Brook: Sending Nudes to Someone Under 18 is Illegal

Brook, the sexual health and wellbeing charity for young people, is launching a hard-hitting new campaign by Grey London, pushing for unsolicited nudes to be made illegal. Eye-catching illustrations of people cyberflashing will feature in adverts online and on billboards across the country with the message ‘It’s illegal to flash someone irl so why not online?’ However, the genitals themselves will be censored by a QR code, accompanied by the hashtag #STOPCYBERFLASHING. People will be encouraged to scan the QR code with their phones – they’ll then be taken to Brook’s campaign landing page to learn more about cyberflashing, and directed to a platform allowing them to instantly tweet their MP to demand their support in banning cyberflashing. Unsolicited nudes have been invading our inboxes for long enough. Cyberflashing is not just intimidating, it’s sexual harassment which can cause untold harm and emotional distress to the victim. Yet it happens every single day - according to a 2018 YouGov poll, a shocking four in ten young women said they had been sent a photograph of a penis without having asked for one, with 46% of these women saying they were under 18 when it first happened, and 26% of 18-24 year old men have reported receiving unsolicited nudes. With the proliferation of social media, file-sharing services and online dating apps, and increasing time spent online during the pandemic, this number can only be higher in 2021. Way back in October 2018, the Women and Equalities Committee recommended the government introduce a law criminalising cyberflashing as a sexual offence. Then in July this year, a Law Commission review recommended that cyberflashing be made a criminal offence and said that current figures on it were just “the tip of the iceberg”. However, the government has yet to take any action on the recommendations. Unlike public indecent exposure, cyberflashing incidents often go unreported as the attacks on individuals are often anonymous, via the likes of AirDrop and other apps. Yet cyberflashing is currently a legal grey area if you are over 18 (it is illegal for anyone to send naked images to anyone under the age of 18). Brook believes there should be no grey areas when it comes to sexual harassment and that MPs must do more to tighten the laws to send the message that it is unacceptable. It is also calling for greater support for the victims, and better education around consent and healthy online relationships to help stop cyberflashing.