Now social media, the internet and technology has become so advanced the laws need to be changed to keep up. It is a criminal offence to expose yourself in public. So why isn't it a criminal offence to do exactly the same thing and expose yourself online where strangers are being forced to see it?

Unsolicited, unwanted photographs of people's intimate areas and other obscene content is being forced on to people regularly. It's distressing, offensive, incredibly crude, vile and shameless. Why should people be made victims by others who wrongly believe this is acceptable behaviour. The law needs to catch up with the evolution of social media. Essentially it's indecent exposure and should be treated as such. They should face consequences for their actions to prevent future recurrences.

Since creating a website and being more active online I have realised just how big this issue has become. Due to the nature of my website I have been in contact with vulnerable adults. Many of which have been sent indecent images from strangers online with no prior warning. The emotional distress this causes impacts the way they use social media which is incredibly unfair as a lot of people use it to stay in touch with friends and family. They shouldn't miss out on photos of family members and friends they love because there are individuals who are using the internet in a grotesque manner. 

The truth of the matter is children are allowed to create profiles on social media sites. When strangers send an indecent, obscene photograph of themselves you cannot see what that image contains without opening the message. This means minors do not know its inapropriate until its too late. They are quite literally forced to see the sexually explicit content. Do you really want to risk your children being sent and then seeing photographs of such nature, purely because of the unnaceptable behaviour of others?

With a new law brought in not only would it give people the power to prosecute this act of indecent exposure, it would also deter it from taking place at all. We need to take online safety seriously especially now so many people spend a substantial amount of time using the internet.