‘Teenagers should be warned on sexting dangers’

Schools should incorporate the dangers of so-called sexting into their education programmes and codes of conduct, an expert on online sexual exploitation has said.

Dr Ethel Quayle, formerly of the COPINE Project in University College Cork which looked at the victimisation of children through the spreading of child pornography online, said many younger teenagers were unaware of the dangers of sending sexualised texts and pictures that could later be used to harass or bully them.

Dr Quayle, now a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, said schools needed to be “proactive” about outlining concerns over sexting and other types of possible cyberbullying.