SOCIAL CONTEXT OF ASM

Adult sexual misconduct (ASM) occurs in a broad social context. Sexualization of children in the media and advertising, as well as cultural tolerance of aggression and violence, is pervasive in society (Prevention Institute, 2009). Our technology-driven culture also plays a strong role in the social context where ASM can take place (National Sex Offender Public Website, 2015). Today’s elementary and secondary students have never known a world without the Internet or mobile electronic communications. Teachers who are still in the first 5 to 10 years of their careers also are part of a generation whose early life experiences have been influenced by the Internet, including various social media technologies. School districts and schools working to prevent ASM may wish to consider these rapidly changing social forces when developing policies.

Online technologies, including chat rooms, social media, instant messaging, and email, are often used by sexual predators to seduce young people into taking part in sexual interactions (Wolak, Finkelhor, Mitchell, and Ybarra, 2008). Sextortion is the term used when someone threatens to distribute private, sensitive material if a victim does not provide images of a sexual nature, sexual favors, or money (U.S. Department of Justice [DOJ], n.d.). Statistics show that it impacts youths in every stage of the K–12 population, and that perpetrators, who are sometimes called “sextortionists,” do not discriminate based on a student’s color, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. The DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation have worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to investigate how sextortion impacts youths. In 2015, NCMEC conducted an analysis of more than 800 sextortion-related tips received to their CyberTipline between 2013 and 2015. The results showed that the average age of a child at the time of victimization is 15 years old. Female victims, who made up 78 percent of children victimized, experienced their first sextortion incident as young as 8 years old, compared to 11 years old for boys, who make up 12 percent of victims (NCMEC, 2015).

This fact underscores the need for school districts, schools, and families to ensure that students know about these threats when they are online. At the Federal level, steps are being taken to address this issue via the National Strategy for Child Exploitation, Prevention, and Interdiction (National Strategy, n.d.). In 2010, the National Strategy initiated the National Child Exploitation Threat Assessment, a multi-agency effort to analyze and address the risks posed by child exploitation, which includes sextortion as one of five key areas. Using insight gained from a survey of more than 1,000 investigators, law enforcement managers, prosecutors, analysts, victim service providers, and DOJ grant recipients, the Federal government conducted a second assessment in 2016. Results revealed that

• mobile devices have altered the techniques offenders use to abuse children and are used to target, recruit or groom, and coerce children; and
• predators are skilled at tricking and pressuring children who are online and often victimize youths in large numbers.

This information may be alarming, especially in education environments that are increasingly reliant on technology. However, it is not wise or even possible to eliminate the use of social media, image-sharing, video-streaming, and other tools that can be educational, as well as harmful. The key to harnessing technology to enhance teaching and learning is to inform students, staff, and whole school communities of the risks; teach strategies for safer use of technology while taking steps to safeguard the tools and preventing misuse (NCMEC, 2012).