Preventing “Date Hate” PROJECT XOXO/D8H8!

By RINA KAMILOVA and JELENA SANCHEZ

KONK LIFE STUDENT WRITERS

The way we communicate digitally between one another is easier—and more dangerous—than ever. Now that social media is available to virtually everyone, cases of online harassment are springing up more and more, with teenagers as the primary demographic affected. Student Resource Officer Janeth Del Cid at Key West High School (KWHS) notes, “We’ve noticed a huge amount of reports that have to do with phones and messages.”

“Nowadays, we have new programs and devices like Snapchat, Instant Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram that allow videos and pictures to be transmitted. This can be good or bad,” she continues. “It becomes a bad thing when you’re no longer friends with the people you send images to, and they decide to use those images against you, and images last forever.”

This becomes an even bigger problem when the images are sexually explicit, and the people sending them are juveniles, because the content is considered child pornography.

According to Attorney Max A. Keller, a Criminal Defense Lawyer from Minneapolis, “Facing a charge of possessing, distribution, receiving, or producing child pornography is a scary proposition. Not only do child pornography charges carry the possibility of long prison sentences and registration as a predatory offender, but even being charged with anything related to child pornography results in a serious social stigma against you.”

Today, many students do not know the consequences of such risks, and these seemingly innocent exchanges can result in cyberbullying and even dating violence. Del Cid elaborates that sexting is one of the primary weapons people use against each other, and it has already led to multiple cases of high school dating violence. She emphasizes that no one should ever have to feel obligated to send explicit images to anyone they are in a relationship with, and that putting up with someone who treats you badly can quickly morph into domestic violence.

To combat dating violence, the KWHS’s criminal justice representatives are currently making an effort to educate students through a program called “Project XOXO”/”Project D8H8.” Students who are going through any of the situations mentioned are welcomed to contact Officer Del Cid at (305)-293-1400.

PHOTO BY RINA KAMILOVA

Key West High School Student Resource Officer Janeth Del Cid displays some of the anti-violence and sexting awareness brochures that are part of the “Project XOXO”/”Project D8H8” program.

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