Dick pics

[snalian]

I just wanted to appeal to all parents of teen boys. My poor dd 13 has been sent explicit texts and images by a boy in her class ( he was meant to be friend) and it really upsets her.
I'm not asking for advice on how to deal with it, that is in hand, but I have heard many times just how common it is for boys to send them ( unsolicited) and to expect girls to return a picture of themselves ( which DD has absolutely not done).
Whether you think your boy is capable of this behaviour or not, it is still a responsibility of all parents of teens ( girls and boys - I have both) to discuss openly how inappropriate such messages are - regardless of who else they know is sending them. If you haven't already / recently, please have this conversation with your teens

100% agree! My niece (almost 10) was sent a dick pic a few months ago from a boy the year older on some game app i think it was. it was awful we couldn't believe it.
Luckily she didn't seem affected but she now talks about it more and linked it with romance firstly which we quickly shut down.

I would be disgusted if my son (only 4!) sent this

I’d also encourage parents to gen up on the law and make sure their teenagers are aware of it.

I agree parents need to speak about this but must reiterate the legal side of things. Sending/receiving these images is sending/receiving images of a child and that is a complete offence.

I don’t think many teenage girls respond. Most mid- teenage boys know this is not appreciated and they are likely to get into serious trouble, which is why the demographic is unfortunately getting younger.

It's now illegal for men/boys to send unsolicited dick pics

Cyberflashing: People who send unwanted 'dick pics' will face jail under UK's new online safety law. The UK is cracking down on people who send unsolicited sexual images online, with plans to create a new criminal offence of "cyberflashing".14 Mar 2022

You have to question why a 10 year old was allowed to be in that situation in the first place.

“Hey needle dick, pack it away.”

It's so incredibly grim,I just don't understand why anyone would think that a picture like that is wanted.
It's a conversation we have had with ds since he was younger both with unsolicited and solicited nudes etc

@frydae
That's really unhelpful. I welcomed @mommabear2386 's contribution to this really difficult subject.

Thanks all, good to hear your thoughts on the matter.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but if it helps one person think about what access their 10 year old had to unsolicited pictures/messages then I feel it was worth mentioning.

@frydae oh of course and my brother in law was the first to admit he hadn't completely understood the game apps and didn't realise there was even a online chat option / function. It's not an excuse and we all went through her phone / tablet to remove stuff and added all the parental controls etc.

She was genuinely just wanting to talk to others another the game in such a naive way but she's had to also be told about peoples intentions and internet safety in a lot more detail. I guess you always think I'm won't happen to you until it does

DD is a similar age and was saying a boy in her year has been sending dick pics AND videos of himself masturbating. Luckily DD has not received any of the messages herself but apparently some of the girls have been forwarding them to others. What a mess. I contacted school and said 'I know this is just gossip but at the very least you should probably have an assembly where you remind them all that it's against the law to do these things'. And reminded the DC not to ever sent naked photos of themselves to anyone or to show anyone if they receive such messages but to just tell me so we can contact the police.