandenbosch, 2017). The results from
the EU Kids Online II project, with 17,016 11-16-year-olds, also reported an association
between sexting and emotional problems, although paradoxically they noted that younger
boys with higher self-efficacy were more likely to send sexts than those with lower selfefficacy (Ševčíková, 2016). Other reviews have noted a relationship between adolescent
sexting, peer pressure and a range of emotional difficulties (Van Ouytsel, Walrave,
Ponnet & Heirman, 2015).
Cooper et al.’s (2016) review highlighted some of the negative assumptions about youthproduced sexual images, but also acknowledged that it (in all its definitional complexities)
reflected practices that could be thought of as existing on a continuum of coercion, from
adolescent expectations of it being a ‘normal’ thing to do, through to aggressive activity
by peers or adults. This echoes the findings of Wolak and Finkelhor (2011) whose
typology of ‘sexting’ from US law-enforcement cases differentiated between experimental
and romantic activity between peers and aggravated incidents with the intention of
harming, harassing or embarrassing others through behaviours that included deception,
exploitation and abuse. Such aggravated incidents were also seen in an analysis of public
reports to the Canadian hotline (Quayle & Newman, 2016). A further study examining the
association between sexting and sexual coercion among female adolescents (Choi, van
Ouytsel & Temple, 2016) found that offline sexual coercion was significantly associated
with sending and being asked for naked images, as well as receiving a naked image
without giving permission. These results suggested that youth-produced images could
function as an online dimension of offline sexual coercion and are similar to the results
of Wood, Barter, Stanley, Aghtaie and Larkins (2016) who found that adolescents who
reported victimisation in their relationships were more likely to have sent a ‘sext’ than
those who had not.
What can be seen from many of these studies is confusion as to whether self-produced
images by adolescents should be treated as problematic, or even criminal, or whether it
is simply reflects exposure to, and consumption of sexual media. Bobowski, Shafer and
Ortiz’s (2016) study suggest that adolescents are inspired by sexual media to create and
distribute sexual media of their own (this is also likely to be the case with adults who are
more likely than adolescents to send and share sexual self-produced images: Klettke,
Halford & Mellor, 2014). While this is likely to be the case, it still leaves challenges as to
how we might balance the tensions between accepting that sexual self-produced images
may be an expression of sexual development (or even rights), and the need to protect
adolescents from both intentional, and unintentional, problematic outcomes.
6
Regardless of the intentions and context for the creation of sexual youth-produced
images, the ability of the individual to control what happens to those images is limited,
and where the production and dissemination of images is done by adolescents, the
resulting media may be illegal in most jurisdictions, even though the sexual activity
portrayed may not be. We have little meaningful information about how many of these
scenarios ‘go wrong’, although inevitably we pay a lot of attention to the rare cases that
result in self-harm or suicide. We know that in the US the number of cases that result in
prosecution is relatively low (Wolak, Finkelhor & Mitchell, 2011). In their national sample
of police cases 2008 and 2009, 675 cases involved youth-produced sexual images.
Two-thirds of the cases involved an aggravated element involving either an adult (36%
of cases) or a minor engaged in malicious, nonconsensual, or abusive behavior (31%
of cases). An arrest took place in 62% of cases that involved an adult, 36% of the
aggravated youth-only cases, and in 18% of the “experimental” cases (involving only
adolescents and with and no aggravating elements). This sample is now 8 years old, and
it is likely that the number of cases has increased. It was not possible to identify parallel
research outside of the US, nor could we identify studies that had analysed the content of
these images to understand what proportion would meet the criteria for illegality in a given
jurisdiction.
This report reflects two studies aimed at creating a consensus approach to the
management of instances youth-produced sexual images when they are identified.
The aim was to complement existing UK procedural guidelines for Schools and Colleges
(UKCCIS, 2016) and Police (College of Policing, 2016) through explicitly seeking the
involvement of adolescents (Study 1) alongside those of multiple stakeholders across
three sites (Study 2). This work is timely in that it coincided with the launch of advice that
will impact on changing professional practice and address many of the concerns raised in
this report. The current studies are supported by ESRC Impact Accelerator funding and
follows the earlier work from the SPIRTO project.
7
Part 1 – Delphi Study with
Young People
8
Key Findings
Youth-produced sexual images which are shared with others and often called selfies,
or sexts) are often seen as problematic, and sometimes illegal, yet little is known about
how adolescents feel about these incidents, and how they should be managed when
‘things go wrong’. Young people who had self-identified as having sent youth-produced
images were recruited as ‘experts’ in a Delphi study, and provided their opinions and
views of what constitutes an appropriate response by parents, schools, police and other
agencies when dealing with coercive youth-produced image-taking. This study also aimed
to identify indicators of distress and ways to facilitate disclosure where the sharing of
images causes anxiety or is associated with bullying, harassment or victimisation.
Responses to a vignette-based questionnaire (a short scenario, with questions linked to
it as seen in Appendix 1) revealed what young people considered important indicators of,
and responses to, situations where sexting had ‘gone wrong’. These are clustered around
different scenarios and illustrated with examples from the responses.
• Most participants saw the following to be important signs that selfies were
shared without permission:
… spread rumours and gossip
… post insulting messages or her nude images on social media
• Participants identified what the boyfriend might do or say that suggests selfies
had been shared:
… avoids letting her see or use his mobile phone
… does not give a clear answer when asked about nude photos
• Important first steps to seeking help by the young person included:
… speaks to police to report that photos were shared without permission
… speaks to a person they trust (a friend, youth worker) to seek help
• Parents or carers were seen to be supportive if they:
… supports the young person (being reassuring and respecting privacy) and offers
to resolve the problem together
… talks to others about the situation with the young person’s permission
• The young person dealing with others in ways that might reduce and minimize
the stressful effects of bullying and harassment included:
… does not isolate herself from others
… reports and speaks about others’ disrespectful behaviour to a trusted person
(family, teacher or police)
• What all professionals could do and say to help included:
… informs about procedures, important information and explains what is going to
happen next
… tries to understand and listens to the young person, and is aware of the social
context of photo sharing
• What teachers could say or do to help included:
… speaks with boyfriend and his parents to discuss the seriousness of the situation
… does not draw attention to individual affected through preferential treatment
• What police could say or do to help included:
… reassures that the matter is dealt with appropriately and safely
… deals with the situation appropriately, fast and with little repercussion
9
Abstract
The ability to create and share digital content has increased the availability of child
abuse images, a proportion of which is created by young people in the context of both
coercive and non-coercive relationships and is often associated with self-produced
images (sexting). This poses considerable resource challenges to law enforcement
and creates ambiguity as to what constitutes a proportionate response. The aim of
this Delphi study was to use the opinions of young people who had taken and shared
images as ‘experts’ to explore how their experiences of self-produced images may
inform the development of evidence-based guidelines for good practice, for police
and child protection agencies, in relation to a victim-centred management of coercive
and non-coercive self-produced sexual image-taking. A two-round Delphi method
was completed by 23 young people. 60 items were identified that endorsed their
views of problem identification, facilitation of disclosure, proportionate responding by
professionals, and problem management. Moreover, this study represents an inclusive
approach by the formation of expert panels of young people that should be explored
further in future research.
Introduction
The ability to create and share digital content has increased the availability of child
abuse images. Technology has enabled these crimes and afforded opportunities for
people with a sexual interest in children to rapidly acquire expertise in the location
and manipulation of young people, achieved through the creation and sharing
of sexual images (Quayle & Newman, 2015; Quayle & Cooper, 2015). Although
previous research has identified that image-creation may be part of developmentally
appropriate sexual behaviour in young people (Döring, 2014), it can be also be
exploited by both adults and peers. This poses considerable resource challenges
to law enforcement and creates ambiguity as to what constitutes a proportionate
response. To date, no consensus exists that informs good practice with particular
attention to the need to protect young people while respecting agency and the right
to assert their sexual identity. Evidently there is need to develop victim-centred
guidelines and resources that enable practitioners to confidently and appropriately
respond to these cases being mindful of the systems in which the child operates.
10
Youth Produced Sexual Imagery
and its Management
The management of coercive and non-coercive sexual imagery in the online exploitation
of children is a critical and largely an unexplored area, possibly because of its inherent
challenges. For example, victims are often adolescents who have taken sexual images,
through their web cam or hand held device, which is a challenge to law enforcement
as well as child protection agencies (Englander, 2016). The UK Council for Child
Internet Safety Report (UKCCIS, 2016) was an important development in providing
advice for designated safeguarding leads (DSLs), their deputies, head teachers and
senior leadership teams in schools and educational establishments in England. The
report noted that the availability of internet-connected devices for young people, and
the corresponding ease and speed of sharing images, has raised concerns about the
self-producing and sharing of sexual images and videos. These concerns reflected the
potential risks involved, especially where these images were shared with another person.
