What our little girls are up to these days

Young girls exposing themselves on social media fast becoming a worrying trend

Chances are a schoolgirl is undressing and sharing her seductive moves on social media as you are reading this. While their numbers are growing, their ages are shrinking. Some do it for love, others for the attention, but all of them are naive to what awaits them next – cyberbullying.

MELAKA: Some of them were in their school pinafores.

Although there’s a question mark over their real identity, these teenage girls have no compunction in stripping for the cameras. And circulating the images and videos on social media.

Many of the pictures captured the girls lifting their blouses to show their breasts and striking suggestive poses.

Parents here contacted The Star, voicing their concerns about the behaviour of such teenagers.

A quick search for “Malaysian schoolgirls” on certain sites would unearth such raunchy postings. Some had close to 16,000 views.

One website even claimed that it could offer pictures of primary schoolkids, supposedly from Malaysia.

Even “teachers” are into the act as well.

One video purportedly showed a “teacher” undressing in what seemed like a staff room of a school.

The caption reads: “Selamat Hari Guru. Nakal cikgu ini, dalam bilik pun vc.” (Happy Teachers Day. This teacher is naughty; even taking a video in the teachers’ room).

Social activist R.A. Saravana, 48, warned that such smut could lead to more deterioration of moral values among the younger generation.

Stakeholders should put a stop to this before the situation got out of control, he said.

“It will be bad for future generations if the trend is not nipped in the bud,” he said in an interview.

Saravana suggests that an intervention and prevention task force be formed to address the problem.

Dr Chong Yew Siong, who is an advocate for positive mental health and family wellness, said the rate of young girls exposing themselves on social media was increasing.

He said a majority of these girls did so due to peer pressure or coerced by their boyfriends.

“Girls sending nude pictures or videos of themselves is like a badge of honour – to prove their sense of self-worth,” he said.

Dr Chong, who is from Pantai Hospital in Ayer Keroh, said: “They are trying to perform an impossible balancing act between looking for their identity and trying to attain freedom, which makes them vulnerable to external influences.”

Dr Chong also said these youngsters should be made aware of the repercussions of cyber-bullying.

“This trend, if it goes uncontrolled, could cause depression, self harm and even attempted suicide.”

Dr Chong stressed that mental depression among teenagers was also rising at a worrying rate.

He also quoted statistics from World Health Organisation in 2014 that showed Canada, for example, having 13.42 psychiatrists to every 100,000 people. In comparison, Malaysia has about 0.76 psychiatrists for every 100,000 people.

Many of the young patients who sought treatment from Dr Chong only did so after they discovered their raunchy pictures had gone viral.

“Some of the teenagers suffered from bipolar disorder, or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) that could be misconstrued as being rebellious and stubborn.”