There is no better response to a predator than ridicule. And there is not much funnier to teenage boys, and indeed some others, than anything resembling a phallus. These enduring psychological truths have inspired childcare workers in Canada to devise an imaginative scheme to combat exploitation of children online. It deserves scrutiny by police and child protection agencies more widely: anything that works is valuable and a combination of wit and surprise has potential in fighting off the malevolent adults who seek to exploit children.
The scheme has been devised to deal with the stubborn problem, in the digital age, of criminals posing as young girls who encourage boys to send intimate photographs and videos of themselves. The purpose of the crime may be sexual gratification by paedophiles, or to blackmail the boys by threatening to send the pictures to their friends and family. On Facebook alone, 54,000 cases of “sextortion” have been reported in a single month. In response, an education campaign by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection suggests that boys approached in this way should send back pictures of that doughty East African burrower, the naked mole rat.
It’s hairless, wrinkled and pinkish. The centre provides the images. All anyone has to do in response to a suspect request is copy, paste and send. It is hard to exaggerate how hilarious the image is — at least, to boys aged 13 to 15. That’s why it may prove a valuable mascot in teaching them the dangers of online predators. The crime is despicable; but merely telling boys in puberty to take care has its limits. Capturing their imagination is liable to be more effective. The Canadians deserve credit for thinking this one up. The NSPCC has yet to adopt it and rightly recommends talking to a Childline counsellor for anyone in any doubt, but it can’t hurt that the rat riposte is just a click away.