Wizened and gay adults like us can laugh at this. But I want to get serious for a moment.
Sextortion of minors has risen considerably over the past 10 years as social media has exploded. Between October 2021 to March 2023, more than 12,600 minors were victims of sextortion - and 90-92% of those victims were straight boys aged 14-17.
The perpetrators are primarily criminal gangs in The Philippines, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and elsewhere; they pretend to be a young girl, groom the young boy to share revealing pictures, then threaten to expose the boy unless they pay money. The emergence of AI has also exacerbated the issue.
Tragically, since 2021 at least 36 young boys have committed suicide as a result of being targeted by these monsters.