With teenagers growing up cellphones, parents worry that they will be victims of sexual exploitation, especially online. How to prevent it? To this, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights responds: why not ask them? Their ‘Parole aux jeunes’ project does just that and the young people come up with a series of recommendations to tackle this scourge.
Stop infantilizing us with awareness campaigns that use language that claims to be “cool”, they tell us, implying that it is definitely not.
Don’t just target the victims: we need to focus the message more on condemning the acts committed, such as sextortion and the sharing of intimate photos, tell us these teenagers who understand that everyone has a role to play in order to stop the abuse .
This more than two-year project will of course help to better target campaigns to prevent sexual exploitation, but there is something else that is extremely important: “we don’t listen to young people when it concerns them “says Geneviève Trépanier, in charge of the project “Voice to young people” at the International Bureau for Children’s Rights.
It’s really a social issue, she insists. We must listen to these “experts on adolescence” and its “cultural codes”.
For a year, five groups of young people from secondary schools and community groups discussed abuse and sexual exploitation. They also received training on concepts such as the age of consent, to fuel their discussions in the workshops. Then, these some 70 teenagers aged 14 to 17 put together projects that report on their findings and their recommendations to better prevent exploitation, and thus influence prevention strategies in the form of video clips, podcasts or even mosaic tables, detailed Julie Dénommée, director of programs and learning at the International Office, a Canadian international non-governmental organization.
For example, one group created a video about sharing nude photos or private parts, and another created a question-and-answer podcast that looks at various forms of sexual exploitation.
The idea was not to collect testimonies from victims of exploitation: the teenagers who took part in the project were invited because they are “stakeholders in this contemporary issue. They thus expressed the desire to see “more representation” in prevention, that is to say that they want cultural and sexual diversity.
Social media experts
Youth also talked about addressing the “red flags” of sexual exploitation, such as manipulation, abuse of trust and power. Experts in social networks, they explained the need to use different targets and formats: Instagram for young people and Facebook for parents. They want to see a simple language, closer to reality. Prevention campaigns that show “extreme cases” of abuse miss the mark, they say, because the reality is more subtle. And prevention will work if young people recognize themselves, they point out.
“We prefer campaigns that offer resources and tools. Valuing talking about it and leaning on others. Testimonials make us feel understood. All campaigns must have this effect. The message must be reassuring for the victims, that they do not feel stupid, ”recalls the group from the Patriotes secondary school, in Saint-Eustache.
As for the need to also target the aggressors, for example, those who engage in sextortion, it emerged from the exchanges that they too must be educated, reported Ms.me Trépanier: “There was something very beautiful in that. There is hope. »
The closing event for this project took place on Thursday evening in Montreal. The decision-makers will be present – like officials within the Ministry of Education and that of Public Security – just to convince them to listen to what young people have to say on the subject. And so that in the future they are more involved.
“They want to be proactive and participate” insisted Mme Named. When we involve them, they get on board: They want the space, to participate, to build and that goes beyond the subject of sexual exploitation. Some created projects in their schools afterwards and even organized conferences. For her, it is surprising that young people were not involved in the drafting of the recent bill to better regulate child labour.
I will continue to hammer it, she says: “it is essential to consult them. »