Megan and the Gorilla

Inspired and adapted from ‘Megan’s Story’ www.thinkuknow.org.au and ‘Gorilla’ , a video in RFSU’s “Do you want to?” series, rfsu.se/villdu

Duration of activity: 60 min

Learning objectives:

Explore peer and relationship pressures to engage in sexting
Explore how to change the power aroundUnderstand how creating something in a digital format and then sharing it can go wrong
Explore ways young people can engage in sexting in a safe manner
Discuss the role of bystanders and how they can be helpful or not
Discuss gender stereotypes and sexual discrimination

Materials needed:

Video links:

Megan’s story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bStezpLKxLc

Gorilla: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl0yBIz9X84&feature=emb_logo

Worksheet with questions to discuss the videos

Recommended prior reading:

Step by step process of the activity:

Introduction: In this activity we will try to dynamics that come into play during sexting
Separate the plenary in 4 groups in a fun and interactive way
2 groups will work on the video of Megan’s story and the other two groups will work on the Gorilla video. If there are tablets/mobile phones available for young people to use, they can go online and use the links to watch the video delegated to their group. The groups can then discuss the questions underneath each video in the facilitation questions (you can give them printed out to them as a handout).
Alternatively, you can show the videos one by one in plenary, ask the young people to discuss them in pairs/triads for 10-15 min and then open the discussion in plenary before you move to the next one.

Facilitation questions for reflection and debriefing:

Megan’s story

What do you think of the video you just watched (Megan’s story)?
Why do you think Megan took an intimate picture of her and sent it to her partner/crush/person she’s flirting with?
Why do you think Megan’s partner/crush/person who received the photo, shared it with others?
What should Megan’s partner/crush/person who received the photo have done with Megan’s photo instead?
How did Megan’s classmates react? What do you think of their reaction? How did they contribute to the problem?
How do you think Megan feels now? How do the rest of the people feel?
What options does Megan have now? What can she do?
How can young people stay safe when engaging in sexting?
Start from the scene where Megan’s leaves the bathroom and develop alternative endings to the story.

Gorilla

What do you think of the story you just watched?
Why do you think the girls asked the boy to take-off his shirt and act like a gorilla?
What were the girls aiming at by behaving this way?
Why do you think the guy goes along with it and does what they ask of him?
How did the girls try to persuade the boy to do what they wanted? (grooming: ‘you look fit’, ‘you work out’,- then offending his manhood ‘don’t be a pussy’)
Did gender stereotypes play a role in how the story evolved?
Is the guy vulnerable in this situation? Did he do something against his will?
Can you call what happens in the video sexual harassment? Why/why not?
How do you think the guy feels now?How do the girls feel?
What do you think the guy should do now?
How can young people stay safe when engaging in sexting?
Start from the scene where the girls ask the boy to show his boobs and develop alternative endings to the story.

Take home messages and activity wrap up:

There are various reasons to engage in sexting. We want to feel desirable, sexy. We want to flirt, sexually connect with others. We may be under peer pressure to do it so we fit in. Or we may not think about it too much because ‘everybody does it’ (not true by the way!). Also, we may feel we ‘owe’ it to the person who asks us to, or we feel they may lose interest in us if we don’t. Maybe it is also a way to express our attraction, care and interest in another person. No matter what the reason we want to engage in sexting, we should never feel coerced, forced, pressured or threatened to engage in it. It always needs to happen from a place of free, informed and meaningful consent. (contrary to what happened to the guy in the Gorilla video).

Sending sexual content to someone does not give them the right to share it with others. Sexting needs to occur in safe environment, with a clear understanding that privacy will be kept. Megan’s partner/crush didn’t respect her privacy and violated her rights by sending the messages to others. Maybe they didn’t think about it too much when they shared the image, or they did it as a joke, or they wanted to ‘brag’ about Megan or ‘elevate their status’ in the eyes of others. The classmates are also part of the sexual harassment that Megan is experiencing because they kept forwarding on the message, violated her privacy and safety, judged her and no-one stood up for her.

In the theoretical section of this module (above), there are various suggestions in How to practice sexting safely? and What to do if someone posts sexual images of you? which can provide some pointers on how young people can stay safe online when sexting. You can even print these out as handouts and distribute them to young people.

Tips for facilitators:

It is quite important to discuss the issue of consent and where the line is drawn between consent and sexual harassment. Young people may think that because Megan had consensually sent the pic, that gets the other person off the hook. Or they may believe that the guy did consent willingly to take off his shirt but fail to recognize that he was put in a vulnerable position to do so.

Adapting the activity for online implementation

● Similar to the way you would have implemented this activity face to face, you can use breakout rooms for smaller group settings. Each group watches one of the videos and uses the worksheet to guide their discussion. You can then reconvene in plenary, and discuss what the groups have deliberated about. Wrap up the discussion using the facilitation questions for the debriefing and the take home messages to ground the understanding of different types of sexual abuse and the dynamics portrayed in each video.

● If you don’t want to work in small groups and would prefer to work in a plenary setting, you can show the videos one by one and discuss them with the whole group. However, since the plenary discussion could get too long for participants in this case, you can provide some time for participants to work on the worksheet questions individually first right after they have watched the video and before they commence a discussion in plenary. Wrap up the discussion with the take home messages to further ground participants’ understanding of the abuse dynamics highlighted in each incidence.