Potential solutions to change social norms that enable sexual exploitation/sextortion

There is a range of potential solutions to disrupt harmful social norms that enable sexual exploitation/sextortion. These include adopting survivor-centred and rights-based approaches, providing comprehensive sexuality education in schools, raising awareness about sexual exploitation, using technology to improve reporting mechanisms, and adding targeted social norm support to existing social protection systems. In South Africa, a GBV strategy that challenges social norms has been implemented across higher education institutions to address the issue of sex for university grades. This is done via awareness raising and capacity building for staff and students, improved reporting mechanisms for survivors, and a specific protocol on staff-student relationships.

Survivor-centred and rights-based approaches

It is essential to adopt a survivor-centred approach to ending sexual exploitation/sextortion. This means including survivors of this form of sexual exploitation and pressure in all discussions, asking them what could have prevented the situation, not blaming them, and ensuring a Do No Harm (DNH) approach to data gathering. GFF’s online survey – which had 2500 respondents, of whom 80% identified as survivors – is an excellent example of gathering survivor-driven feedback and should be expanded further. All policies and recommendations should come from survivors and individuals who have supported them.

It is also essential to adopt a rights-based approach to ending sexual exploitation/sextortion. This means not ignoring it even if it is not illegal in certain countries. There are three rights-based frameworks in which sexual exploitation/sextortion can be situated:

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) gives the broad framework of the legal equality and bodily integrity of women and girls. It has been ratified by 189 countries.
• International Labour Organization Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment establishes a global obligation to guarantee workplaces free of violence and harassment. It has been ratified by 31 countries.
• The Incheon Declaration for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 mentions the need to eliminate GBV 21 times, including sexual harassment and violence (although the term ‘sextortion’ is not used).

Comprehensive sexuality education

Comprehensive sexuality education in every secondary school is critical to prevent future sexual exploitation/sextortion because it teaches about consent and rights, and creates a safe space for all adolescents to talk about sex. However, teachers may be uncomfortable talking about sex with teenagers, so training will need to be provided to them.

Parents and guardians also need to be involved in the support structures for their adolescent children when addressing sexual exploitation/sextortion. This could be done via parent-teacher meetings. There is also a role for religious leaders and elders, who can have significant influence, especially in rural communities. If community elders/chiefs recognise the importance of addressing sexual exploitation/sextortion, this may encourage others to take it seriously too.

However, it is important to go beyond comprehensive sexual education. South Africa is changing its approach to focus on civic education, with a focus on drugs and alcohol, which are a huge precursor to GBV. Education on these topics in secondary- and tertiary-level institutions is crucial.

Raising awareness about sextortion and framing it as corruption

There is a lack of awareness about sextortion as an abuse for which there is recourse. Consequently, perpetrators feel entitled to demand sex for grades or jobs, whilst students or young employees accept sextortion as their only choice. Naming sextortion is the first step to addressing it as part of a broader pattern of GBV. Shaming it is critical to changing attitudes and behaviour. Framing it as corruption is also important. Impact can be hard to measure but two promising anecdotes presented at the event suggest that awareness raising about sextortion and framing it as corruption can be effective:

1. A police chief in Bosnia-Herzegovina compared a sextortion roundtable to discussions about domestic violence in which he had participated a decade earlier. At that time, there were no cases of domestic violence in his district and it was not perceived as a problem. Domestic violence occurred but it was not discussed or prosecuted. Once awareness had been raised, this situation changed, and many cases are now brought every year. He expressed the hope that initiating discussion about sextortion would yield a similar result in the coming years. 
2. In a study contrasting Tanzania and Colombia, researchers found that, because sextortion existed as a concept in Tanzania – thanks to outreach efforts by women judges – there were tools to work against its normalisation. In contrast, in Colombia, the absence of sextortion as a concept has contributed to its invisibility. Furthermore, Tanzanian law states that in sexual corruption cases, only the person abusing their authority is considered guilty. This contrasts with the country’s Corruption Act which says that where the corruption is monetary, both parties might be considered guilty.

Using technology to improve reporting mechanisms

Technology may lower the stigma and other risks associated with reporting sexual exploitation. For example, the NGO Not in My Country has developed technology to allow university students to provide anonymous feedback about professors and to report sextortion. If a pattern of sexually exploitative behaviour is observed through these reports, the NGO will work with students to pursue a complaint (if the student wishes). This is based on the belief that prosecutions are more likely to be successful if a pattern of behaviour can be documented.

GBV policy frameworks