LIZ CALLIGEROS
Over ten female students have allegedly been expelled from a North Brisbane school after their own naked photos were leaked online without consent.
The online site allowed anonymous users to ask for and share explicit content of girls in their area, which was strongly encouraged by others.
An anonymous student has said that the school did not want any association with the website.
“At least ten girls have been expelled, majority of them were in Year 12,” she said.
“I don’t understand why they are the ones being punished, it’s horrible. The school just doesn’t want any association with the site.”
Thousands of photos were shared under an ordering system of sub-categories; state, suburb, school, the names of individuals even going as far as sharing mobile numbers and home addresses.
“No boys have been suspended yet as far as I know, but I hope anyone who inflicted this is punished,” the anonymous student said.
The school has been contacted but are unable to comment on the issue at this time, however the Brisbane school was only one of many involved.
Photos of girls from around 70 different Australian schools were available to view for anyone with internet access.
Melbourne mother, Catherine Manning, shared a furious reaction online after her daughters’ school called a private assembly for all Year 7 to Year 10 girls.
“Undoubtedly like many others, instead of laying blame directly where it falls – with the perpetrators – it seems her school decided the best line of defence was to haul the girls into a meeting and not just police their appearance, but thoroughly insult and denigrate them,” she wrote in her post to the school, which has now been shared over 15,000 times.
According to Ms Manning, the girls were told to check the length of their skirt as anything higher than the knees would be deemed inappropriate past Monday.
“They were told not to post photos of themselves online, and to refuse any request from a boyfriend for a ‘sexy selfie’, as their boyfriends will only be around for a couple of days; maximum a year; but definitely not in ten years’ time,” she stated.
“They were told the boys are distracted by their legs, and that boys don’t respect girls who wear short skirts.”
After much persistence from girls who had had images leaked, as well as support from their friends, the Australian Federal Police shut down the page.
However, over 2000 images had already been shared since the group began operating in December of last year.
Catherine Manning shared her post to encourage an end to “slut-shaming and victim-blaming” and wants sexist culture to be addressed.
“The problem is not with the girls and the length of their skirts, nor whether or not they choose to share photos with their boyfriends or anyone else,” Ms Manning shared.
“It’s with the boys themselves; their sense of entitlement and sexist attitudes towards women and girls, their lack of respect, and the trust they choose to break.”
Many schools in Queensland are now looking to provide more social media and safe online practice education for students to address the issue.