March 13, 2024

"They coerced her into carving their screen names deep into her thigh, drinking from a toilet bowl and beheading a pet hamster..."

"... all as they watched in a video chatroom on the social media platform Discord. The pressure escalated until she faced one final demand: to kill herself on camera. 'You just don’t realize how quickly it can happen,' said the mother, who intervened before her daughter could act on the final demand.... Unlike many 'sextortion' schemes that seek money or increasingly graphic images, these perpetrators are chasing notoriety in a community that glorifies cruelty...."

From "On popular online platforms, predatory groups coerce children into self-harm/Vulnerable teens are blackmailed into degrading and violent acts by abusers who then boast about it" (WaPo).

32 comments:

Gusty Winds said...

Sounds eerily similar to medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts.

Same influence game being played by Andrea Long Chu.

But hey, isn't this just freedom to drink from a toilet bowl?

Eva Marie said...

If it’s this easy to coerce youngsters to engage in self harm, how can this not be an argument to stop all gender medical intervention?

Mason G said...

"On popular online platforms, predatory groups coerce children into self-harm..."

One might say the same thing is happening in doctor's and therapist's offices, you know.

Jake said...

"The platforms say deterring these groups is an urgent priority. But after creating the spaces that predators from around the globe use to connect with one another and find vulnerable children, even removing thousands of accounts each month has proved insufficient. The targeted users start new accounts and swiftly reconvene, according to interviews with victims."

So... stop using Discord and Telegram? Am I stupid?

PM said...

So WaPo wants to protect these teens from being 'coerced into self-harm'.
Really?

gilbar said...

predatory groups coerce children into self-harm/
Vulnerable teens are blackmailed into degrading and violent acts by abusers who then boast about it

i've HEARD, that Some predatory groups, are SO SICK, that the self-harm and degrading and violent acts; include Convincing the children to have their sex organs lopped off!

I'm NOT Making this up! Apparently, there are Sick Motherf*ckers; that somehow convince vulnerable teens that they aren't even the sex that they are! Can you believe it?
It's apparently ALL TRUE! These sick Motherf*ckers even pretend to be "Doctors"!
And SOMEHOW they manage to get insurance companies to pay for it all!!
It is a disgusting and morbid world we are living in

Tom T. said...

I've seen these described elsewhere. Someone sweet-talks a kid into sending them a nude photo, then they blackmail the kid into doing awful stuff by threatening to release the photo to their family and friends.

JAORE said...

Hey, Biden wants to ban TicToc for anti-CCP reasons. How about he ban them all? If it saves just one child.... /sarc.

john mosby said...

How do I get a “MEADE”-shaped scar removed?

Asking for a friend….

JSM

Kevin said...

If she enjoyed these actions we'd all be made to celebrate them.

Enigma said...

Live imitates art once again. Saw (2004) comes to the real world.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387564/

Darwin Award winners.

n.n said...

Transhumane therapy. Throw another baby on the barbie, it's over.

n.n said...

Sadism or sadomasochism? #NoJudgment #NoLabels

#HateLovesAbortion

Quaestor said...

I suspect parents who demand censorship to protect their kids from such abuse are spending insufficient time supervising their children. There are simple solutions that do not infringe the liberties of responsible and well-adjusted kids who use technology wisely. For example, confiscate the offending technology.

"But my daughter NEEDS her iPhone 15 Pro!" I hear the aggrieved suburban anti-Trump mother shriek. Bullshit. A dumb and cheap Fliphone will suffice for anything vital, assuming any use of a telephone can be interpreted as vital. Or you can use the features of iPhoneOS to restrict her access to websites as well as who she calls, who calls her, and when the phone can be used. However, that might be too time-consuming for Activist Mommy to wedge into her busy political schedule.

"My daughter has an Android," harrumps another. This afflicted parent, a recovering alcoholic since Bambi was still peeing in her Pampers, can buy security software that provides similar protection to Android phones.

Joe Smith said...

Must be democrats...

Josephbleau said...

Sounds like WAPO needs a new moral panic now that the climate scam and sex change are waining.

Sebastian said...

"Vulnerable teens are blackmailed into degrading and violent acts by abusers who then boast about it"

OK, OK, we are all thinking the obvious, but still: what's more degrading and violent than mutilating your own genitals?