These risks included feelings of embarrassment, but also the risk of bullying by peers
and greater vulnerability to sexual exploitation. The larger context for these concerns
in the UK is that for young people under the age of 18 producing and sharing of sexual
images may be illegal depending on whether the content meets the relevant criteria.
The report acknowledges that these images are likely to be taken outside of schools and
colleges (many in young peoples’ bedrooms and bathrooms), but the reality is that those
images that have been taken and shared will often manifest in schools and colleges,
as well as organisations who work with children and young people. The UKCCIS report
is a response to the fact that organisations working with children need to be able to
respond both confidently and swiftly when this activity is identified or disclosed in order
to safeguard, support and educate young people. This report is in response to the need
to support such organisations to develop procedures, and identify resources, to respond
to incidents that involve sexual images produced and shared by young people. These
procedures are seen as part of an organisation’s safeguarding arrangements where all
incidents of youth-produced sexual images are seen as safeguarding concerns. The
UKCCIS report is an important resource and emphasises that responding to incidents
should be guided by principles of proportionality and the need to be mindful of the welfare
and protection of the young people involved.
In the same year, the College of Policing in England and Wales brought out a briefing
note.
“Police Action in Response to Youth Produced Sexual Imagery (‘Sexting’)” to “support law
enforcement professionals to respond in a proportionate way to reports of children (under
18 year olds) possessing, sharing or generating indecent imagery of themselves or other
children”. This was produced in parallel with the UKCCIS report through a process of
continuous consultation. The report identifies the contexts in which such activity may be
an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 and Criminal Justice Act 1998. Both
reports express a need for proportionality, and a consideration of the potential impact on
the young person/s of investigation and prosecution, although the terminology ‘youthproduced sexual images’ and ‘indecent imagery of themselves’ is markedly different. The
briefing note concerns the initial response to a report of youth produced sexual imagery
and what might constitute a proportionate response, within the bounds of the law, where
producing and sharing the images does not involve aggravating factors (such as adult
involvement or the presence of violence). Our attention is also drawn to the fact that in
England and Wales, “All reported offences of youth produced sexual imagery must be
11
recorded as a crime in line with Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR)” (p. 3), although
in 2016 the Home Office launched outcome 21 which states that ‘‘Further investigation,
resulting from the crime report, which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal
action being taken against the suspect is not in the public interest – police decision”. This
is the likely outcome for cases where there is no evidence of, “exploitation, grooming,
profit motive, malicious intent (e.g. extensive or inappropriate sharing (e.g. uploading
onto a pornographic website) or it being persistent behaviour. Where these factors are
present, outcome 21 would not apply”. While the College of Policing advice was written
for forces in England and Wales, the UKCCIS advice is wider, although mostly focussed
on England due to jurisdictional issues and the fact that the legal powers of schools
in England regarding seizure are different to the other devolved nations. However, the
advice has been widely disseminated and is available for use by other countries, a fact
which may encourage greater consistency of responses.
These two important reports offer clear advice about the management of cases
involving youth-produced sexual images by children, particularly from educators and
law enforcement. What the reports also reflect is that the young person exists within
multiple, overlapping social systems that may influence not only the creation and sharing
of sexual media but the experience of the child when one or more of these systems
becomes overtly involved. Martin and Alaggia (2013) have argued that Cyberspace has
added a new dimension to the ecology of childhood. Their focus was on children made
the subject of sexual abuse images, and clearly overlaps with issues of youth-produced
content. Their model allows us to simultaneously think about the child and family context,
the larger social systems of influence in which the child and family are embedded, and
overarching cultural values and belief systems and how these may change over time.
This provides a useful framework for thinking not only about proximal and distal forces
that influence a young person’s decision to take and share images, but how the wider
system may respond to them consequently.
Voices of Young People
This study focuses on identifying voices of young people. In research, policy and
practice regarding children and young people, the question of participation needs to be
understood in relation to questions of inequality and inclusion. Many societal processes
marginalise children’s experiences, treating them as spoken for or dealt with by their
parents or child protection agencies, and this has traditionally been the case with, for
example, child sexual abuse (Gilligan, 2016). For example, early research, policy and
practice regarding children’s safety began with an adult agenda (particularly within a legal
context) and it is only belatedly that the voices of children began to be heard. Children
themselves are often critical of politics, policy and services, assuming that even if they
do speak out, they will not be heard or respected as valid contributors to deliberation
or decision-making. Early opportunities to protect (rather than judge or restrict)
them are often missed by parents, teachers and policy makers (Mendelson
& Letrourneau, 2015). It is also evident that when specific efforts are
made to include children in matters that concern them (required by the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), these often result in further
inequalities, as children from already-advantaged backgrounds tend
to take up such opportunities disproportionately while the alreadydisadvantaged become further marginalised in a vicious cycle of
exclusion. This study is an attempt to include young people in a
meaningful way that gives the opportunity for their views to be heard.
12
Rationale for this Study
Very little is known of the views of young people who have engaged in self-produced
sexual images, and their experiences of involvement with professionals, including law
enforcement and child protection agencies. To address this gap in the literature, this
Delphi study identified the opinions and views of young people as ‘experts’ on what
constitutes an appropriate response when dealing with what starts out as non-coercive
self-produced image-taking, but where images are subsequently shared without consent.
This study also aimed to identify indicators of distress and ways to facilitate disclosure
when the sharing of images causes anxiety or is associated with bullying, harassment or
victimisation. Such indicators facilitate rapid assessment of cases, on the one hand, and
provision of information, protection and support to vulnerable and potentially intimidated
victims on the other.
Method
Delphi Method
The Delphi method is a consensus technique that involves a group of anonymous experts
who are given questionnaires and controlled feedback to obtain consensus on a topic
(Dalkey & Helmer, 1963; Rowe, Wright, & Bolger, 1991; Ziglio, 1996). Delphi is a tool for
knowledge-building, to explore critical ideas and to support informed decision-making
that is grounded on a collective basis (Linstone & Turoff, 1975). It can be a particularly
beneficial application to identify options to solve problems under conditions of uncertainty
and inadequate information. The Delphi method enables the researcher to gather the
intuitive insights of experts that provide the basis of new insights and problem-solving
(Dalkey, 1967; Hasson, Keeney, & McKenna, 2000;). Within this context, the Delphi
method represents a suitable approach to explore the opinions of young people who
have engaged in youth-produced image-taking to aid professionals in evaluating and
responding to cases with a victim-centred approach.
The Delphi method is a structured technique that consists of several parts, or so-called
‘rounds’. In the first round of the study, participants are typically being asked to answer
a set of open-ended survey questions. The second round is informed by the data of the
first round to the extent that it involves a summary of themes that were most frequently
mentioned in the survey. The themes are presented in the form of statements, which
participants are asked to rank in relation to their importance (Ziglio, 1996). Delphi studies
often require up to three rounds to reach consensus where participants are then asked to
adjust their initial ratings of statements in relation to responses of other participants where
agreement was not reached. Although consensus is often reached after two or three
rounds, further rounds may be required until consensus has been obtained.
As pointed out by Earley (2015), the Delphi method is characterized by four key
features: Anonymity, controlled feedback, iteration and statistical group response.
The use of questionnaires is used to protect the anonymity of panellists. Due to this
feature, the Delphi method avoids many disadvantages associated with the dynamics
of direct face-to-face group interactions, such as the “band-wagon effect” or the “halo
effect” (Dalkey, 1969; Turoff & Hiltz, 1996) where participants may feel pressured into
agreeing with others within the group. It enables researchers to reach participants that
are geographically dispersed in a cost- and time-efficient manner (Becker & Roberts,
2009; Ziglio, 1996). The controlled feedback involves accumulating feedback in a series
13
of iterations; and finally, statistical group response ensures each panellist’s opinion is
included in the final response (Earley, 2015). The Delphi method has also been shown
to produce sufficient reliability and validity when results are based on both qualitative
and quantitative measurement (Hasson & Keeney, 2011). There is no agreement on the
required samples for Delphi studies, with samples typically ranging from 10-100 (Akins,
Tolson, & Cole, 2005).
Participants
The research was reviewed by the School of Health in Social Science Research Ethics
Committee. In total, 124 participants all of whom had self-identified as taking and sharing
youth-produced sexual images (sexts) took part in the Delphi study, of which 45 provided
full survey responses, which included the disclosure of a mobile phone number (to LC)
to be contacted for the second round of the survey (this was a dedicated mobile and
numbers were deleted post data collection). Of these full responses, 10 were male and
33 were female (two participants did not disclose their gender) with a mean of 16.24
years (range 14-19). Round 2 was completed by 23 (51.11%) individuals.
