Parents Should Be Aware of These Explicit Websites

The decision to write about this subject and these types of websites was not an easy one. In writing this I will be alerting those with immoral intentions about a website they previously knew nothing about, but I will also be educating parents and unknowing female victims to the dangers of this type of site.  

What ultimately swayed me to go ahead and write this post was this: a picture of my 18-year-old daughter was on this type of website (that's not her above) and I am extremely grateful that a friend to our family had alerted us to it.

Let me immediately make it clear that in the picture my daughter is fully-clothed and there is nothing at all indecent about it. But, some low-life decided to post it onto this terrible website.

The websites in question are places where persons, usually guys, can request if anyone has nude pictures of certain females.  The website my daughter was in is an abbreviation for anonymous image board. It is certainly not the only website of its type in existence, but it is definitely one of the more popular.

In its basic form, this image board allows anonymous persons to start a conversation or thread by asking if anyone has any promiscuous or nude photos of a certain person, usually a girl. The website allows you to group these requests by state and then more specifically to an area code.

The thread I was alerted to was one that started in April 2014 and it continues to be active today. It targets the 936 area code, where I live. There are also threads for the 903 area code. Many of the pictures on there are very disturbing.

How does the process work and how do the photos get onto the site? The anonymous users (each is identified by a number) make a request for a 'win' of a certain girl. A win is basically a naked picture. If another anonymous user(s) knows where to find those photos, they reply with a photo attached.

The rules of this image board do not allow a user to give the first and last name of the girl being requested, but they are allowed to use a first name and the first letter of the last name. They can even go so far as to use a rhyming word for the last name to better identify someone.

Not that anyone would ever request a 'win' of  me, but as an example a user might request a win of Danny M. and his name rhymes with barrel. Obviously, there is not much anonymity at all for the girls who are posted on this site.

The photos inserted into the threads are copied and pasted from a wide variety of social networks and boards. The vast majority of pictures originally come from smartphone 'selfies.'  Of course, we're not talking about your run of the mill, vanilla selfies.

These are porn sites and women across the world including right here in East Texas are being victimized.  I think it's imperative that parents know how these sites work, but at the same time, these sites are very disturbing, enter at your own risk.  However, a great article was written about these anonymous image board sites, and this is a great primer to understand how these sites operate.

You can only imagine the anger I felt when I saw a request for a 'win' of my daughter and then to see her picture later in the thread was infuriating. Once again, it was a fully-clothed head shot, but I'd love to get my hands on the person who posted her picture onto this site.

So, what can be done?

Good question. This matter is very gray as far as legal channels are concerned. Some of these pictures may have found their way onto these site by way of ex-boyfriends. That's being identified as 'revenge-porn.' and more and more states are starting to move the ball forward in making this a crime.

Otherwise, many of these pictures have found there way onto social media sites and boards and the question arises as to whether this makes them accessible as 'public domain.'

Plus, the guys posting the videos remain anonymous and it would be difficult to know exactly where the pictures came from.  In 2013, the college newspaper of Las Positas College in California published a very informative article on sites like this and what could and could not be done.

Personally, I contacted my daughter at college and told her of the situation. I also complimented her on being responsible and not having any questionable material in cyberspace that could end up on sites like this one.

And that's the main reason I decided to publish this piece. It's my hope that parents warn their kids about places like this, and educate them on exercising prevention and avoiding compromising pictures, since you just never know where they could eventually end up.

You know, I'm no saint, and neither are my children. I did quite a few things of which I'm not very proud when I was a teenager. I'm sure many parents and grandparents can say that today.

But, this whole scenario just crosses a line that should never be crossed. I would welcome any feedback to this article.