Online sexual harassment guide

“The things I wish my parents had known…” draws together advice from 16 to 21-year-olds on how parents should manage tricky conversations around sexual harassment and access to inappropriate content, including pornography.

No child should have to stumble across harmful content online, and this organisation is taking action to try and tackle this issue. But, in the meantime the Children’s Commissioner wants to provide support and guidance for parents now on how to support your child if they do come across harmful content online.

An overriding message is that parents should start these challenging conversations early. Focus groups suggest broaching topics before a child is given a phone or a social media account, which is often around the age of 9 or 10. The guide focuses on issues such as:

• Easily accessed online pornography
• Pressure to send nude pictures
• Sexualised bullying
• Editing pictures and body image
• Peer pressure

The aim for the guide was to pull together these challenging (often seemingly unapproachable) topics for parents in an accessible way.

The guide is a ‘starting point’ for parents to begin confronting the issues with their children. There are signposts to the excellent resources of other expert organisations, including NSPCC, Childnet and Internet Matters, throughout the guide.

This is the latest in a series of wider projects addressing online harms, culminating in a recent roundtable with tech companies, holding them to account for the effects of services they provide as part of the Children’s Commissioner’s contribution to the government’s new Online Safety Bill.

This work has been bolstered by the support of ministers Nadhim Zahawi MP, Secretary of State for Education, Nadine Dorries MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and also Children and Families Minister Will Quince MP.