Sexting: To send or not to send

Group agreement

Teaching tip: A group agreement must be established before any Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) program begins to ensure a safe learning environment. Read: Essential information: Establishing a group agreement for tips on how to create one and what to include.

1. Revise the class group agreement. 
2. Remind students that throughout the lesson they can write any questions down and add them to the question box at the end of the lesson (if they do not wish to ask them during the lesson). See Essential information - Setting up a question box.
3. ⚠️Trigger warning 

Say:

"This lesson covers topics that can sometimes be difficult for people. Please let me know if you feel you need to take a break from the room.

Before we start, let's check that everyone knows where to go for help if you want to check anything that this lesson raises for you."

4. Ask students:

❓ Who are some trusted adults you can talk to?

(Possible answers: parents, grandparents, teacher, older siblings, doctor, other family members, etc)

Teaching tip: It is important not to tell students who their trusted adults are or should be. You can offer a list of suggestions of who they might be. For some students, some of the people you suggest, may not be people that are safe for them to talk to. Students should not be made to share their list of trusted adults publicly unless they wish to do so.

❓ Who are some people at this school that you can talk to?

(Possible answers: class teacher, other teachers, school psychologist, community health nurse, youth workers, etc )

Say:

"During the lesson we will also be learning about some services and online support that is available."

Introduction: Definition

5. Ask students what they understand by the term 'sexting'?
6. Take answers from volunteers. 

Teaching tip: Students need to feel safe and supported in lessons on sensitive topics such as this. They need to know that they will never be called upon to answer questions and that you will only ever ask for volunteers for contributions.

5. Say:

"'Sexting refers to using a mobile phone or the internet to take, ask for, receive, send or share intimate text, photos or videos including where someone is naked, partly naked, posing sexually or doing a sexual act. These are sometimes known as 'nudes', 'sexy pics' or 'noodz' or some of the words that you have already said. They are also known in legal terms as sexually explicit images or messages, or intimate images."

Thumb quiz: Legal, not sure, illegal

6. Teaching strategy: Thumbs up/down quiz. Ask students to indicate their answers:
   • thumbs up = legal
   • thumbs down = illegal
   • thumbs sideways = not sure.
7. Read and display the following scenarios on the board (See To send or not to send PP_teacher resource - slides 7-18). 

Teaching tip: The language in the following scenarios deliberately limits the use of gender pronouns in order to avoid gender stereotyping who sends/shares images and to be inclusive of gender and sexual diversity. Students can make their own decisions about the gender of the individuals in the scenarios. 

• An 18 year old girl sends a naked image of herself to an 18 year old guy she likes.

(Legal, but if he didn't want this, it might be sexual harassment depending on circumstances.)

• A 20 year old girl sends a naked image of themselves to their 21 year old partner

(Legal)

• A 16 year old consensually sends a nude to their 16 year old partner.

(Despite being of legal age to have sex, and legal under WA laws, this is illegal under federal laws which override state laws. If a person under 18 takes a naked picture of themselves, it can be considered creating child exploitation material. Sending it to a partner can be considered distributing child exploitation material. These laws are designed to protect children from exploitation however, young people consensually sharing images can still be prosecuted under these laws.)

• A 21 year old shares the image of their partner with several of their friends.

(Illegal if they did not ask for their partner's consent to share the images.)

• A teacher 'follows' students on Instagram and make personal remarks.

(Legal but breaches professional conduct. Guidelines for the Use of Social Media - The Department of Education.)

• After breaking up with their 16 year old partner, a 17 year old threatens to send an intimate image of them to their mates.

(Illegal to threaten to send an intimate image (WA law) and illegal to send an intimate image of a person under 18 years of age (Commonwealth law).

Laugh and learn video - sexting

8. Watch Laugh and learn - sexting (2min 12sec). 

Teaching tip: CaLD students and students with special needs could potentially be confused between pimple popping and sexting. It is important for teachers to decide the suitability of this content for their students and to address any misconceptions that may arise.

9. Ask:

❓ What are some of the key messages from the video?

(Non-consensual sexting is disrespectful, harassment and against the law; issues can follow you the rest of your life - whether you send, receive or share an intimate picture; it is easy to lose control over who can see an image once it is sent; there are things you can do if you receive an unwanted sext.)

To send or not to send?

10. As a whole class create a 'choose your own adventure' style flow chart using sticky notes. This can be created on the floor, on desks pushed together, on a wall or a window. 

Teaching tip: This activity should not be conducted in small groups unless there are enough adults to facilitate each group. This is vital to ensure students adhere to the group agreement (e.g. no sharing personal stories). Ensure all adults facilitating groups are familiar with protective interrupting techniques and how to deal with disclosures. 

