Think before sending dick pic. Ask permission before posting a funny photo. React to mean words on social media. Young people from a Montreal high school would be the only ones in Quebec to have access at all times to a worker to help them manage these issues.
“It’s you people who are the most affected. More than half of my cases [de partage de photos intimes]these are 1D secondary”.
Élise Dupras, 43, says this sentence in front of around thirty young people who are 12 and 13 years old. Many opened their mouths in astonishment upon learning of the audacity of their fellow men.
“Who thinks that on Snapchat the photo really disappears after 24 hours?” asks the speaker.
A student raises his hand and says he knows techniques for capturing these supposedly temporary images. “You inspire confidence!” says a student a few desks away with sarcasm.
Reachable 7 days a week
At the end of March, The newspaper revealed that younger and younger children were being bullied and insulted on social networks, sometimes as young as 6 years old.
At Monseigneur-Richard school in Verdun, everything related to sexting, cyberbullying and screen addiction is Élise Dupras who takes care of it.
When the pandemic returned, Monseigneur-Richard staff noticed that many of its 1,500 students had spent a lot of time in front of screens. New situations, such as the sharing of intimate photos, began to emerge, says director François Millette.
This is where the idea of hiring Élise Dupras was born, at the start of the 2022 school year, so that she can devote herself entirely to cyber issues.
“I can tell you that I don’t stop, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.” And even more, since young people can contact her on social networks 7 days a week.
Consent…even when it’s funny
“You took a funny photo of Sarah making a face. You say to yourself: “It’s funny, I’m going to publish it”. But does Sarah find it comical? did she give as an example to explain consent to images during a workshop attended by The newspaper.
In his office decorated with a banner of lights, the atmosphere is warm. She welcomes young people who knock on her door.
Élise Dupras in her “cocoon”, where young people can come and consult her.
Photo Agence QMI / Joël Lemay
A classic case: a teenager was called a “female dog” on social networks.
Not long ago, students consulted it after chatting with a pedophile.
Another example: a student complained that a filmed interview with him had been broadcast on TikTok by colleagues without his consent.
“You didn’t give your consent to receive a photo? Come see me. This could be considered an assault. Besides, no one likes receiving dick pics when it’s not requested,” she informs the students.
An initiative that would benefit from being replicated elsewhere
Élise Dupras’ interventions meet the needs of young people so much that she is a “victim of her success” and the project could be taken up elsewhere.
“She has made herself indispensable,” says Mr. Millette, who would like to be able to regularize Ms.me Dupras, which would allow him to train other stakeholders and reproduce the project in other schools in the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Service Center.
When can you post someone’s photo or not? The workshop on image rights given by Élise Dupras offers numerous scenarios.
Photo Agence QMI / Joël Lemay
It must be said that Mme Dupras created his expertise from scratch. She is part of the school’s special education technician team, but she is trained as a delinquency interventionist.
She looked everywhere for material and examples to draw inspiration from, in vain. She came to the realization that she is the only school worker in Quebec to do what she does. At least, to do it full time.
Lift the mat
“We put devices in the hands of our friends without there being any prevention or scale at the parental level,” observes Mme Dupras in interview.
Meanwhile, school staff rarely have time to address situations that do not physically take place at school. However, the social life of young people now takes place much more on social networks than in the playground.
“Often it gets swept under the rug [par les écoles]. That’s what I’m for: to lift the rug.”
“Rarely do I quibble”
“The workshops make a big difference. It is enormous […] “What I do in prevention prevents fights later.”
Young people not only need to be educated on cyber issues, but also to be supported.
“I look good tough like that, but it’s rare that I quibble,” she reassures the students during the workshop.
Artificial intelligence
One of the big challenges of his role is that things are constantly changing. For example, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is now possible to place the head of a teenager on the naked body of another person.
The scene is fictional, but the photo is still considered child pornography, she explains. “I found out last week.”