Dear Teen Vogue, There Is No Such Thing As ‘Safe Sexting’

When the COVID-19 outbreak forced youth to stay at home, Teen Vogue offered tips for “safe sexting” on SnapChat Discovery as a “texting tips for long distance relationships” while social distancing. 

Let’s be clear: there is no such thing as “safe sexting.” Teens and tweens - the presumed audience of Teen Vogue - taking and sending sexually explicit images is the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), a crime. Online predators use social media sites to create relationships with teenagers, sometimes posing as peers, and then lure them into partaking in damaging behaviors, such as sending photos, that can then be used as blackmail. Promoting this behavior is harmful and dangerous. Teenagers wanting to connect is natural, so it’s particularly disappointing that Teen Vogue couldn’t have promoted forming relationships in a way that also doesn’t increase the risk of a teen ending up on a predator’s radar. 

The FBI warns that school closings and online learning during this pandemic will result in an increased risk of child exploitation, and patterns from previous disease outbreaks point to risks for abuse: loss of income, isolation from school and other social supports, disruption in normal daily routines and deep stigma for those infected.
To better protect kids during this time, this week, ECPAT-USA’s Youth Against Child Trafficking (Y-ACT) program is publishing a new guide for students on how to stay safe online during the COVID-19 epidemic. This will be followed by new resources for parents and educators. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we ensure the safety of our youth - both online and off.