11. Provide each students with a small stack of sticky notes (or scrap paper).
12. Guide students through the following steps either using the To send or not to send PP_teacher resource (Slide 20-33) or by reading the instructions aloud.
13. Say: 

" Describe a scenario in which a person might be asked for a nude. This is to be a hypothetical situation so no names of people we know and no personal stories."

❓ What are the names of person A and B?

❓ What are their genders?

❓ How old are they?

❓ How do they know each other?

❓ What app/device are they using to chat?

Teaching tip: It is important to remember that students in the class are likely to have experienced similar situations either directly or indirectly and it is vital for everyone to maintain confidentiality and not to disclose personal stories of their own or others. Offer students the opportunity to talk to you (or another trusted adult) in private if they have any concerns they would like to raise. The question box is another way of offering students opportunities to raise issues privately. Students can indicate that they would like time with you, the school counsellor/nurse by placing a note in the question box and including their name on the note.

Discuss some of the potential stereotypes:

❓ Is it always the guy asking for nudes?

❓ Is it always the girl being pressured?

❓ Is it always a heterosexual relationship?

14. Write down the scenario and place it on the floor/wall where you will be displaying the 'choose your own adventure' flow chart.
15. Say:

"What might person B's response to this request be? Write it down on your sticky note and place it along side the scenario to show the different ways the conversation might develop."

Ask:

❓ Do they want to send the nude?

❓ Do they feel safe?

❓ Is there trust?

❓ Do they feel pressured?

❓ How do they negotiate the situation? (diversion, humour, respectful, disrespectful)

❓ Do they consensually send the nude?

❓ Do they send a pic without showing their face or identifying features?

16. Ask:

❓ What might person A reply?

(anger, humour, pressure, respects answer and doesn't ask again, cuts off conversation, dumps person B, asks for more, call person B names for either sending it or not sending it)

17. Have the students continue the potential responses along the 'choose your own adventure' path.
18. Ask:

❓ What might happen as a result if they send the nude or if they don't send the nude?

❓ What are the emotional consequences?

(May feel regret for sending it; may feel mortified if it gets shared with others; may feel OK about sending it; may feel happy/sexy/flirty/etc sending it; may feel scared; etc)

❓ What are the social consequences?

(Friends/colleagues might judge you; may end the relationship; may start a romantic/sexual relationship; may bring person A and B closer; may cause person A and B to fall out; excluded from friends; family fall out; etc)

❓ What are the ethical consequences?

(Is it ethical to ask for a nude or should you wait to be asked? Is it ethical to assume a partner would be OK receiving a nude image? If someone has shared nudes with lots of other people, is it OK to share the image? What if there is a large gap in the age of the people sexting? etc)

What the law says

19. Have students read the Youth Law Australia - Sexting webpage (https://yla.org.au/wa/topics/internet-phones-and-technology/sexting-laws/) . This could be as a whole class, on individual devices or printed copies. 

Teaching tip: Ensure that the Youth Law Australia website is set to 'Showing laws for WA' so that the information displayed is accurate for WA. 

19. Say:

"It is against the law for ANY person to take, keep or share intimate images when it involves someone under 18.  It is against the law to share or threaten to share an intimate image of a person of ANY age without their consent. No doubt there are many people - adults and young people alike - who are unaware of these laws. Why do you think not knowing this information could be very dangerous for some people?"

20. Ask: 

❓ What are the legal consequences?

(If under 18, could be charged with creating/distributing child exploitation material; could be put on child sex offenders register; could impact future employment and housing options; could be fined or imprisoned; could be no legal consequences; may be completely legal; etc)

❓ Who could get prosecuted in each of the scenarios we looked at in Too send or not to send?

(Any that involve people under 18. Any that involve harassment)

❓ Who would get prosecuted in each of these scenarios?

(It is impossible to tell. Laws are designed to protect young people from exploitation but the laws are still written in such a way that young people can potentially be charged. The aws place the emphasis on non-consensual sharing of images, pressure, harassment and 'sextortion' - threatening to share images)

Where to go for help

21. View eSafety what is image-based abuse video (2 min 30 sec)
22. Ask:

❓ Where can a young person go for help in these situations? What can they do?

(Tell a trusted adult, block the person on social media, report it on the eSafety site, contact Headspace, Kidshelpline, a school counsellor)

23. Show students the eSafety Commissioner website and go through the steps of 'What to do?' 
24. Ask:

❓ What strategies have you seen in this process that you might recommend to a friend who was in a similar situation?

Teaching tip: It is important to keep questions 'a step removed'. Asking students what they would recommend to a friend allows them to think of useful strategies for themselves without having to say, 'I would do this' which could make them feel vulnerable and/or potentially disclose personal information.