Dear sam, ive had the worst night of my life, i really liked this boy etc and he asked me to send a photo of my self without a top on so i did but o covered my boobs with my hands, how ever i accudently sent it to my grouo chat with guys n girls in what do i do
Hi,
Sending nude or naked pictures to people is called sexting and can happen for lots of reasons. You might feel harassed or pressured to send a photo and just decide to do it, or you might worry about being seen as frigid or shy, or you're in love and trust the person. Whatever the reason, it’s risky to send naked pictures, but there are ways to try and stop them being shared.
Whatever the reason is that you're thinking about sending a nude or naked picture, it’s important to think about a few things before pressing the send button. You can find out more about sexting on the Childline Website.
When images are sent electronically you lose control of them. This means that other people can share them privately, post them online, view or print them. It is illegal for sexual images of anyone under 18 to be posted online and social media websites have a duty to remove them. If you see a nude or indecent picture posted online you can use our reporting tool and the Internet Watch Foundation will try and remove it.
By now the people in your group chat will have received the picture. What they do with it after that is difficult to predict or know. When sexting goes wrong it can make you feel really uncomfortable and embarrassed and worried. If you trust the people in the group you can ask them to delete it and the quicker you can do this the better as it will hopefully stop them passing it on.
You could also speak to someone you trust like your parents or a teacher at school. School will have ways of dealing with these sorts of issues and may be able to confiscate mobiles if they believe they have sexual images on them.
It can be difficult to cope with sexting and any following behaviour or comments from your year group. If you would like more support or someone to talk to about what has happened and how you are feeling about it, you could contact one of our counsellors to talk it through in more detail.
Take care for now,
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
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