Sex education is now just another political football. For the children’s sake, the adults must grow up | Gaby Hinsliff

Teenagers need and want good information about sex. The government's review, and this ideological tug-of-war, is failing them

Imagine a teenage boy, alone with his phone late at night. A message pings in from a pretty stranger, or even from the hacked account of a girl he already knows. Either way, it's crudely calculated to grab his attention. There will be pictures, tantalising promises of something even more explicit, if he'll send nudes in response. But if he does, the brutal trap springs shut.

What follows is a demand for money, if he doesn't want the compromising pictures plastered all over the internet for everyone at school to see. Some boys (the vast majority of so-called sextortion victims are boys) try to pay up. The lucky ones panic and tell their parents. Tragically, a handful are known to have killed themselves rather than risk public humiliation.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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