Campaigner says more needs to be done to stop 'Cyberflashing'
"The emphasis is always on the woman"
Cyberflashing, a practice which typically involves offenders sending unsolicited sexual images to people online or via Bluetooth and Airdrop is now a criminal offence.
Research lead by Professor Jessica Ringrose from 2020 determined that 76 percent of girls aged 12- 18 had been sent unsolicited nude images of boys or men.
Women’s safety campaigner, Karen Whybro who has also been a victim to Cyberflashing; is based in Essex and feels more needs to be done about the issue now it has been made a crime.
“I get really tired of people telling me to block them and ignore it”
“Or change your settings”
“Yet again, the emphasis is put back on the woman”
Karen feels that its great that the issue has been recognised and being debated in the Online Safety Bill, however she stresses that “more needs to be done “.
“The current legislation just doesn’t have enough stringency to it in terms of having to prove this intent”
In addition to the offence, The Online Safety Bill continues to put more legal responsibility on social media platforms, search engines and other websites/apps which can host user generated content which tackles a range of illegal and harmful content.