The Otago Daily Times has been investigating the culture of filming and sharing explicit material, often without consent, by teens in the South.
University of Auckland criminology lecturer Claire Meehan, who has spent years researching the issue, said it was a trend that was not going to disappear — and it was also one that could cause a huge amount of harm.
"I’ve seen victims that have had to leave school, that have had major issues with health, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts," Dr Meehan said.
Some victims also found their level of distress harder to explain. For example, some had dyed their hair to avoid being recognised, or they did not want to leave the house.
"Basically it’s this all-encompassing, overwhelming aspect to their lives."
Image-based sexual abuse tended to be taken more seriously when it happened to adults, she said.
Schools were in denial about how often it happened, and the way topics such as consent were taught was ad-hoc, she said.
"It’s often seen as ‘sexting gone wrong’ and something that teens do, and they’ll get over it, when really the ramifications and harm, particularly on young women, are really, really hard to deal with."
Even if there was not a significant level of harm, that should not matter.
"It really shouldn’t come down to how upset the victim is.
"If someone has their house broken into, you don’t blame them for it ... Whereas when this happens, we tend to say ‘you shouldn’t have done it’."
An amendment was being made to the Harmful Digital Communications Act which would put more focus on consent, rather than intent to cause harm.
That was positive in that it could encourage more open conversations about the issue, but there was also potential for schools to say "oh well if you do this, this will happen" and leave it at that, she said.
There needed to be a balance between accountability and education.
"I think it really comes down to a more fundamental understanding of the consequences, of what it means, but also really normalising sexual expression."
