What is Online Sexual Abuse/ Sextortion?

I became a victim of sextortion when I was 14 years old for the first time and again at 15 years old without knowing what the term meant or that it even existed. That's why I felt I had to make this article/newsletter, to educate children, teens, young adults, adults, and elders everwhere. Below is a video I made on my personal story of sextortion, this crime affects many people and needs to be addressed.

Sextortion is a horrific crime that involves blackmail, sexual assault, and/or sexual exploitation. Young people are more and more susceptible to this crime with the rise in technology use and the lack of protections in place. That's why it's so important to inform children about this crime to ensure they know how to detect it before experiencing trauma.

My sextortion occurred in 2016 and 2017, I remember watching videos in middle school of young girls sending intimate pictures to boyfriends or love interests and when they broke up or something happened the boy leaked those intimate pictures. I remember thinking, "That would never happen to me."

The thing I didn't realize is that this crime doesn't always happen between boyfriends and girlfriends. This crime can coincide with other crimes such as identity theft, stalking, sexual assault, and many more. Teachers and faculty showed the student body in my middle school a short video that involved a girlfriend and boyfriend but didn't explain how sextortion can happen in different capacities. After that video, no further education occurred. It would've been extremely beneficial to teach my student body how to protect themselves from sextortion, how to tell and regain safety, and what signs to look for. That could've saved me many years of abuse and testifying in court against my perpetrator.

The shame that surrounds this crime is incomprehensible. I was just a child. I've heard many stories like my own through the years and want to dive more in-depth to help parental figures, educators, and more to educate children on this topic.

I want to share an amazing link from the website Thorn that I discovered that has a discussion guide for how to talk to children about sextortion and a virtual conversation script that parents can practice with before having the conversation.

Thorn also has a pre-teen and teen-friendly video on sextortion that explains the crime, how it happens, that it's not the victim's fault, and how to put a stop to the crime before it even begins.

It's our job as adults to raise educated children who have the tools to ensure their safety!