Participant Recruitment
Participants, that formed part of the panel of ‘experts’, were young people recruited over
three different time-periods (or “recruitment waves”) between May to September 2016.
The use of different “recruitment waves” enabled comparison of response propensity
across participant recruitment procedure – such as networks of professionals working
with young people, including police, child-protection agencies, child therapy units, youth
workers and schools. Participants were recruited through two methods that protected
participants’ anonymity – 1) advertisement on online-platforms, email bulletins and social
media, and 2) pupils at high school. All participants were offered a £10 gift voucher for
volunteering their time to complete the study.
Procedure
Young people as participants were provided with a web-link to access the survey
platform. By following the web-link, participants were also given information about the
purpose of the study, as well as access to the consent form and the questionnaire,
which were designed using the secure web-based software ‘Bristol Online Survey Tool’.
The information package and consent form explained clearly that anonymity between
participants was ensured, and that participating in this study was anonymous to the
extent that only one researcher had access to their email address or mobile phone
numbers, which were used to contact participants as a part of this study and deleted
once this had been completed. Participants had two to three weeks to complete each
round. After participants had completed the Round 1 questionnaire, reminder emails
and text messages were sent out with a web-link to access and complete the Round 2
questionnaire. In particular, this study employed a vignette approach that has been also
used in other Delphi studies (e.g. Wainwright, Gallagher, Tompsett, & Atkins, 2010).
To assess consensus of responses given to the vignettes-based questionnaire, a defined
average percentage of agreement with an 80% cut-off was used (Langlands, Jorm, Kelly,
& Kitchener, 2008). The following consensus criteria were used:
1. If at least 80% of participants rated an item as “very important”, “important’ or
“moderately important”, the item was included.
2. Any items that did not meet condition 1 were excluded from significant findings.
3. Excluded items were still considered to provide relevant information.
14
Round 1 Questionnaire
Round 1 was an open-ended vignette-based questionnaire consisting of a series of eight
questions that inquired about participants’ opinions and advice of youth-produced imagetaking (Appendix 1). Vignette-based approaches have been used in other Delphi studies
and this approach was considered appropriate by the Educational Unit of the National
Crime Agency CEOP command as a way of making the questions more accessible to the
participants. The questionnaire also adhered to principles of questionnaire design. An
initial pilot testing was carried out that assessed the clarity of the wording of the questions
and time frame of completion.
The questionnaire items were divided into four separate sections. The first section
was concerned with the identification of problems and it included one question; the
second section presented participants with five questions in relation to the facilitation of
disclosure, and involvement with parents and professionals; and the third section revolved
around the involvement of other third parties associated with bullying, harassment or
victimisation. An additional question was content-free and allowed participants to add any
other relevant information.
Content Analysis
Qualitative content analysis was used to identify relevant themes as meaning units of
the responses of the Round 1 questionnaire. Content analysis enables the researcher
to develop theoretical and conceptual models of a phenomenon by objectively and
systematically describing the manifest content, such as words and phrases, of
communication (Krippendorff, 1980, p. 19). It does this by categorising words, phrases
and paragraphs into fewer meaning units that convey a similar central meaning
(Graneheim & Lundman, 2004).
To conduct the content analysis of the Round 1 questionnaires, all responses were
transferred to a standard word document and carefully read by the researcher to obtain
a general insight of the data content. The unit of analysis was participants’ responses
to the open-ended questions in relation to the five main themes – 1) identification of
problems; 2) first steps to seeking help; 3) supportive behaviour by parents; 4) supportive
behaviour by professionals, and 5) involvement of other third parties associated with
bullying, harassment or victimisation. The responses varied in their quantity ranging from
short phrases to longer segments that contained several meaning units. The identified
meaning units were condensed and collapsed into smaller meaning units, which were
then grouped into broader themes and categorised into sub-categories and higher-order
categories. A total of 60 sub-categories were identified and grouped into the following
eight higher-order categories:
1) What people did or said that suggests nude or semi-nude images were shared
without permission
2) What the boyfriend might do or say that suggests ‘selfies’ were shared without
permission
3) First steps to seeking help
4) Parent or carer doing and saying things that are supportive
5) Dealing with others
6) Professionals doing and saying things that may be supportive
7) Teachers doing and saying things that may be supportive
8) Police doing and saying things that may be supportive
15
Round 2 Questionnaire
The results of the content analysis were used to develop the items for the Round 2
questionnaire. Consistent with the aim of this study, the Round 2 questionnaire items
revolved around observable behaviours and attitudes relevant to the identification of
problems, facilitation of disclosure and involvement of third parties in cases of nonconsensual image sharing. These items were presented in the form of declarative
statements with prefaced verbs that relate to the category heading and followed by
verbatim excerpts taken from the Round 1 questionnaire responses – for example, the
sub-category “people’s indirect comment about nude selfies” was prefaced with the
word “make” and completed with the verbatim example “people making jokes about
it around her”. All items in the Round 2 questionnaire were listed under the category
heading as identified using content analysis of the Round 1 questionnaire responses.
A total of 8 categories were constructed with a total of 60 items. Participants were
asked to rate their strength of agreement for each item on a 5-point Likert scale,
where ‘1’ indicated “not important” and ‘5’ indicated “very important”. Eight open-ended
questionnaires provided an opportunity for participants to provide further comments and
supplementary information. All the 45 participants who provided full responses in the
Round 1 questionnaire, were invited to complete the Round 2 questionnaire. Once all
the responses of the Round 2 questionnaire were collected, the consensus-criteria were
applied to identify which items were included or excluded.
Results
The Round 1 questionnaire was completed by 45 participants. The meaning units of
these responses were grouped into 60 sub-categories and 8 higher-order categories
that matched to the five broad themes:
1) identification of problems; 2) first steps to seeking help; 3) supportive behaviour by
parents; 4) supportive behaviour by professionals, and 5) involvement of other third
parties associated with bullying, harassment or victimisation.
Identification of problems
This theme related to codes and categories associated with the identification of behaviour
and attitudes that signal nude or semi-nude images have been shared without consent.
The categories in this theme were “what people did or said that suggests ‘selfies’ were
shared without permission” and “what the boyfriend might do or say that suggests ‘selfies’
were shared without permission”.
In relation to people’s behaviours and attitudes, most participants perceived the following
to be important sign that ‘selfies’ were shared without permission:
• spread rumours and gossip (100%)
• post insulting messages or her nude images on social media (100%)
• make direct comments, such as confronting her about the nude selfie, or asking for a
nude selfie (95.65%)
• suddenly behaving differently, for example avoiding her (95.65%)
• make indirect comments about the nude selfie (e.g., laugh, make jokes and call her
nasty names) (86.96%)
16
Although not at a significant level, nearly two-thirds of participants rated that “giving
strange looks when walking by” (65.22%) was also an important sign that images
were non-consensually shared with others. Participants’ comments in Round 2 further
proposed that other signs could be indicative of non-consensual image sharing, such as
other boys taking a greater interest in her and girls being inclined to suddenly keep their
distance from the victim to engage in gossip, as well as receiving others’ sympathetic
looks or trolling behaviour.
Based on participants’ ratings, important behaviours and attitudes of the boyfriend that
signal nude ‘selfies’ were shared without permission included:
• avoids letting her see or use his mobile phone (100%)
• does not give a clear answer when asked about nude photos (100%)
• compares her to other girls who he says freely share pictures (91.30%)
• behaves distant and avoids her (86.96%)
Although not at a significant level, the boyfriend’s inquiry for more nude photos “asks for
more nude pictures” (69.57%), “being persistent when she refused to send more photos
and steers conversations to nude images” (78.26%) and “shows his phone to others who
start laughing and show great interest” (78.26%), were also perceived to be an important
sign to indicate images were shared without permission. Participants’ comments in Round
2 further suggested that other signs could indicate that images are being shared without
permission, such as the boyfriend exhibiting aggressive and annoying behaviour when
the victim refuses to provide more nude ‘selfies’, as well as the use of password protected
picture-storing mobile phone apps. Another suggestion put forward was that the boyfriend
might experience anxiety that his friends would disclose to the victim that images have
been shared without her consent.
First steps to seeking help
The theme of “first steps to seeking help” relates to codes and categories associated with
helpful actions when the victim suspects or is aware that nude or semi-nude images have
been shared without permission.
