A new poll by the charity Barnardo's has found that nearly one in five girls in the UK receive persistent, unwanted images online, with the charity warning that online misogyny is becoming an everyday part of childhood.
Survey Findings
The survey of 4,000 young people aged 13 to 20 revealed that a quarter of girls had been called degrading names online, while one in seven 13- to 15-year-olds had been asked to send a nude photo. A quarter of all respondents said they had seen a nude photo that was originally sent privately and then shared without consent.
Lynn Perry, chief executive of Barnardo's, stated that the survey shows online abuse and harassment are becoming "part of the background noise of growing up." She added, "These findings show how constant, corrosive and deeply embedded it is in the lives of young people today both on and offline. Young people are telling us that the result can be harmful on all sides, from humiliation and sexualised abuse to feelings of shame and isolation."
Gender Differences
The results highlight stark gender differences. More than half of boys said they were expected to "act tough and not show emotion," while 41% of boys agreed that if a girl posts photos online, she should expect comments about her appearance. Additionally, 21% of boys felt their friends would not support them if they challenged sexist comments, and 57% said people would think they were "boring" if they did not join in with group banter.
Nearly one in five girls (18%) reported receiving repeated messages after asking the sender to stop or ignoring them. A third of all respondents said they had been asked to send a nude photo, including 36% of girls.
Impact on Daily Life
Lauren Spiers, a children's services manager for Barnardo's Northern Ireland, said the charity hears stories of girls being repeatedly verbally abused in PE and facing daily intimidation at school. "We're hearing about girls being followed and harassed in public, then feeling too unsafe to travel alone, and others avoiding parts of buses due to sexualised comments. Online, these attitudes are reinforced and amplified," she said.
Rising Concerns Among Practitioners
A third of Barnardo's frontline practitioners reported seeing more children affected by misogynistic content online compared to last year, as well as an increase in child-on-child sexual abuse or children displaying problematic sexual behaviour.
Calls for Action
The charity is urging the government to upgrade Ofcom's violence against women and girls guidance to a mandatory code of practice for tech companies. This would require platforms to explicitly assess how their design choices affect the safety of women and girls and to publicly report how they handle user reports of misogyny and harassment.
A government consultation on an age limit for social media platforms closed recently, with ministers expected to make a final decision within weeks.
