WHEN I got the tip-off late last week that young men were circulating nude images of women without their consent, I felt disgusted.

But when I logged on to the website in question and saw that dozens of Australian high schools were also featured on the site, I immediately realised two things: first, this was a much bigger story than I had originally anticipated. And two, before I did anything else I needed to urgently contact the police and make a child pornography report.

I called the NSW Sex Crimes Squad, who I’ve previously had positive dealings with. I was initially advised to hold off publishing until they had a chance to capture all the data, and to prevent the men on the site from deleting any child porn images.

As a public advocate for survivors of sexual violence, there was no question I would oblige.

I decided to quietly get to work creating a spreadsheet of all the school names mentioned on the site so I could later run the story.

Verifying and cross-referencing the school names took some time. You wouldn’t believe how many “St Marys” there are in this country, for example. Some schools were easier to identify than others as users had posted the school logo or the logo was visible on a school uniform. (One image, for example, depicted a high school girl performing oral sex, while wearing her school uniform emblazoned with the logo).

Other schools’ names had to be cross-referenced using the names of victims and the geographical location.

The more I dug, the deeper the rabbit hole got.

In total I identified 74 Australian schools targeted by the site and 2071 images on the Australian image board of both young women and teen girls.

The range of photos was sickening. From close up images of vaginas, known as “box-shots”, through to images of girls who appeared to have no idea they were photographed (showering, sleeping etc).

One user admitted stealing images from a computer he had been asked to fix. Other images had been obtained through coercive means. There were girls as young as 14 begging to have their images taken down and one particularly heartbreaking series of images of a young looking girl on a doona that looked like it belonged to a child.

Once the story went live, the response was immediate. The public was outraged. A small number of men came after me, using my own very public assault against me. But it was the Queensland police reaction that absolutely flabbergasted me.

Yesterday, the Queensland Police issued a bizarre statement boasting that based on “an initial investigation” the site “does not appear to contain any child exploitation material”.

This is despite the fact that users themselves have described material as “CP” or Child Porn. This is despite the fact that there are hundreds of “box-shots”, or images which feature just a close up of a girl’s genitalia and there is simply no way of knowing whether this constitutes child exploitation material until all the victims are first identified.

One comment by a user on the site says “not everyone here is 18+. There are photos on the Perth thread of a girl from when she was groomed by a pedo when she was fourteen”*.

Even worse, when one victim from Ballina went to the police last week to report that she had discovered nude images of her 16 year old self on the website, she was laughed out of the place. (Under federal law, a nude sexually explicit image of anyone under the age of 18 is classified as child porn).

“The guy I spoke to, an older guy, just laughed pretty much. He said that’s what I get for taking them,” she told Triple J’s Hack program.

What’s really disturbing is that this is exactly the sort of attitude that the perpetrators themselves are saying on the website. One comment says “don’t be a slut, darling and you won’t end up here”. Another says “you have no one to blame but yourself.”

That’s not all. According to Sharna Bremner, from End Rape on Campus Australia, the statement issued by Queensland Police is “grossly inappropriate” as it puts the onus entirely on victims to protect themselves, while utterly ignoring the responsibility of the men and boys involved.

Of the 228-word statement, not a single syllable is spent condemning or even addressing the actions of the perpetrators. Instead girls are put on notice and told to “protect themselves”, adding that any photos that they have placed on social media are “there for the taking”.

Never mind that some of these girls have been photographed without their knowledge or consent. Never mind that putting all the onus on girls to forward manage the behaviour of men only erases the responsibility of all those boys and men who have actively hunted and trawled for victims.

VICTIM TIAHNA PROSSER: ‘IT WAS LIKE I HAD BEEN SOLD’

The statement also advises parents to caution their children about the “consequences” of posting their own personal information online, but not a whisper on the legal consequences for those who maliciously exploit victims. Apparently the fact that this is a crime doesn’t rate a mention.

“To direct parents to warn their daughters, without also directing them to talk to their sons is inappropriate. This stems from the same logic that tells girls not to get drunk or wear short skirts, while failing to spend even one second talking to boys about consent,” said Ms Bremner.

“I agree we must be talking to young people about these issues, but we should start by talking to potential perpetrators about the consequences of their choices, rather than always putting it on girls to manage [and prevent] their own exploitation and victimisation,” said Ms Bremner.

This isn’t just Bremner’s own opinion. Research consistently shows that when rape and prevention messages are aimed at potential perpetrators rather than potential victims, this actively reduces the rates of sexual assault. In Canada, a brilliant campaign titled “Don’t Be That Guy” targeted potential offenders with slogans like, “Just because you help her home doesn’t mean you get to help yourself,” and, “Just because she is drinking doesn’t mean she wants sex.”

Six months after the campaign was released in Vancouver, there was a 10 per cent drop in the number of rapes being committed — the first drop in several years. In fact, prior to the release of the campaign, the numbers had been steadily growing. Not only did the campaign arrest the trend, it reversed it.

That’s why it’s so disappointing that Australian police continue to ignore the evidence that shows that telling women and girls to modify their behaviour only confirms for perpetrators that they are entitled to do what they are doing. After all, let’s not kid ourselves that perpetrators aren’t also listening in on the advice that police dispense to women and girls — and what they hear is that this is the girls’ fault.

The simple fact is that when we tell women not to get drunk or wear short skirts, all we are really doing is downstreaming the problem to the next girl on the street. We’re saying, “Don’t rape me, rape the other girl, the drunker girl, the girl in the even shorter skirt.”

Frankly I don’t want any girls to be raped. And I don’t want them to be exploited online. And the best way to prevent both those things is if we target potential perpetrators.

FULL STATEMENT FROM QUEENSLAND POLICE

Queensland Police have conducted inquiries regarding a website containing indecent images of young women.

“While we have not received any formal complaints, we are working with our interstate colleagues, the AFP and the eSafety Commissioner and have conducted an initial investigation into the origin of the site.

“We believe the site is hosted overseas and does not appear to contain any child exploitation material,” Detective Superintendent Cheryl Scanlon of the Child Safety and Sexual Crimes Group said.

Material contained on the site are images and information that has been obtained from social media sites and from across the internet.

“We cannot stress how important it is for everyone to protect themselves online. Pictures you post on social media sites are unfortunately there for the taking to anyone who is your friend, or even a friend of a friend.

“You may post the image now and be happy with it, but unfortunately down the track when you change your mind, they cannot be retrieved. Anyone can access them and once they are gone, they are gone forever,” Detective Superintendent Scanlon said.

“We encourage parents to talk with their children openly about these matters and discuss the consequences of posting too much personal information, including your school, your age and your suburb online. Once this information is matched with a photo of you, then the possibilities are concerning,” she said.

If you have further information or would like to report concerns contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111.

If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual assault or exploitation support is available at 1800 RESPECT and Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.

*Quotes from the site have been slightly altered to prevent reverse searching.