In relation to this theme, the majority of participants reached consensus about the
importance of the following help-seeking behaviours:
• speaks to police to report that photos were shared without permission (95.65%)
• speaks to a person they trust (a friend, youth worker) to seek help (95.65%)
• confronts the boyfriend about the situation (95.65%)
• discusses the situation with a parent or carer or another family member (91.30%)
• speaks to trusted teacher to try and sort out the problem (86.96%)
• speaks to ChildLine to seek support (86.96%)
• speaking to a trusted person outside of the family (82.16%)
17
Consistent with the helpful behaviours rated to be important, most participants did not
rate the following behaviours:
• avoids retaliating with similar behaviour (e.g., sharing nude image of boyfriend
(73.91%)
• pretends to others that she’s not being hurt or affected (39.13%)
• avoids speaking to the police (30.43%)
This may indicate that avoidance strategies were not considered to be important when
seeking help. Participants’ comments in Round 2 also indicated that speaking to another
victim who has experienced a similar situation and changing social media settings to
private-mode might be helpful actions.
Parents or carers doing and saying
things that are supportive
This theme relates to codes and categories associated with parental behaviours that
support the young person whose nude ‘selfies’ have been shared without permission.
In relation to this theme, the majority of participants perceived the following behaviour to
be supportive:
• supports the young person (being reassuring and respecting privacy) and offers to
resolve the problem together (95.65%)
• talks to others about the situation with the young person’s permission (95.65%)
• is non-judgemental and does not blame the young person (95.65%)
• parent / carer talks to a teacher about the situation to minimise damage and resolve the
problem (91.30%)
• confronts the boyfriend or approaches his parents about the image (82.61%)
In contrast, participants thought it less important for parents to contact the police about
the incident or to advise against sending nude images again:
• contacts the police to report that photos were shared without permission (78.26%)
• advises the young person not to send images again (73.91%)
Consistent with the results, most participants did not rate “does not confront boyfriend
or approaches boyfriend’s parents about image” (47.83%) to be an important parental
behaviour. A participant also commented in Round 2 that the parent / carer should try to
come to an agreement with the young person how to proceed in resolving the problem
situation.
18
Professionals doing and saying
things that may be supportive
The theme of “supportive behaviour by professionals” relates to code and categories
associated with professionals’ behaviours that support the young person whose nude
‘selfies’ have been shared without permission.
In relation to this theme, the majority of participants perceived the following behaviour to
be supportive:
• informs about procedures, important information and explains what is going to happen
next (100%)
• tries to understand and listens to the young person, and is aware of the social context
of photo sharing (100%)
• does not breach privacy by mentioning names to others who do not need to know
(100%)
• avoids making the situation worse (100%)
• confronts the boyfriend and those involved to stop sharing and delete the image from
the mobile phone (95.65%)
• deals with the situation confidentially, discreetly and sensitively (95.65%)
• is supportive and reassuring, offers help to resolve the problem together (95.6%)
• offers supportive reporting processes (95.65%)
• punishes those involved who have shared images without permission, such as school
suspension or a criminal fine (91.30%)
• educates those involved about the consequences and seriousness of sending and
sharing nude pictures, and also informs about safe-sexting (90.90%)
• avoids judgment, blaming and victimisation (86.86%)
Participants’ comments in Round 2 provided various suggestions of other supportive
behaviours. For example, teachers should try to stop the victim being bullied, and reduce
tension by introducing a seating plan where the victim is not sitting with anyone who has
been involved with bullying her. It was also thought that teachers should raise awareness
of the implications of sharing nude ‘selfies’ and warn pupils not to ostracise or bully any
victims. Although one comment stated that the risk and dangers of sharing nude ‘selfies’
should be addressed in large school assemblies, another comment indicated that large
school assemblies, even without mentioning any names, would infringe the victim’s
privacy and therefore result in further problems, such as bullying and harassment.
19
Teachers doing and saying things
that may be supportive
This sub-theme relates to the main theme of “professionals doing and saying things that
may be supportive” with specific focus on teachers and the management of cases within
the educational context.
In relation to this theme, the majority of participants perceived the following behaviour to
be supportive:
• speaks with boyfriend and his parents to discuss the seriousness of the situation
(100%)
• does not draw attention to individual affected through preferential treatment (95.65%)
• contacts the police to report non-consensually shared image (95.65%)
• speaks with other pupils about appropriate behaviour and attitude (91.30%)
Conversely, participants did not perceive the ban of mobile phones at schools and
allowing the victim to take time off school to be important supportive behaviours:
• introduction of policies to ban mobile phones from schools (52.17%)
• allows to take time off school (26.09%)
Participants’ comments in Round 2 also suggested that the risks of sharing nude images
should be discussed and explored as a part of a set curriculum to explore solutions to
situations of non-consensually shared nude images. On the other hand, the discussion of
these topics as a response to an incident of non-consensual shared images at the school
would promote gossip. Teachers should also discuss with a group of pupils, including the
boyfriend and his friends, the underlying reasons of their bullying of the victim.
Police doing and saying things that
may be supportive
This sub-theme relates to the main theme of “professionals doing and saying things that
may be supportive” with specific focus on the management of cases within the context of
law enforcement.
In relation to this theme, the majority of participants perceived the following behaviour to
be supportive:
• reassures that the matter is dealt with appropriately and safely (95.65%)
• deals with the situation appropriately, fast and with little repercussion (91.30%)
• having access to speak to a female police officer (91.30%)
A participant’s comment in Round 2 also stated that police should make the victim feel
comfortable and not to surround the young person with too many different people.
20
Dealing with others’ behaviours and
attitudes
This theme relates to coping strategies in response to others’ negative and disruptive
behaviours, such as bullying, when non-consensually shared images become public
knowledge within small-knit communities, such as schools.
The majority of participants reached consensus that the following coping strategies would
be important to reduce and minimize the stressful effects of bullying and harassment:
• does not isolate herself from others (100%)
• reports and speaks about others’ disrespectful behaviour to a trusted person (family,
teacher or police) (95.65%)
• surrounds herself with supportive friends and focuses on positive activities (91.30%)
• accepts and learns from experience (91.30%)
• refuses to feel bad for having made a bad decision (91.30%)
• joins a support group to better deal with the situation (86.96%)
• remains confident, assertive and holds ‘head up high’ (82.61%)
• seeks distance and ignores others who are disrespectful (82.61%)
Participants, however, did not perceive confrontational behaviour to be an important
coping strategy:
• confronts others about their disrespectful behaviour (47.83%)
Participants also commented in Round 2 that the victim should not retaliate in response to
others’ bullying behaviour. Another comment suggested that the victim should engage in
altruistic activities to increase a self-worth.
Discussion
This study explored the opinions and views of young people of what constitute helpful
behaviours and attitudes in cases where nude or semi-nude images have been shared
without consent. Overall, participants agreed that the clear majority of statements
identified in the Round 1 questionnaire were important and thus achieved consensus.
The findings demonstrated that the participants reached consensus over several helpful
and supportive behaviours. Such helpful behaviours and attitudes related to themselves,
parents and professionals working with young people, including teachers and the police.
The first theme provided insight of what behavioural signs by others and the boyfriend
might indicate that images have been shared without permission, for example, the
spreading of rumours and insulting behaviour. The second theme related to participants
rating of immediate helpful behaviour in cases of non-consensual image sharing. One
of the highly-rated behaviours included reporting to the police that images have been
shared without permission, and speaking to a trusted person to seek help and advice.
Interestingly, the same participants rated it less important for parents to report the incident
to the police. In contrast, young people preferred parents to approach a teacher or
boyfriend and his parents. Parents’ non-judgmental attitude and avoidance of blaming
were also rated highly. High ratings were also given to professionals’ ability to listen to the
21
young person, respect of privacy as well as providing information about procedures and
other important information.
Although a few items did not achieve consensus, they were still deemed to provide
important information. For example, the item “giving strange looks when walking by”
(65.22%) was rated by over two-thirds of the participants to signal that images have been
shared. Noteworthy, this study is also the first study that focused on identifying the views
of young people who are framed as ‘experts by experience’. Such a focus on young
people as ‘experts’ is of importance for the development of evidence-based policies and
guidelines that ensure good practice in relation to the management of coercive and noncoercive youth-produced sexual image-taking.
Implications for research and
practice
This study was the first of its kind by including young people as ‘experts by experience’.
Such a focus on young people is important to inform appropriate victim-centred
management of cases where images have been shared without permission.
Limitations of study
There are several limitations that, to some extent, may interfere with validity of the results
obtained in this study. Although this study is based on a sufficient sample size, it must
be taken into consideration that a larger data set could have produced slightly different
results. In this study, it was not possible to differentiate between participants who have
direct or indirect experiences of sexting, from those who do not have such experiences.
