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What do you do if your teenage daughter is sending nudes to her untrustworthy and coercive boyfriend?

Anjula Mutanda asks how we can help the young negotiate the complexities of romantic and sexual relationships.

Eleanor's first boyfriend said he had deleted the nude photographs he had persuaded her to send. She was slut shamed and traumatised at school, withdrawing from lessons and self-harming. She moved schools but he sent them to her new classmates; she was blackmailed by strangers and didn't know where to turn for help.

Anjula asks to what extent these toxic relationships are now normalised amongst teens. It is rare to find a girl who hasn't been asked for nude photos or sent dick pics. Possessiveness is now framed as romantic, and in a recent Safe Lives survey, 70% of teenagers said they had seen behaviour that worried them in their friends' relationships.

Exploring how to spot unhealthy behaviour, how to talk to the young about nudes, sex and consent and the surprisingly positive role of the media, Anjula is joined by Founder of Big Talk Education, Lynette Smith; Susie Hay, psychotherapist and Safe Lives' Head of Research, Evaluation and Analysis; Kaitlynn Mendes, Associate Professor Of Sociology at Western University; Tanya Horeck, Associate Professor in Film, Media and Culture at Anglia Ruskin University and the team from the arts charity Tender.

Producer: Sarah Bowen

Organisations offering information and support:

ChildLine is a free, 24-hour confidential helpline for children and young people who need to talk
Phone: 0800 1111 https://www.childline.org.uk/

NSPCC provides help, advice and support to adults worried about a child
Phone: 0808 800 5000 (24/7) https://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Pace (Parents against child exploitation) works alongside parents and carers of children who are – or are at risk of being – sexually exploited
Phone: 0113 240 5226 https://paceuk.info/

Family Lives provides help and support in all aspects of family life, including bullying
Phone: 0808 800 2222 www.familylives.org.uk

Please visit the action lines dedicated information and support pages for:
/programmes/articles/22VVM5LPrf3pjYdKqctmMXn/information-and-support-sexual-abuse-and-violence

/programmes/articles/2MfW34HqH7tTCtnmx7LVfzp/information-and-support-victims-of-crime

/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harm

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