– Don't forget the boys in the nude images debate

(Fornebu 12 January) Worried, frightened boys are contacting Bruk Hue's speaker Ole Roger Vestøyl about the spread of nude images. – It’s just as serious for young boys to be exposed on the internet as it is for girls, he says.

Since 2009, Vestøyl has been travelling around the country with Bruk Hue ("Use your common sense"), Norway's biggest school tour against online-bullying. The tour is run by Telenor together with the Norwegian Media Authority, Kids and Media, and the Norwegian Red Cross through its Kors på halsen [Cross My Heart] campaign.

In the Media Authority's survey Children and the Media 2016, it appears that nine per cent of children and young people between the ages of 13 and 16 have sent nude images of themselves in the last year. 40 per cent of girls say they felt pressured into sharing nude images.

– We have heard from, and read about brave girls who are speaking out about the spread of nude images. When I am in schools with Bruk Hue, it is mostly girls who come up to me and want to talk about this, but during the past year the boys have also opened up about the problems around image-sharing. They say that they have exposed themselves on the Internet, and that images and films are being shared. Some have experienced being bullied for this, says Vestøyl.

He is now ensuring that the fact that boys are victims of the spread of nude images becomes a bigger part of the public debate.

– Many people perhaps think that it is not as dangerous for boys if nude images go astray. I have been talking to a number of boys who think it is horrible and difficult, and who are asking for help from adults. It is a nasty trend where the private life of children and young people is being violated, no matter whether this applies to girls or boys, says Vestøyl.

Talked to 300,000 about internet challenges

Since 2009, Bruk Hue has visited over 1,000 schools and talked about on-line bullying to more than 250,000 children and 50,000 parents.

– In recent years we have focused on large-scale meetings as we believe in the effectiveness of getting the same message across to children, teachers and parents in the same geographical area. We will be carrying on with this in 2017, including meeting more than 2,500 students and 1,500 parents at Fjell i Hordaland in February, says Ana Brodtkorb, Project Manager for Bruk Hue and Manager of Social Responsibility and Sustainability for Telenor Norge.

Half of them regret it

In Children and the Media 2016 it appears that 30 per cent of children aged between 9 and 16 have sent or posted text, images or videos on mobiles or the Internet which they have later regretted. Of those aged 15 to 16, 55 per cent of girls and 49 per cent of boys had sent or posted things they regretted.

– The fact that so many children regret this shows that preventative work on Internet awareness is vital, so that children can avoid ending up in such situations. At the same time, it is important that we adults are supportive when the damage has occurred. I think many adults have done things and shared things they regret, so this is something that the whole family should be thinking about, says Brodtkorb.

For further information, please contact:

Caroline Lunde, Head of Information, Society: 97155855 / caroline.lunde@telenor.com
Ana Brodtkorb, Manager of Social Responsibility at Telenor: 902 09 832/ ana.brodtkorb@telenor.com
Nelli Kongshaug, Manager at Kors på Halsen: 900 64 539 /nelli.kongshaug@redcross.no
Berit Andersen, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Media Authority 452 01 620 / Berit.Andersen@medietilsynet.no
Kjellaug Tonheim Tønnesen, Advisor at Kids and Media:474 74 345/ kjellaug@barnevakten.no

See alsowww.brukhue.com