Of those, who may have experience, it was not possible to infer who had experience of
their own images being shared non-consensually, and of these cases having escalated
to law enforcement. In this sense, future studies should include a data set based on a
more diverse demographic. In particular, this should make reference to gender, ethnic
and socio-economic diversity and LGBTQ youth as well as other groups who are often
marginalised.
22
23
Part 2 – Collaborative
Symposia: Edinburgh,
Norfolk and London
24
Introduction
Professional confidence in responding to all forms of technology-mediated abuse
and exploitation seems lacking (Quayle & Cooper, 2016). This is not to say that
organisations are failing children, or that there are not examples of good practice
across many disciplines. The limited academic literature has largely focused on the
challenges professionals face when responding to children abused and exploited
online. To date, there is very little research or practice-based work in this area to help
us understand the needs of child involved in either coercive or non-coercive youthproduced sexual images. However, there are resonances for this group of young
people with studies examining the management of cases involving online child sexual
abuse and exploitation images. Here there is a recognition that the introduction of the
internet has created a new type of victim experience that needs to be explored to fully
understand the implications for that child victim (Leonard, 2010), and highlights the
necessity to explore professionals’ opinions regarding the needs of child victims and
the challenges and difficulties they face in meeting these needs.
Quayle and Cooper’s (2016) review of the literature suggests a general agreement
amongst professionals, including social workers and other mental health
professionals, that child online sexual exploitation cases are extremely challenging
and poorly understood. A German study by von Weiler, Haardt-Becker and Schulte,
(2010) found that child pornographic exploitation (CPE) cases were seen as more
complex than offline abuse and were more demanding for professionals in terms of the
multiple and potentially on-going traumatising aspects of the abuse. Online abuse and
exploitation victims may share some characteristics of traditional sexual abuse victims,
but they also demonstrate several unique characteristics (Wells & Mitchell, 2007). One
particular challenge is the issue of permanence regarding abuse images, leading to
a lack of closure, or non-resolution of the abuse experience (Wells & Mitchell, 2007;
von Weiler, Haardt-Becker & Schulte, 2010; Leonard, 2010). Specifically, professionals
report that children often feel helpless about the lack of closure, leading to additional
psychological stress and heightening feelings of shame, fear and guilt. A second
challenge concerns the harms arising from victims knowing that their images can
continually be publically distributed and viewed by innumerable others. The feelings
of loss of control in turn may lead to anger, self-blame and humiliation (Martin 2014;
2014a; Slane, 2015; Cooper, 2011).
However, there is limited empirical evidence or evidence-based guidelines about how
professionals might to respond to the victims. Martin highlights how practitioners differ
in their conceptualisation of what constitutes online child sexual abuse images, their
levels of concern about the issue, and their understanding of the potential effects
on the child (Martin, 2014; 2014a; 2015). For Cooper (2011), it is imperative that
professionals, especially healthcare providers, learn to understand the significance of
abuse images alongside the experience of caring for victims. This means acquiring
the experience to feel comfortable in discussing the images during interviews, thereby
enabling professionals to transfer their understanding of the experiences both to
the victims themselves and to the authorities. As cases involving child online sexual
exploitation victims are more likely to involve multiple other authorities, e.g. law
enforcement officers or child protection services, there is a need to develop guidance
about collaborative working between authorities that will enable practitioners to draw
upon the expertise of other professionals in order to provide comprehensive treatment
and care (Wells and Mitchell, 2007).
25
Jansen (2011) suggests that the needs of these young people are different from
offline cases in a number of ways. Feelings of connectedness, responsibility and
shame may be more persistent in online CSA cases as the young people may have
presented themselves online in a sexualised way and as a willing participant. They
may also have ignored opportunities to disconnect from online interactions, thus
creating feelings of responsibility for enabling the abuse. This may surely be the case
in relation to youth-produced sexual images, particularly where they have been shared
as well as where coercion has taken place. It is also likely to be the case that as most
these cases involve adolescents, as opposed to younger children, there are perceived
issues about agency and adolescent risk-taking that may influence our attitudes and
behaviour towards these young people. Adolescent sexuality when evidenced in
digital media is challenging, possibly embarrassing, and an unwelcome disruption of
our sense of order. For law enforcement, it can be a time-consuming distraction from
cases where children are more apparently at risk.
What Problem is Being Addressed?
Our original research had resulted in the development of a series of short films,
commissioned by our partners in NCA - CEOP Command, which targeted parents
and professional groups. Our pilot workshops which accompanied the launch of these
materials indicated a generally positive response from parents in their confidence
levels about talking to their children about ‘sexting’, but professionals felt less certain
about their ability to manage these cases. This prompted us to work with NCA –
CEOP Command, Police Scotland, Norfolk Constabulary and the Marie Collins
Foundation to develop a consensus study across stakeholder professional groups to
address concerns about the management of youth-produced sexual images and to
provide examples of what might be seen as good practice. The bid was to address
the perceived gaps about how professionals may work together and draw upon each
other’s expertise in order to increase cross-disciplinary confidence in working with
young people.
How was the Problem Approached?
We worked with partners to identify professionals who would be interested in attending
one of three symposia. We wished to have small groups (approximately 20 people)
to facilitate engagement and maximise our outputs. The meetings were structured
(three short presentations) before working in groups to address previously identified
questions. Prior to the symposia, our partners distributed the Delphi report that had
already been completed with young people who had self-produced and shared sexual
images. Confidentiality was assured in that while we had requested that the content of
these meetings could be collated for this report, no attributions would be made to any
individuals.
26
Overview of the consensus study
with professionals
Locations
The collaborative symposia with diverse groups of professionals were held across three
sites in the UK (i.e., Edinburgh, Norfolk and London) between November and December
2016. These symposia were organized in collaboration with partners of the project,
which included Police Scotland, Norfolk Constabulary and NCA-CEOP Command. The
symposia were held in informal settings at three different locations – i.e., the University of
Edinburgh, Norfolk Constabulary, and the offices of NCA-CEOP Command.
Attendees
At total of 70 individuals attended the three collaborative symposia – of which 26
individuals attended the symposium in Edinburgh, 17 attended the symposium in Norfolk
and 26 attended the symposium in London.
Although the highest percentage of attendants at all three collaborative symposia were
police officers, each symposium also had a distinctive distribution of professions (see
Tables 1-3). For example, the symposium in Edinburgh had a stronger attendance
of government employees whereas the symposium in London featured the greatest
percentage of teachers. Although the symposium in London had an overall greater
diversity of professionals and organisations (such as health and wellbeing advisor an
academic), the symposia in London and Norfolk had a similar distribution of individuals
working for the government, charities and NHS.
27
Table 1: Overview of attendees at the Edinburgh symposium
Table 2: Overview of attendees at the Norwich symposium
Table 3: Overview of attendees at the London symposium
A closer examination of the attendees’ professional focus (regardless of professional group)
reflected a strong emphasis on child protection in all three symposia (see Tables 4-6).
28
Table 4: Professional focus of attendees at the Edinburgh
symposium
Table 5: Professional focus of attendees at the Norfolk symposium
Table 6: Professional focus of attendees at the London symposium
29
Discussion Groups
Following a series of brief presentations by stakeholders relevant to the topic of online
sexual exploitation and youth-produced sexual images, all attendees were divided
into equally-sized discussion groups of approximately 5-7 people. In each of the three
symposia, attendees were given a set of five questions that were critically discussed in
each discussion group.
The five questions were the following:
1. What are the main challenges associated with youth-produced images?
2. How do we differentiate between coercive and non-coercive youth-produced images?
3. What facilitates the management of these cases?
4. What inhibits their management?
5. What recommendations would you make for how these cases can be managed that
maintains a child-focused perspective?
Each group nominated a note-taker who wrote down the main discussion points on
flip-chart paper for later discussion. After the discussions ended, the summary of the
responses was then presented by one representative of each group to the whole of
attendees, and then further examined and debated by the larger group. At the end of
each symposium, all attendees were asked to write down three recommendations on
“what changes should be made to better manage cases of non-consensually shared
images?”. These recommendations aimed to identify and pull together the attendees’
impact-orientated insights and opinions that were formed because of the group
discussions.
Analysis
All responses were transferred to a standard word document and carefully read by the
researchers to obtain a general insight of the data content. Responses varied in their
quantity ranging from simple keywords to short phrases and sentences. Qualitative
content analysis was then used to identify themes that were frequently mentioned in
responses to the questions, in addition salient responses were identified and included in
the result section. Researchers’ notes that were taken during the open group discussions
were also used to provide further details and complement the responses.