Leland said...

I'd say just get the kids off the internet, but then some school will close for the day for in person education and demand students use the internet to learn.

Quaestor said...

When do we indict Pete Buttigieg's "husband" for pressuring kids into taking puberty blockers?

Rabel said...

Sounds a little McMartin Preschoolish to me.

Former Illinois resident said...

Where were her parents as this unfolded?

Why isn't this enhanced monitoring the responsibility of her parents?

Perhaps problem is the underlying lack of parental supervision, and parental involvement in their children's lives.

Nobody is preventing parents from saying NO to their children's expectations and demands for a smart phone, or unfettered unsupervised internet access at home. Today's parents apparently are unable to deny their children the status-signifier consumer goods their children demand, no matter how dangerous, or how risk-encouraging, that item may be.

Rather than say NO, apparently legislators must outright prohibit TikTok.

Joe Bar said...

I'm starting to think this whole internet thing was a bad idea.

Robert Cook said...

"Sounds eerily similar to medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts."

Do you specifically know of or have documentation of "medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts"?

gilbar said...

Robert Cook lives in a dream world... WAKE UP Robert!

https://twitter.com/FTMsurgery
FTM Surgery Guide: Learn all about gender-affirming surgery and connect with the amazing surgeons dedicated to trans surgical care.

https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/transgender-health-org-removes-age-limit-for-gender-affirming-treatment-surgery

Jim at said...

Do you specifically know of or have documentation of "medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts"?

Where in the hell have you been? Do you even read the threads discussing this subject?

The examples are too numerous to list. Wake up.

effinayright said...

Robert Cook said...
"Sounds eerily similar to medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts."

Do you specifically know of or have documentation of "medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts"?
******************
Cookie, just download this and go down to page 130:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644

It was put out by the International Journal of Transgender Health.

It recommends LOWERING the ages for giving trans kids hormones and surgeries from 17 to an unspecified number.

It would also serve you well to look at this :

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/09/disturbing-leaks-from-us-gender-group-wpath-ring-alarm-bells-in-nhs

Josephbleau said...

Can you believe that the WAPO thinks a person can take a sharp object and carve multiple names into her thigh without being on heavy morphine?

A Samurai committing sepuku could make one cut into his abdomen before he was beheaded by his second.

Who could cut names into her leg and not pass out.

The WAPO is horrendously stupid. A bunch of liars.

Robert Cook said...

"'Do you specifically know of or have documentation of "medical professionals encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts"?'

"Cookie, just download this and go down to page 130:"


Okay, the page is dense with discussion of surgical procedures, but can you point me to the verbiage that specifically says medical professionals are "encouraging young teens to surgically remove their penises or breasts"?

IF there are medical professionals actively recommending such procedures, I agree it is outrageous. I think responsible medical professionals should be recommending that young people wanting such procedures wait until they are legally adults, (and, in fact, they should refuse to perform such procedures on anyone not legally an adult, even if is legal). But...I still am not seeing language that supports the claim medical professionals are actively recommending such procedures to minors.

Mason G said...

"Can you believe that the WAPO thinks a person can take a sharp object and carve multiple names into her thigh..."

The article actually reads "carving their screen names deep into her thigh".

Multiple names, deep into the thigh? Hard to believe that happened. Earlier, Rabel said "Sounds a little McMartin Preschoolish to me." I have to agree with that.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

What I find frankly unbelievable is that the WaPo can unironically use the word "grooming." Apparently you can be a "groomer" if you are a heterosexual male sadist, but not otherwise. Women, transpersons, &c. aren't, and can't be, "groomers."

typingtalker said...

bul·ly
[ˈbo͝olÄ“]
verb
bullying (present participle)

verb
bullying (present participle)
seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable):
"her 11- year-old son has been constantly bullied at school" · "a local man was bullied into helping them"

Randomizer said...

What parent would allow their child to have unlimited and unsupervised access to the internet?

Answer: All of them.

Being a teacher, I've asked them why their kid has a smart phone, rather than a flip phone.

The general answer is that without a smart phone, their kid would be ostracized.

Some schools are trying to restrict phone use, and my students weren't allowed to use them without express permission. We need help. Social pressure can do amazing things.

Recall that candidate Obama was against gay marriage. Now, that seems ridiculous.