What do I do if my little sister is being sent over sexual pictures?

[Teaelfie]

Let me clarify my little sister is 11 years old. She will be 12 in April.
This has been happening since she was 10 though! She told me that men my age (I'm currently 19) and older were sending her photos of their erect penis. She told me not to tell our mom.
I ultimately did and my sister was punished. My mom started to randomly check my sisters laptop and phone.
But as of recently it started happening again. I have no idea how or where she is finding these guys, but I know she has social media accounts. I tell her to block and report but she doesn't think this is a big deal! She's in the 6th grade! Of course it is.
I'm only her sister, and even with my moms intervention it doesn't seem to stop. What the heck should I do? This is disgusting.

[specialmom]

So, I'm an old school mom.  My kids are allowed to have what I give them.  Why does she have open access to computers and devices?  She's 11.  She can't buy herself a computer, ipad or cell phone.  She doesn't have her own internet account.  Put parental control over everything, take the devices and allow her only something like a chrome book for school that her parents keep control of.  Problem solved. Oh, and perhaps a therapist to discuss what is going on and why she is ahead of her time in terms of craving the attention of men, older or otherwise. good luck

[likethat]

Agree 100%

[AnnieBrooke]

It kind of seems like punishing her is punishing the wrong person, the men sending the photographs of their penises are the ones who should be punished.  Do you know what kind of emails these are, is she on an illicit website?  And if so, what is she doing there and how did she get there? It almost sounds like something where the police should be notified, and if that is not possible for family reasons, at the least, your mom should hire a professional computer geek to put adequate blocks on all her social media accounts.

[Sandman2]

Yes, this is illegal since they are being sent to an underage person.  And if they are sending to her, they are sending to others.  I would let the police know.

[healthconscious1]

Yes, definitely report it to the police because those men are child predators and are breaking the law. Calling the police is the most responsible thing to do--you never know who you may be helping! As you have probably seen/heard horrible news reports before, terrible things happen. Don't make it easy for these guys to be the perverts that they are.

[SocialJustice91]

This is certainly an issue.  It sounds like you are not satisfied with your mothers intervention.  I am a RSW from Canada, and I can tell you if i was informed of this it would be by duty by law to inform the proper authorities.  In fact, I could be punished for not doing so.  It sounds like your sister is being exposed to sexually exploitative and abusive content.  Think if these photos were being handed by, say a neighbour, and rather than digital they were physical, that would be more than enough reason to call the police with a complaint.  Its 2017, and digital exchange of photos is the norm.  Really there is no difference in it being online or in person.  Because you are here asking for advice, I assume you are disturbed and concerned about your sister.  It may seem like stepping on your mom's toes, but reporting this could prevent her meeting one of these men in person, and from further harm from these interactions.    

[cfanderson25]

There are so many things wrong with this. And your mother is failing your sister big time! What is going through your mom's head? Seriously? First, why on earth is your 10 year old sister allowed to be online unsupervised? Why does she have a cell phone, that's also not monitored. Then after you let your mom know what was going on (which was very much the right thing to do) why didn't your mom call the police? That would have been the first thing I would have done. Then I would have taken all access from social media, and her cell phone away from her. Like I said before.. SHE IS 10 YEARS OLD!  It is your mothers job to protect your sister from harm, and right now, she's not doing that. And yes, your sister can live without a cell phone, and without a computer. I did it, and I survived. What happening to your sister is a form of abuse, and she is going to be forever effected by this. It opens up doors in the mind and heart and as a child, she is not mature enough to deal with what is happening to her. What I think you should do, is take her phone, take her computer and go to the police and take matters into your own hands. Cause you're mom clearly isn't going to!

[likethat]

I don't understand why she was punished. What should happen is this should be reported to the police, it's incredibly illegal. Also, your mother could be charged with child neglect by knowing this has happened and not supervising her young daughter online and certainly by not locking everything down when this happened the last time. Your sister is too young and immature to be using the Internet without constant supervision. It sounds like she's allowed unfettered access to social media and the only responsible person in her life right now is you. This could become dangerous because if she does not understand it's illegal for those men to send those pictures to her and illegal for her to be allowed to view them, even after you told her to stop, she's probably immature enough to be groomed into a relationship with someone with bad intentions and maybe even dangerous. Please don't let this continue, call the police in the city where your sister lives. You're a good big sister.

[Ladyj46403]

Absolutely call the police! This is very disturbing behavior and you never know if one of these men may take it to another level and kidnap/molest/rape or even put her in sex trafficking or kill your sister. She's putting herself in serious danger that she doesn't fully comprehend and counseling may greatly benefit her. Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them or their family until it does! Victims always come from some place.  I wish you much luck on this subject.