Daily Mail

Teen boys ‘share rape jokes on social media to show off’

- By Eleanor Harding Education Correspond­ent

BOYS are sending each other slavery and rape jokes on social media to score ‘lad points’, research has found.

A survey of 20,000 pupils found many teenage boys regularly share racist, sexist and homophobic posts to ‘entertain’ their friends, without realising how damaging it is.

The worst examples have included jokes about the Holocaust, race and the #MeToo anti-sexual assault campaign.

Experts say boys believe the posts are ‘just banter’ and think their chats will remain private because they are on closed WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat groups. But often it can ‘catch up’ with them in adulthood if members leak the content on the internet for university tutors or employers to see.

The survey of 11 to 18-yearolds in both state and private schools was conducted by Digital Awareness UK, a company which provides training in schools about internet safety.

The researcher­s asked children about whether they had shared offensive ‘ memes’ – images or snatches of video often overlaid with text that are spread on the internet. The results found boys were particular­ly susceptibl­e to sharing these. Overall, 36 per cent of boys said they had sent or received racist or homophobic memes, compared with 17 per cent of girls.

And 40 per cent of boys admitted they see offensive memes every day, compared with just 16 per cent of girls.

Presenting the findings at the annual meeting of the Headmaster­s’ and Headmistre­sses’ Conference yesterday, Digital Awareness UK co-founder Emma Robertson said there was a ‘dark meme culture in schools’.

She called on technology firms to do more to identify extreme memes being shared and stop them reaching youngsters.

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