30
Results
Responses to the Five Questions
Responses to the five questions related to “identification of main challenges”,
“differentiation between coercive and non-coercive youth-produced images”, “facilitation
of case management”, “inhibitors of case management”, and “recommendation for
child-focussed management” were grouped into thematic categories.
Q1: Main challenges associated with youth-produced images?
In relation to the management and conceptualisation of images, attendees identified
that the “shifting purpose and function of images” as they are shared between
different audiences makes it difficult to decide upon appropriate interventions. The
“unspecified ownership and inherent loss of images” indicates challenge in the
“categorisation of images as nudes or selfies”.
In addition, attendees mentioned a lack of awareness and insight by young people,
parents and professionals concerning the implied risks of sharing and producing nude
images. It highlights the importance to introduce educational schemes that inform young
people, parents and professionals about the risk and consequences of image sharing.
Educational schemes should also “raise awareness about technology and the
Internet”, and the implications of the “longevity of pictures”. In particular, education
content should be highly “relevant to young people who are using images as part of
their culture”. As pointed out by attendees at the symposium in Edinburgh, young people
should have access to “peer support” as a means to avoid peer pressure and cultural
expectations that normalise the sharing of images and possibly undermine reporting.
Attendees also identified that young people’s limited ability “to understand the
consequences and risks of sending images” and their understanding of interpersonal
relationships, such as “young people’s naïve understanding of interpersonal trust”
and “understanding the risk of sharing of images during a relationship, and its
consequence after the relationship breaks down” has been identified as a challenge.
This can serve to create “a barrier to find dialogue” between young people and
“professionals who are dependent on the experiences of young people who have
very different values regarding healthy relationships”. Young people are also often
under the influence of “peer pressure on silencing, such as fear of reporting and
blackmailing” which represents a challenge to professionals to offer ways of reporting
that are in the best interest of the young person. As pointed out at the symposium in
Edinburgh, professionals are also challenged to identify and respond in a child-focussed
way when “dealing with the perpetrator as a teenager”.
Attendees in London identified that tensions between parents and schools and an
apparent lack of active parental engagement indicate challenges in the management of
cases. For example, “parents defer responsibility to school to manage problem,
which blurs the boundaries of problem ownership”. In relation to parenting, there is
“not sufficient communication between parents and young people” and “a lack of
parental interventions, such as restricting young people’s access to affordances
(e.g., mobile phones)”. “Young people against disclosing to the teacher out of fear
of losing their smart phone” and “escalation of young people’s risky behaviour
represents an additional barrier to disclosing to a parent or teacher”.
31
Attendees at the symposium in Edinburgh identified challenges of the legal processes
in the management of cases. It was stated that there is a “need for a legislative
framework to assess criminal threshold” and that a “balanced legal framework
should emphasise activities that are in the best interest of young people”. In
relation to the best interest of young people, it was also mentioned that “police should
focus on victims to come forward” and once a report has been made, “young people
should be informed about the legal process”. Differences between guidelines across
agencies “represent a barrier to reporting”, and “inconsistency of information, risk
assessment and decision-making processes” as well as a “lack of clear definitions”
hinder and delay processes. Although external interruptions can also delay the timely
processing of cases, such as “young people doing exams”, the use of guidelines that
promote a consistent approach are particularly important to “how cases are managed,
developed, and influence the experience of a young person”. It was also suggested
that there is a need to carry out “more research to support, understand and influence
government in relation to evidence proportionality”. Most importantly, as stated by
attendees at the symposium in Norfolk, “once reported to the police, an investigation
has to be followed through”.
It was also mentioned that the rapidly advancing technology and its risks to young
people represents an additional challenge, thus attendees pointed out the importance to
better “understand the nature of the Internet”. In particular, professionals might “come
from different contexts might have a different understanding of technological
norms” and “be overwhelmed by technology”. Users of technology, including young
people and parents, need to better understand the risks of sharing images and “the
tension between the easiness of taking a picture and its longevity on the Internet”,
which highlights also an existing “generational gap of parents to understand the
implications of young people growing up with technology”.
The cultural context and its wider social implications represent a challenge, which
partly reflects the controversial topic of the nude body in society. For example, there is a
sense of a “normalisation of sexting” that is largely consistent with the “normalisation
of nudity as a part of generational upbringing (e.g., music industry)” and possibly
influences “young people’s perception between rough and aesthetic pictures”. Such
a normalisation of nudity and sexting distracts from perceiving “sharing of images as
a risky behaviour”, and as a means to obtain “self-validation”, implies the danger
of encountering “public humiliation and self-harm”. There exists also a “doublestandard of sexual consent” where young people aged 16 or over are allowed to
engage in sexual activity, but it is illegal to take, possess or share nude images of anyone
(including oneself) under the age of 18. As mentioned by attendees in London, the
sharing and production of nude images are also relevant in relation to “implications of
gang culture” as well as “victim culture where victims become perpetrators and
those who were bullied become bullies”.
Q2: Differentiating between coercive and non-coercive youth-produced images
In relation to the differentiation between coercive and non-coercive youth-produced
images, attendees consistently stated the intrinsic difficulty imposed by the changing
context in which images are shared that make it difficult to determine when a situation
becomes coercive. In this sense, it is “difficult to differentiate because images
can start as shared consensually but then things go wrong and the relationship
might change” or in situations where initially “non-coercive image sharing may turn
coercive, for example, when the victim is being threatened if the sharing won’t
32
continue”. As identified by attendees at the symposium in Edinburgh, there is also
“tension around the decision-making framework” to determine whether images
are coercive or non-coercive, and “prejudices around the person who created the
image”.
With the aim to differentiate between coercive and non-coercive sharing of
images, attendees provided practical suggestions. For example, it was proposed
that professionals should strive to “understand the context of image sharing on
an individual case assessment” and “gather sufficient information that enables
proportional responding”. In relation to the victim and perpetrator, it would be important
to “identify power imbalance vs. healthy relationship” by “using intelligence and
evidence, such as talking to witnesses and victims to weigh up against each other”
and “clarifying the intentions and motivations of the perpetrator to determine
coercive sharing (e.g., blackmail, photo-shopping, hacking devices) vs. noncoercive sharing – e.g., free will and loving relationship)”. It was seen as important
to focus on “consent being led by the victim”, and as pointed out by attendees at the
symposium in London, for professionals to “be mindful of cultural differences”.
Conversely, attendees also pointed out that there remain existing “tensions in the law to
the extent that each police force has different guidelines and limits” and oftentimes
the “discretion to report and to carry out appropriate risk assessment remains with
school and police force”.
Q3: Facilitation of case management
In relation to the facilitation of case management, attendees consistently stressed the
importance of inter-agency work. Such “effective inter-agency working and good
relationships among agencies” would facilitate “timely and coordinated response
led by professionals who can ensure joint actions, appropriate responses and
completed outcomes”. There should be also a shared “professional understanding
of which agencies should be included” so that there is an “effective support
system that is in place when help is needed”. Agencies have an “obligation to
support the police” which includes “information sharing to enable police to obtain
a coherent picture”. Attendees at the symposium in Edinburgh also mentioned that an
effective multi-agency approach requires “low competing interests and a focus on
shared interests” and the “same decision-making process and risk assessments”.
Processes and joint actions should incorporate “balance between a child friendly
perspective and legal process”, emphasise “child focussed responses that are
individual and implement flexibility to make decisions” and “ensure outcomes,
actions and agreed joint response with input of young person”. Although a multiagency approach is needed to facilitate the management of cases, power remains with
the police who carry the statutory obligation to own the problem and hold discretion
about enhanced record check of reports to be mentioned.
Schools, and the involvement of teachers, have been identified of utmost importance
in the management of cases to the extent that schools should focus on the safeguarding
of young people and carry out early interventions and risk assessments. Attendees
mentioned that teachers would require “training about online safety”, “to notice and
report changes in children’s behaviour”, and adhere to their “duty to report when
a child is at risk” and “being aware of confidentiality”. Schools should “emphasise
safe-guarding”, “maintain good relationships with police, school governance,
safeguarding and parents to enable early management and prevention” and should
33
provide “good risk assessment processes at schools to decide what needs to be
escalated”. By focussing on the needs of young people, the school and teachers should
have sufficient “awareness of procedure to keep children involved – e.g., referral to
youth engagement team”, “provide management of the psychological impact on
children and involving counselling and other agencies”, as well as providing relevant
education to young people by “ensuring that sexting is part of subject content at
school”.
