Preparation

• Lesson c0201 "Age-Appropriate Media Usage" and lesson c0203 "Psychological and Social Risks" should preceed this lesson
• Gather print material for sex education for various ages in your language: flyers, books,... Some organisation provide free information material. Get some of those for your participants to take home with them. 
• Compile a list of local charities to share with participants as needed.

Method / Process description

• Input: Introduce the risks of online sexual assault (Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying children in their use of digital media > Risks for children and young people online > Protection Against Online Sexual Assault)
  • Introduce what types of sexual abuse are known on the Internet (sexualized insults, obscene calls and messages, voyeurism,...). 
  • Roughly explain the terms cyber grooming, sextortion and love scamming. 
  • Explain that the greatest risks come from leaving children unattended with the Internet and not preparing them for the risks (see lesson c0201 "Age-appropriate media useage").
• Exercise "Let's talk about sex": Many parents don't feel comfortable talking to their children about sex and are happy to leave this topic to the teachers at school. But they are the ones who know their children best and who can adequately address their information needs. It is also a good chance to pass on views and values to their children and not leave that up to friends or material on the internet. According to reports, most children come into contact with sexual content on digital channels at the age of 10-12, and some even before that. 
  1. Start by presenting the print material about sex education you have gathered. If you found some free material hand it out to participants.
  2. Split the class into groups of 2-3 people and research for 10 minutes on the Internet which websites are available for sex education in families in your language. 
  3. Get together in plenum and gather the results in a presentation you can later send to participants. Talk about the quality of the offers and also try to give a recommendation for which age the results are suitable.

• Input: Explain what cyber grooming is about (Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying children in their use of digital media > Risks for children and young people online > Protection Against Online Sexual Assault > Cyber Grooming). 
  • Strategy of attackers: making contact > collecting personal information > isolating > extorting sexual acts
  • Target: can be offline sexual contact or online sexual activities.
  • Explain parallels to sexual abuse prevention in the offline world. Many children receive basic training in elementary school that can also be applied in the virtual world:
    • Listen to your gut.
    • Don't do anything you don't want to do.
    • Make sure you can get help.
    • Make sure someone knows what you are doing.  
    • Learn about good and bad secrets
  • Importance of adressing fake identies on the Internet with children.
  • What to do in case of an attack (block, report, inform parents, get help from somebody,...) 
  • Highlight the importance not blaming children in case something went wrong but focus on helping them and prevent further incidents (if you have the option, show the video by thorn.org to show a good way to address the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yQ3fdttbUk ). 
  • Refer again to Maslow's pyramid of needs, since most attacks target one of these needs, especially individual and social needs, such as having friends or being valued. Emphasize that for many children and adolescents, growing up means uncertainty, questioning oneself, and searching for direction. Children who experience these negative feelings strongly are vulnerable to attack. (Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying Children Using Digital Media > Age-Appropriate Media Usage > Digital Media and Human Needs).
• Exercise "Preventing Cyber Grooming": Collect actions families can take to prevent cyber grooming on the board with participants, complete the collection if participants do not get all the points. Emphasize the importance of:
  • parents accompanying children and teach them about risks and how to find out if you can trust a person
  • parents ensure that children can also turn to external help 
  • parents technically limiting contact options for external people 
  • children learning about strategies and how to early detect attacks
  • children knowing about measure in case an attack is starting or has happened
  • children knowing how to protect their privacy (as explained in lesson c0208 - Protecting Children's Privacy) 
  • children feeling safe addressing problems or sexual topics in the family

• Input: Explain romance and sextortion scams (Module 6 > 6.2. Accompanying children in their use of digital media > Risks for children and young people online > Protection Against Online Sexual Assault > Romance and Sextortion Scam).
  • the strategies of attackers
  • Emphasize that it is not only a risk for children but also for adults. 
  • Men and women are equally affected, though strategies slightly differ. 
  • Incidents are underreported as people feel ashamed and embarassed. 
  • Online sexual activities have become a part of people's sexuality. 
  • Prevention is similar as for cyber grooming.
• Exercise "Safer Sexting": Together with the class gather tipps for sharing sexual content online. 

• Reflection: How does the class feel after the lesson?
  • Good, because they have more information now?
  • Bad, because there is such a lot of risks?
  • Do they feel well informed now about the risks?
  • How do they feel about talking about these topics with their children?

Download material

• Presentation template for gathering sex education websites for families

References

• Grooming: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/grooming/
• Your Guide to Safer Sexting: https://www.pcmag.com/news/your-guide-to-safer-sexting
• Sextorsion: https://sextortion.co.uk