By Anna Sajecki
High school students at a workshop on sexual abuse shrink when they hear how the internet and websites such as MySpace could encourage someone to sexually or violently take advantage of them.
“How many of you use sites like MySpace, or Facebook?” Erin Lee-Todd asks to about 250 students at St. Paul University, who have come from public and Catholic high schools across the city. Nearly everyone’s hand shoots up.
Lee-Todd is the public education coordinator for Interval House in Ottawa, a shelter for abused women and children.
She spoke recently at In Love and In Danger – an abuse-awareness and prevention workshop that teaches students how to recognize signs of abuse, how to avoid violence and how to help someone else in an abusive relationship.
The workshop, in its sixth year, specifically targets teen populations.
More than 50 per cent of Canadian women have had at least one incident of sexual assault or violence. In 1998, according to Statistics Canada, 62 per cent of those who reported sexual assault were under 18.
The workshops theme this year was learning to protect oneself from the dangers of technology.
“You need to know that abusers can be really tech savvy,” says Lee-Todd.
Many teens surf online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Last year, Facebook use increased 272 per cent, while MySpace increased 318 per cent.
Lee-Todd says that these networking groups can be dangerous.
In 2005, a 14-year-old Ottawa boy was lured to a Texas man’s Ottawa hotel room. The man gained the boy’s trust by posing as a teenager online.
Many people post personal information and pictures on networking sites, which Lee-Todd says perpetrators can use to gain trust.
“You can go on MySpace and search single women 17 to 25 and pictures come up,” she says.
Tessa McNicol is a Grade 12 student at Nepean High School. She says she and her friends are careful online. But, she says she babysits pre-teens who use online instant messenger programs, while not being careful about the dangers.
“They’ll go on MSN and talk to anyone, without knowing who they are,” says McNicol.
She also warns about monitoring programs like spyware. Spyware can be installed onto computers deceitfully; the program might be sent as an email greeting card and downloaded onto the computer when the card is opened. Also, hackers can access insecure computer lines through internet server connections and monitor online use that way.
“If you really think that somebody’s monitoring you, you need to call the police,” Lee-Todd tells students.
The In Love and In Danger program has received a one-year grant from Crime Prevention Ottawa. Nancy Worsfold is general director for the municipal organization.
“Family violence is a serious problem in Ottawa,” she says, mentioning that relationship violence happens at all ages. She says while there are shelters for abused victims, there are few prevention programs
The grant money for In Love and In Danger will also help high schools teach non-violence.
New to the workshop this year is the launching of a tutorial CD for high school students. Melissa Larkin is a Toronto musician who wrote several songs about abuse, which appear on the CD.
“Words band to create memories without him … come let’s share our pain away,” wailed Larkin, as she performed her song Joyful Day during the workshop. She wrote the song for a friend who was sexually abused.
The tutorial CD teaches students how to recognize and prevent abusive relationships, and how to help others in that situation. The CD will be given to each Ottawa high school, so students can promote healthy, non-violent relat relationships.