Given that cases involve young people, attendees also pointed out the emphasis
on a child-focussed perspective by ensuring that “young people are involved in
discussions regarding procedures”, “the right person talks to the young person
and maintains communication” and that professionals have a “good understanding
of young person’s vocabulary” and “children based communication”. Attendees
at the symposium in Edinburgh further mentioned the importance of providing young
people with relevant education about “the Internet and risks” as well as the “difference
between coercive and non-coercive relationships”. Given that young people typically
want to be part of a group, there should be “peer support to influence positive
behaviour and decision-making, such as coming forward”.
The role of parents to ensure the safeguarding of their children has also been identified
as an important factor in the management of cases. Parents should be “supportive
to their children” and there is a need of “parental involvement and knowledge of
technologies”, “parents should attend workshops about the Internet” and “discuss
issues on parent online forums to identify and fill their knowledge gaps”.
Q4: Inhibitors of case management
In relation to factors that inhibit the management of cases, attendees identified in relation
to an existing legal gap that “young people aged 16-18 years are too young in regard
to a sexual offence, but the police are not able to generate a young person concern
report if over the age of 16 years”. This comment was made in Edinburgh and was
related to: the perceived legal framework in Scotland, what might be seen to be in the
best interest of the child, reporting, and the difficulty of a legal-child-friendly perspective.
There might be also a “mismatch between a young person’s maturity and
development as well as their sexual experience and age” and “young people scared
to come forward and engage with law enforcement”. Once a young person has come
forward and a case is being processed, however, “professionals should manage the
expectations of a young person in regards to the legal procedure of case”. There is
also a general “lack of understanding of technology” and “differential responses by
agencies” that inhibits the processing of cases.
Attitudes of professionals towards cases involving sexting have also been pointed
out to be a potential hindrance. An apparent “lack of communication between
professionals, such as a lack of feedback from social service, one-way information
but no update on cases” as well as “lack of feedback from police to reassure
safe dealing”. Attendees at the symposium in London, in particular, identified
that teachers show a “lack of understanding of protocol and law” and “lack of
familiarity of working together with the police”. There is also a sense of “teacher’s
embarrassment and fear of engaging with cases, such as viewing of evidence,
confiscating of mobile phones and devices”, a “fear of professionals of viewing
images and its impact on their own professional reputation” and an undercurrent of
“judgmental attitudes with a focus on education rather safeguarding”.
34
Attendees at the symposium in London mentioned a lack of parental engagement with
their children has also been identified to problematic to the extent that parents are “in
denial of problems” and “lack sufficient understanding of the culture of young
people, such as the sharing of images”. An additional “lack of parental engagement,
undermines on a school level” where for example, there is a “culture where parents
take children out of sex education”. While at times these comments may seem
like ‘parent-blaming’, it was acknowledged that there is a need for additional parental
support to empower them to safeguard their children through engaging in more active
communication about relationships, including those that are made online.
Q5: Recommendation for child-focussed management
Attendees identified the importance of being aware and remaining focussed on the
young person. For example, “a review of legislation should allow for a young
person-focussed and individualized approach and response”. Such youth-focussed
management requires professionals to “take into account a young person’s age, stage
of development and their ability to understand the situation” and “to understand
child’s perspective and language” and also of “being aware of special needs”. To
provide an understanding of the young person’s specific context, professionals need to
“listen to the young person in the process” and also “believe the young person
at all times”. Young people should be “given a range of ways to disclose” and be
“involved from the onset and kept informed” throughout the process. Professionals
should also be mindful that the “process of investigation is traumatic to a young
person” and there should be a “provision of ongoing support, if required, as well as
the provision of peer support”.
Effective and timely processing of cases and communication across agencies
has also been mentioned as facilitating a child-focussed approach. This should include
“multiagency screening to deal with cases appropriately and timely” and “bridging
the gap of partnerships for the best need of children”. The access and sharing
of information across agencies, such as “providing web-pages with information”,
has been also identified to be supportive to assure the implementation of “early
intervention”, “individualised interventions” and to “inform professionals about
available interventions”. Responses should be also “proportional and prioritise the
child vs. criminalisation”. There should be also “standardised risk assessments”
and “realistic management of risk programmes in context of adolescence”. As
pointed out by attendees at the symposium in London, it is important for schools to
“address their mistrust towards the police” and to “emphasise their duty of
pastoral care”. Attendees at the symposium in Edinburgh proposed the notion of “a
triage approach” that enables “an initial screening (rather than a random process)
and use of guidelines in relation with additional information, including age,
diversity groups and special needs”. Professionals should be made available a “tool
kit for risk assessment and decision-making processes”. Attendees further identified
the importance of an “international context” in cases involving sexting, rather than
considering a solely local or national context.
Attendees also proposed the use of training to educate young people, professionals
and parents about online safety. Thus, there is a need for “informing public and young
people about online risks”, “teach about resilience and empowerment” and also to
“involve child in the delivery of training”. In specific, social media can be part of the
solution to the extent that “cooperation from tech-police companies and social media
platforms” should prioritise safeguarding. In such cooperation, media should be used
to “inform young people and the public about risks and consequences of using
35
technology and the Internet” and “empower young people”.
Recommendations for Changes
The responses to the question “What changes should be made to better manage cases of
non-consensually shared images?” were grouped into six thematic categories –
1) focus on young people; 2) prevention and early intervention; 3) guidelines and
frameworks; 4) support for professionals; 5) equality; and 6) culture.
Focus on young people
Theme one, “focus on young people”, relates to categories associated with the emphasis
on the protection and well-being of young people during the management of cases.
Attendees identified the importance to “emphasize a child focused process”, “retain
a focus on specific vulnerabilities”. Prioritising the needs and concerns of young
people includes “involving and listening to young people, avoiding judgment or
blame, and understanding the social context of image sharing” and also “better
understanding of the vocabulary of young people”. It was also suggested that
professionals should “evaluate and assess cases individually”, and if appropriate,
“involve social care and health care services”. Given the use of technology and online
devices, professionals should also “provide additional support to young people to
manage risky online behaviour” and “better understand the impact of negative
online experiences on young people”, such as by “conducting longitudinal studies
of impact”.
Prevention and early intervention
Theme two, “prevention and early intervention”, relates to importance of preventative
measures involving professionals and parents to increase awareness and knowledge
about sexting. Attendee’s responses highlighted the importance of offering “multipleroutes for reporting and disclosure for young people, parents and schools” and
an increased “police liaison with schools to optimise engagement and facilitate
disclosure”. It was also identified that there should be a greater “emphasis on a
shift from investigation to prevention” that “engage parents and professionals to
resolve issues together”. Such prevention includes the provision of “early education
to professionals, parents and young people”, and the introduction of “preventative
measures and learning material to increase awareness” about internet safety and
mobile phones and by doing so “develop skills and increase awareness of risks” to
“influence behaviour and prevent negative impact”.
Guidelines and frameworks
Theme three, “guidelines and frameworks”, relates to detailed suggestions to influence
the improvement of policies and guidelines of the management of cases. Attendees
identified the importance to “develop consistent guidelines across agencies” and
regions, including “across Scotland”.
36
Detailed suggestions indicated the need to “improve existing frameworks and
guidelines for agencies to deal appropriately with cases” and “develop clear
guidance that clarify the responsibilities and role of agencies in managing cases”
to ensure best practice approaches. The guidelines should also “implement clear
descriptions and definitions that are useful for professionals”. Professionals and
agencies should also “broaden the scope to include national and international
guidelines of good-practice to promote a shared approach on censorship”.
Attendees also pointed out the necessity to “develop strategies that outline how
to manage report of sexting regardless of first point of contact”, “implement
and develop a decision-making process, risk assessment and toolkit for best
management by agencies for cases” that inform proportional responding to cases.
The law surrounding sexting including “the review of legislations and polices across
all agencies” was also identified to require improvement and the need for “clear
guidelines for professionals around law on sexting” with the use of “accessible
language and avoidance of jargon”.
Schools were specifically identified as requiring attention in the implementation of
guidelines and legislation to enable appropriate management of cases. Attendees
mentioned the need to “introduce legislation in schools, teaching and learning about
sexting” and to “develop consistent and clear national guidance across schools”
that “clarify relationship between school and law”. There should be also the “use of
questionnaires at schools about sexting” to identify trends, insight and opinions of
both staff and students
Attendees also drew attention to the involvement of media service providers to support
safe use of the Internet, such as the “development of better industry control on
internet risks to young people” and their “support of initiatives” to raise awareness
of risks and promote safe online behaviour. This highlighted the inherent problems of
privacy, loss of control of content and the need for support from industry to aid in the
identification and removal of content. Attendees were aware of some of the new tools
developed by industry to assist in this, and there was some discussion of the need for
industry to ‘future-proof’ the development of new social media applications.
