Girls at five Canberra schools – Canberra College, Gungahlin College, Radford, St Clare’s and St Mary Mackillop’s College – are reportedly among those who have been the target of an online porn sharing site where men and teenaged boys solicit and swap graphic sexual images of young women who live in particular geographic areas or attend specific schools.
According to a News Ltd report, 71 Australian schools are caught up in the porn ring, which has posted or traded more than 2000 images since its inception in December 2015. The site contains more than 50 threads, with each representing a region, such as a rural town or city suburb.
The News Ltd article includes a series of quotes from the porn ring (slightly edited to prevent Google searching):
“Who has nudes of this bitch? I hear she throws it around!”
“I’m posting pretty much all the hottest little teens I have.”
“I have a fair few of ***** ****** including a few box shots of her.”
“I’ll pay good money to see the rig under **** *******, anyone have any of her?”
“Any **** *****? I’ve hear she sucks d**ks”.
According to the article, one young woman tried to have photos of a friend removed from the site, only to find her own name added to the wanted list calling for nude shots.
Another who asked for photographs to be taken down “was told that it was her fault for behaving like a ‘slut’, and that her images now belonged ‘to the internet’,” the News Ltd article reports.
Sharna Bremner from End Rape on Campus told the News Ltd journalist that the men were “getting off on … the very fact that these images are not consensual and that the victims have no idea they are being exploited”.
“The thrill is not just that they might see the girl who sits next to them in maths class, it’s also that they can put in an order for the girl from maths class. What these boys are really getting off on is the sense of power they feel over these girls, and the idea that they can own and obtain them like objects,” she said.
ACT Education Minister Shane Rattenbury said today that the young men involved in this activity needed to know that their behaviour was not only illegal but “completely deplorable”.
“The fact that they have engaged in this activity against their peers is even more disturbing – these are their friends, girlfriends and sisters,” he said.
“Clearly more focus is needed on continuing to educate young men about how to treat women with respect.”
ACT Policing’s Detective Acting Superintendent Marcus Boorman, of Criminal Investigations, said this afternoon that his team was working with national and international counterparts to investigate the matter, which had also been referred to the office of the Children’s Safety Commissioner.
He urged anyone who believed they were a victim or had had their image posted on the website to contact police.
“I would also like to take this oportunity to reinforce to people, and encourage parents and young persons to talk about the risks in relation to posting images on the internet,” Superintendent Boorman said.
“Once you post an image on the internet and you press send, you have no control. That image can end up anywhere.”
Meg Brighton, Deputy Director-General of the ACT Education Directorate, said additional supports were in place for staff and students.
“We are appealing to anyone with information to come forward and to speak to the police about any information they have,” she said.
“Our schools and our community will not tolerate this behaviour that harms, victimises or threatens the safety of young women.”
The principal of Radford College wrote to parents last night when the story broke:
Dear parents, caregivers and staff,
Statement in response to tonight’s news report re: pornography ring involving 70 Australian schools
Radford College has been informed tonight of a News Limited report listing it as one of 70 Australian schools where current or former students are allegedly connected in some way to a pornography ring.
We have also been informed that the matter has been referred to the Cyber Crimes Unit of the AFP. At this stage the College has not been contacted by the AFP, nor any authority that might be involved in an investigation.
The College stands ready to cooperate fully in any investigation by the authorities responsible for investigating these matters.
Radford College takes a zero tolerance approach to behaviour of this nature, which stands in stark contrast to the values and culture not just of the school, but the broader community supporting it.
Any student or parent who has any information about this kind of behaviour is urged to inform the College or contact the Police.
Yours sincerely
Fiona Godfrey
Principal
The acting principal of St Clare’s College also contacted parents last night:
Dear Parents and Carers,
This letter is not to alarm, but to inform.
At 6pm this evening, the Director of Catholic Education, Mrs Moira Najdecki, sent me the following news item and called me to discuss its content. Indeed, we have received some communication from some parents already, drawing our attention to the item. I bring this to your attention so that you are hearing from the College what we know and understand and how this will be best managed, rather than hearing this from elsewhere.
You will be aware that there have been a number of news articles about male students in other parts of the country sharing images of female students in an invasive and degrading manner. I was as distressed as you would have been to read those reports.
The following news item, points to a systematic, planned, and deeply offensive use of other people’s images without their consent. It points to students at our school and four other schools in the ACT, among 70 schools nationwide, where students are targets. At this stage, I am unaware whether it involves images of our students being posted, however, the article does suggest that girls at our school are being targeted. There is no indication of how many students are involved.
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/students-from-70-australian-schools-targeted-by-sick-pornography-ring/news-story/53288536e0ce3bba7955e92c7f7fa8da
St Clare’s is proactive in pastorally caring for your daughter and our pastoral program addresses the following things:
St Clare’s engages in an extensive pastoral and education program around technology, cybersafety, positive relationships, self image with all year groups and our Year 9 students participate in the SAPPSS (Sexual Assault Prevention Program For Secondary Students).
All students annually sign a Responsible Use of Technology agreement.
The College works very closely with the AFP to report inappropriate usage and to bring the AFP into our education program. Indeed, we are very happy and grateful for the excellent contribution the AFP makes in this matter.
Student satisfaction surveys (conducted anonymously) point to an overwhelmingly positive response by students to their sense of safety at St Clare’s and their sense of happiness at being here.
Whilst I can appreciate that young people, from time to time, can make errors of judgment about what they share and what they post, social media is an unforgiving, potentially invasive, and very public medium.
Just the same, this report points to something far more concerning than an error of judgment and its degrading, humiliating, and contemptuous disregard for images of other people will not be marginalised or overlooked.
Should any parents or carers have concern that your daughter has been impacted by this situation, please contact the AFP so that they can investigate and contact the College immediately so that we can provide appropriate pastoral support.
I am very sorry to have to bring this to your attention on a Tuesday evening, but I believe it is best in the interests of the progress of your daughter, the wellbeing of your family and our college that you be made aware of as much as possible as soon as possible.
The College will, of course, communicate with all of you any further information as we receive it. Please understand also that whilst the privacy and dignity of some young and vulnerable people across the country has been disregarded, it will be respected by our College.
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Natalie Dickie
Acting Principal
One group of concerned citizens has set up a Change.org petition calling on the Federal government step in.
“If Mr Turnbull and Ms Cash are serious about encouraging respectful male behaviour towards Australian women and girls, they need to take a stand by punishing the men who operate this group and the males who contribute to it,” it reads.
NSW Police have issued a statement saying the website is hosted overseas, and uses software that allows users to post text and images anonymously.
According to the statement, Detectives from the Sex Crimes Squad’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit are liaising with law enforcement colleagues in other jurisdictions and making inquiries to determine if any offences have been committed in NSW.
Police are also working closely with the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner and liaising with the NSW Department of Education, the Association of Independent Schools of NSW and Catholic Schools NSW.
Police are reminding the community it is a criminal offence to take, transmit or possess images that are considered child abuse material (of a person under 18 years).
This also applies to teenagers, who are reminded that the dissemination of any material depicting nudity or sexual activity involving young people could constitute a criminal offence.
They should be aware they could be arrested and charged and, if convicted, will have a criminal record.
Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/ Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
File photograph of school students at top (not from Canberra): iStock; Screengrab from porn ring itself: Change.org
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