There are men who knowingly engage in sexual relations with underage girls on social networking sites.
This is a sexual abuse that has spread rapidly among girls in the past year or two.
PAPS, in cooperation with NHK, conducted a two-month investigation of perpetrators who approach girls on SNS. The results were aired on “Close-Up Today+” on Thursday, November 4 at 10:00 pm.
I created a fictitious Twitter account, “14 year old junior high school student who likes sweets and taking entrance exams,” and in my profile section, I stated that I was a junior high school student and that I was 14 years old, without posting a picture of myself, and first tweeted “I need friends,” and within one minute, I received nearly 10 Within a minute, I received direct messages (messages sent directly to individuals) from nearly 10 people.
“I have an adult account with ulterior motives, is it ok for you?” or “Are you in need of money?” etc.
Among them, there was a series of correspondence with a DM who said, “I support you in the form of spending money on the 25th of every month." This correspondence consisted of “you send me photos and videos” of naked or other sexual “photos and videos,” the amount to be paid was “determined by them,” and the content of the photos and videos was “requested by me." I informed him again that I was 14 years old, but he still kept asking for photos, and when I asked him how much he wanted, he replied, ”25,000 yen if you send hundreds of photos and the most expensive one. He was persistent in contacting me, even though he knew I was 14 years old.
In addition, a self-proclaimed male in his 20s sent us a video of himself masturbating one-sidedly and asked us to comment on it. He also asked for feedback.
There were also extremely malicious “grooming” tactics.
The self-proclaimed men in their 40s initially did not talk about sexual matters, but instead began to send direct messages that were not sexual in nature, but instead consisted of everyday conversations about school, study, family, etc., followed by such unrelated topics as “I see you are a student preparing for exams,” “I hope I don't get in the way of your studies,” and so on. I received such direct messages. For example, if I tweeted that I was upset with a teacher at school, I would receive kind messages such as “Don't be depressed” every day.
When the research team received these kind emails, they felt a sense of closeness, relief, and sometimes gratitude, as if a “good person” had appeared among the many other “bad people” making sexual demands, to support them and be there for them. I felt a sense of closeness, comfort, and sometimes gratitude.
However, the content of this man's messages suddenly changed at a certain point. When I complained that I was “stressed out” studying for exams, the man suggested sexual intercourse and masturbation as ways to “relieve” my stress. They have told me that sexual intercourse is “not bad” and “relieves stress,” but that masturbation is important for sexual intercourse and that they want to teach me how to do it. He also sent illustrations explaining the names of the female genitalia. The message “made me feel as if it was wrong not to masturbate,” and that “the elementary school student said it was a refreshing change of pace."
In actual consultations with our organization, we have confirmed several cases of junior high and high school students who have sent masturbation videos to their partners, and the actual perpetration of such acts is becoming increasingly sophisticated and sharp, including cases in which the perpetrator has established a relationship of trust before committing the act.
In addition, we actually met with a man who had offered to have sexual intercourse with us in the course of our correspondence. He was a man who seemed to be around 30 years old and had boasted of having had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in the past. In a prior direct message, this man said that as long as it was “mutually consensual,” it was “not immediately a criminal act,” and “not as bad as jaywalking or underage drinking. It is not as bad as jaywalking or underage drinking.
When the staff member of the investigation team showed the man who had met up with her the direct messages she had exchanged with him, she admitted that she was the one who had been involved in child prostitution and sex with children, but said, “It's often said whether a relationship is serious or not. I think it's basically a one-on-one relationship,” he persistently asked me for sexual intercourse via direct message. The investigation team informed him that this was a crime, but he repeatedly made the excuse that he was just playing with the children in a casual manner and did not show any remorse.
Here are some comments from a PAPS staff member (a 26-year-old woman) who participated in the two-month initiative.
“I was soooo tired. At first, I was disgusted by the sexual language, but gradually I got used to it, and I was no longer afraid of ordinary words such as “Good morning,” or “Good night,” because I could no longer see their purpose. Furthermore, I found myself trying to find hope in ordinary words and feeling despair at sexual words, and my mind began to go through ups and downs. Also, the luring logic was cunning and confusing even to us, so I felt as if I could see how a normal girl would be easily convinced.”
After the November 4 broadcast, there has been a dramatic increase in new consultations with PAPS, especially those asking what to do now that the images have been sent via social networking sites.
Although the method of the fact-finding survey conducted by PAPS is considered problem-free by NHK's legal check, we recognize that it still contains issues that need to be cleared and discussed as a general survey method.
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