Support for professionals
Theme four, “support for professionals”, relates to a range of support measures ranging
from improved technological support to the sharing of information between agencies,
as well as the access to regular updates, workshops and training events to promote a
“better understanding of technologies”. In relation to technological support, attendees
mentioned the need for “better IT” such as software to track and delete images and
“capabilities that do not deskill or disable professionals”.
37
Attendees also mentioned the importance of “better group work and sharing of
information across agencies” which would increase trust. The development of clear
policies is essential for “better clarification of responsibilities between agencies
and ownership of incidents”. The notion of “better and effective cross-agency
communication” or “clearer systems of communication” have been also identified
of vital importance to facilitate functional cross-agency work. Agencies could be brought
together through the “introduction of a web-directory” and “the development of a
knowledge hub of trends, including best practices, technology and failures”.
The notion of continuous professional development, “regular workshops and updates”,
such as “CEOP training and other local training”, to provide support to professionals
has also been consistently pointed out by the attendees.
Other suggestions related specifically to police officers and their need to have improved
“support to work with schools for a period of time” and for other professionals
to “better understand the role of the police that does not aim to criminalise
young people”. Further suggestions indicate the need for “more funding to identify
underlying issues” that need to be addressed and resolved.
Equality
Theme five, “equality”, relates to proposed changes to promote and facilitate increased
equality of LGBT young people. Attendees suggested that there is a need for “the
development of guidelines that address equality issues”. Professionals should
“consider LGBT young people’s experiences of sexting” and be aware of “the role
of prejudices and discrimination as risk factors”. Existing social-cultural perceptions
need also to be clarified and challenged, including “female victim vs. male perpetrator
stereotype that hinders same sex and LGBT youth to seek support”.
Culture
Theme six, “culture” relates to proposed changes and increased understanding
of “the wider and specific context of image sharing”, which included a better
“understanding the context of gang culture”. In relation to the public and sociocultural norms, it would be beneficial to “break the societal taboo and understand
normalization of the topic of sexting” to facilitate management of cases and
“understand that problems around sexting are exacerbated by cultural influences”.
Social media platforms and organisations should also “report and highlight the
dangers of sexting”, whereas adults might benefit from “challenging stereotypes of
young people having high levels of digital literacy”.
38
Executive Summary and
Conclusion
This study explored the opinions and views of professionals relevant to the
management of cases involving adolescent youth-produced images. Based on the
responses to five questions that explored the wider context of case management, a
series of frequently mentioned and salient themes were identified.
Examination of the responses identified consistent themes. In relation to the first
question “main challenges”, the main themes related to the shifting purpose of images,
a lack of awareness of risks that might impact on reporting, and young people’s
limited ability to understand implied risks. Tensions between parents and schools and
the legal process in the management of cases were mentioned. Rapidly advancing
technologies and implications of the wider social-cultural context were also pointed
out.
Responses to the second question “differentiating between coercive and non-coercive
images” showed that the sharing of images represent a changing context that
makes decision-making difficult for professionals to differentiate between coercive
and non-coercive images. Practical suggestions indicate the need to obtain a better
understanding of the context of image sharing, exploring power imbalances in
relationships and identifying consent.
The third question “facilitation of case management” produced responses that stressed
the importance of inter-agency work and the sharing of information. There is also a
need to involve schools and teachers to support and safeguard young people as well
as to provide information about risks and consequences. An emphasis on a childfocussed perspective was also identified, as was the need of parents to safeguard
their children.
In relation to the fourth question “inhibitors of case management”, responses pointed
out the legal gap between sexual consent and prosecution for sexual offences was
not useful. Young people’s mismatch between age and experience might impact on
reporting. Existing attitudes of professionals towards self-produced sexual images
and a lack of understanding of the legal framework can represent a problem. Lack of
parental engagement with their children has also been shown to be problematic.
The fifth and last question “recommendation for child-focussed management” showed
the need for professionals to assess cases on an individual basis whilst being attuned
to the needs, perspective and context of young people. Young people should also
be given different ways to disclose and be provided with support. Cases should be
assessed in an effective and timely manner and be based on appropriate responses,
including risk assessment and standardised processes. Young people and parents
also require training to understand the implications of online risks and safe Internet
use, which should be supported by social media.
39
Implications for research and
practice
The analysis of professionals’ opinions and views of the management of cases is
important to inform the development of practice frameworks and guidelines that are
consistent with existing guidelines that outline action responses and practical advice to
law enforcement agencies and schools. Throughout the symposia discussions (which
preceded the additional advice subsequently given to law enforcement), tensions were
evident between the perceived need to protect children through prevention of youthproduced sexual images, alongside an acknowledgement of the rights of children
to sexual self-expression, especially where children may otherwise experience
marginalisation. Practitioners talked about a lack of shared values around issues
of trust and the challenges of dealing with adolescents as ‘perpetrators’, especially
around sexual agency. Consideration was also given to the normalisation of nudity
and the imperative of sharing content on social media which inevitably increases the
possibility of illegal youth-produced sexual images. This had implications for industry
to invest more heavily in the ability to identify and remove inappropriate content and to
develop tools to facilitate this.
Many of the professionals who attended the symposia were also parents, or had family
members that were adolescents. This heightened sensitivity about the engagement
of children by professionals, but also about the empowerment of parents to be more
effective communicators with their children about sexuality, privacy and consent. The
need for children, and their parents to be at the centre of a proportional and nonjudgmental response to youth-taken sexual images, was consistently referred to.
However, this was also in the context of a need for more cross-agency training and
support and the further development of consistent multi-agency guidelines. Industry
were also seen as important actors in this.
There was very little acknowledgement of the absence of specific guidelines towards
social care for children in relation to technology and youth-produced sexual images,
and specific support for children and professionals where children are out-of-home
or looked after. This gap is also identified in relation to other groups of potentially
marginalised children, such as those with learning or physical disabilities, although
there was discussion of the specific needs of LGBTQA youth. These gaps are also
reflected in the lack of research in this area.
For both research and practice, the importance of meaningful engagement of young
people is echoed throughout this report. This comes with challenges and, at times,
seemingly competing agendas. Changing technological applications, and particularly
social media, challenge many of our assumptions about privacy and control, and
youth-produced images are a small part of this. Internet opportunities also bring
risks, but proportionate responses to risk-taking are necessary if we wish to work
collaboratively with children.
40
41
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Appendix 1
Round 1 questionnaire for the Delphi study.
The vignettes and open-ended questions are as follows:
1. Your friend Shanice is seeing a new boyfriend. He’s asked her to send him some
topless pictures from her mobile and she agreed. Shanice believes that her boyfriend
has shown the picture to his friends at school, but she is not sure whether she is just
being “paranoid”. She is asking you for your advice. What warning signs would you
tell Shanice to look out for, which could mean that there is a problem?
2. Shanice is now quite sure that the situation has got out of control, and that her
boyfriend has shared her pictures with his friends. She is feeling angry, embarrassed
and ashamed. Shanice would like to speak to someone about her problem. She turns
to you for advice. Who would you advise Shanice to talk to about her problem and
why? (e.g., police, family, teacher etc.)
3. Shanice told her mother that she has sent topless images to her boyfriend, which
he has probably shared with his friends. Her mother asks her what she can do to help
without making it more embarrassing and difficult for Shanice. What would you
suggest Shanice should say to her mother?
4. Shanice has spoken to her teacher at school. The teacher, Mrs. Smith, realizes that
the situation is very difficult for Shanice and wants to help. How do you think Shanice
would like the situation to be dealt with? How do you think Shanice would feel at this
time?
5. Shanice noticed that a group of girls were whispering and starring at her during
break-time. Shanice believes that others know about the pictures. Her concerns are
confirmed when her best friend Lesley mentions that “everybody knows”. What advice
would you give to Shanice to deal with the situation?
6. Because Shanice’s problem turned out to be serious, the police got involved. The
police officers clearly want to help Shanice. How do you think Shanice would like the
situation to be dealt with? How do you think Shanice would feel at this time?
7. What advice would you give to teachers, social workers, police and other
professionals who work with teenagers when there are concerns about images being
shared without consent?
8. What other helpful advice would you have given to Shanice?
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YOUTH-PRODUCED SEXUAL IMAGES:
A VICTIM-CENTRED CONSENSUS APPROACH
Design: Graphic Design Service, LTW, ISG, The University of Edinburgh www.ed.ac.uk/is/graphic-design
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