Girls at risk on social networking sites

[Miranda_]

Picture the scene. A thirteen year old girl logs into her Myspace account, using her username of SexyChick69. She has several photos showing her in a bikini, taken while on holiday up, plus a quick blurb telling people everything about her, from her real name to the name of the school she attends. She lists her favourite hangouts, citing hanging out at the local mall as what she likes to do on a Saturday afternoon, along with her favourite music groups and movies. To her, and her friends, it seems perfectly alright to do this; just part of having a Myspace profile. But to a sexual predator, it's the perfect tool to use to trace the girl and groom her for rape or even murder.

There are millions of young girls using social networking sites like Myspace, Bebo and Facebook; and trustingly making public to billions of users their personal information. There are options on Facebook to make such information private, but worryingly, these girls don't take advantage of those options. Teenagers feel invincible on the internet, and it gives them a sense of power to see the number of hits their profile gets. They try to attract more hits by putting up sexy pictures of themselves, or talking dirty. But few realise the danger this puts them in.

Parents are equally to blame by allowing their children to go online without supervision or putting controls on the computer to block certain sites. Internet watchdog Ofcom found that why parents might think they know what their children are doing online, they are in fact dangerously ignorant of the extent their kids are going to in order to collect hits or online friends. They are also unaware of their teenagers making plans to meet up with online friends, who might not be who they say they are at all. A girl thinks that her online boyf is a fellow fourteen year old MCR fan. Instead, he's 53 years old and grooming her for an eventual meet up, where he will rape and kill her.


I put this up cuz I'm worried about the number of girls on here doing exactly this in their profiles.

[TheHayleyDoll]

People really do have to be more careful. Even I probably have to be more careful. Girls (and boys in rare cases alike) can't see who's on the other side. The Internet is the easiest place to lie, cause it's not like anyone will find out.

I watched this Movie, Hard Candy (w/Ellen Page), and it was about a girl meeting up with this guy she met online. She was sending photos to him and they were talking sexually and everything. She's 14 and this other guy is in his early 30's, I think it was. They meet at a coffee shop and end up going to his house. He has pictures of all these half naked teenage girls all over the walls and claims that it's just because he's a photographer and they're models (and he's only slept with one when they were both younger). Anyway, it's really good. It especially effected me because the girl's name is Hayley, even spelt the same way. It was freaky. The camera get's really annoying cause at the beginning there are WAY too many face shots...

That's not the point though. The point is you never know exactly who the people you talk to are. Even if they are legit, what if someone were to hack onto that other person's account and get all your information? As long as you're safe on the internet though, it's a fun place to be.

[Singergirl0911]

I totally agree. I have a MySpace but rarely use it. Besides, it set on private. I also have a fake last name. (I think at one time I had it as Blue Monkey.XD) But its been changed. I personally don't care for it. But my cousins have one and I'll go on to check up on them and make sure they aren't doing anything stupid. XD

[Silver_Wolf_Kitty]

More girls really need to read this stuff. Everyone thinks it'll never happen to them because they don't use myspace or chatrooms or anything like that, but even on sites like this it is remarkably easy to get a girl to give up her personal information.

By the way, guys should listen to this too. There are plenty of people out there who could care less about whether they are molesting a boy or a girl. I know a lot of these warnings aren't directed towards boys, but they should be since guys are raped just as frequently as women, it just is severely underreported.

[Silent_Wolf]

Whenever I join a new site and it wants my name, I use 'Nilly' and then make up a last name. I end up using 'Nilly LALALALALALA' as my name a lot. :\ A girl from my school district was killed several years ago because a guy on Myspace tracked her down; I don't know if she had her personal info on it or not, because the report wasn't clear at all.

[Miranda_]

I used a girl rather than a boy as an example cuz boys don't tend to post half naked photos of themselves or call themselves "SexyBoy69" half as much as girls do, but it's true that there are groomers and rapists who will target boys as well as or instead of girls so both sexes need to be vigilante. You wouldn't walk around town wearing a sandwich board with your full name, address and phone number printed on both sides, so why do it on the internet?

Regarding usernames; if you're aged 8-16 you should not be calling yourself "sexy", "dirty", "sl'utty" or anything that's of a sexual nature in your username. Tags like "pretty" or "sweet" are OK-ish, but should still not be used by girls not even past puberty yet. The same goes for having sexy pictures in your sig and av; if I see anyone with them on here, their sig and av will be wiped and the user will receive a warning.

[WHiTELOvEx]

Wow thats scary,i don't think i'll join facebook or myspace even when i'm older. There should be a law not to put any personal info unless your 18+.

[Silent_Wolf]

It should be fairly freakin' obvious to never share personal info. I mean seriously, it's common sense!!

(I realize, unfortunately, maaaany people lack it.)

[xxGorgeouslyxDangerousxx]

I have a facebook, but I have the privacy settings so that only my friends can view my stuff, as well as only add people I know. I never put my display picture of me, either, since even if your face is OOBER small on the picture, you can easily zoom up and get a clear shot of your face. I'm very aware of online predators and stuff, so I try to keep my personal information as private as possible. Also, I never give out my last name on sites, like TDP for example. All people know is that I live in Canada and my name is Jessica, which is pretty vague.

[spirit_queen]

I have a myspace, but I only have a few blinky icons on it that only say that I like manga an a few kids' movies, and one or two quiz-thingies.

Miranda and I call "common sense" "RARE sense". XD For no one seems to use it.