It’s not even news anymore: A man who seduces young girls to do sexual acts in front of a webcam. Yet another groomer (a term for a pedophile). I think we’ve all heard it many times before. But still, these messages are alarming. Yesterday (Wednesday 9 October), a 40-year-old man, Frank R., was arrested for the abuse of 300 young girls. The OM (Dutch public Prosecutor) claims that the man has had sexual activity (/intercourse) with more than 11 of those girls.
I think it’s dangerous that these guys still can get access to these ‘fragile’ girls. With the internet, it’s very easy for them to act like they are young and hot guys who want to hang out with the girls. Most of the time, the parents aren’t even aware of the things their little girls (or boys) do. And I think society can’t blame the parents for not knowing. How many of you guys talked about what you were doing on the internet when you were younger or during your puberty?
Since 2010, grooming is punishable. But is that enough? I don’t think so. I think the government should be more involved with this issue. They should set more rules for the websites, whereby the sites are able to conduct more information from the users. An example: people are obliged to fill in their phone number, which enables the site to call the user to verify if they are who they say they are.
So what do you guys think? Should the government be more involved in the online abuse or is it something the parents of the girls should watch? Or are the websites responsible? Who is here to blame? And what are the solutions?
Source: http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/3596915/man-verdacht-van-misbruik-300-jonge-meisjes-via-internet.html; http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grooming_(pedofilie)
I think that filling in a telephone number will not be sufficient to protect young girls against groomers for two reasons: 1) Even if people fill in their telephone numbers, the company will not be able to call everyone to verify their identity; moreover 2) how can the website verify age via a phone call?
More rules will not be enough if they cannot be enforced. That is the whole problem in the Netherlands anyway. Coming up with all kinds of rules, discussing about them for ages, and when the rules are finally official, the government is not able to reinforce them as they bump into all kinds of other rules, protests, etc.
To solve this problem, you have to work in a preventive manner protecting those girls from having access to these kinds of websites. Parents are the key in this as they should watch their children when they go on the Internet and if they are not able to watch them, then do not allow them access on the Internet. Inform them of the risks, be open and honest, that is what the parents should do 🙂 Waiting on the government to take some action might take ages and by that time, your child has already been scarred for life if you do not protect her (or him for that matter)