girls. We found considerable evidence of an age-old double standard, by which sexually active boys are to be admired and ‘rated’, while sexually active girls are denigrated and despised as ‘sluts’. This creates gender specific risks where girls are unable to openly speak about sexual activities and practices, while boys are at risk of peer exclusion if they do not brag about sexual experiences.”136 Technology plays an important role in exacerbating this effect, with mobile phones and other devices, social networking sites, and other communication technologies facilitating the objectification of girls by allowing the creation, exchange, collection, ranking and display of images.137 Girls also suffer more frequently from cyberbullying. A survey conducted by Microsoft found that worldwide, 37 per cent of children aged 8-17 years had been subjected to a range of online activities such as mean or unfriendly treatment, being made fun of or teased, or being called mean names. Of that number, 55 per cent were girls.138 Similarly, girls seem to suffer more from cyberbullying, with 37 per cent of those who had been bullied online in the past 12 months stating they had been very upset after the attack and 24 per cent reporting they had felt fairly upset, as opposed to 23 per cent respectively of male victims of bullying.139 Conversely, harm from exposure to inappropriate content most often affects boys. Because boys make up a larger percentage of video game players, they tend to see more of the violent and sometimes gendered content that commonly characterizes the online gaming environment. In other contexts, adolescent boys who seek out pornography with particular kinds of material in mind can find that searches retrieve more graphic and violent material than they expected. On the other hand, girls may be exposed to a higher proportion of harmful content in the context of child sexual abuse material NSPCC, 2012. Children, Young People and ‘Sexting’. Summary of Qualitative Study. P. 12. Available at http://www.nspcc.org.uk/ Inform/resourcesforprofessionals/sexualabuse/sexting-researchsummary_wdf89270.pdf; see generally Ringrose, J., Gill, R., Livingstone, S., Harvey, L., 2012. 137 NSPCC, 2012. P. 14. 138 Cross-Tab Marketing Services & Telecommunications Research Group for Microsoft Corporation, 2012. Online Bullying Among Youth 8-17 Years Old – Worldwide. Executive Summary. Available at http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/ research.aspx#onlinebullying. 139 Staksrud, E., 2011. 136 and sexually explicit self-generated material sent by perpetrators during a grooming process.140 Youth identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender may be more likely to receive online solicitations and can experience higher degrees of cyberbullying or harassment. In particular, boys who are gay or exploring their sexual orientation may be more liable to become involved in or to be victimized in Internet-initiated sex crimes than other children.141 With respect to harassing conduct, a recent study in the United States found that more than 50 per cent of LGBT youth reported being subjected to cyberbullying.142 Prior abuse and family dysfunction Prior abuse and family dysfunction also elevate the risk of ­victimization, particularly for commercial sexual exploitation of children. A study by UNICEF in the context of the Pacific region, suggests that commercial sexual abuse may be associated with prior abuse in a non-commercial context.143 Half of the children in the study engaged in trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation reported previous sexual abuse.144 A meta-review of 20 relevant studies concluded that the percentage of commercial sex trafficking victims who had previously been abused as children ranged from 33 per cent to 84 per cent.145 Children who run away from or are “thrown Ybarra, M., Mitchell, K., 2005. “Exposure to Internet Pornography among Children and Adolescents: A National Survey”, CyberPsychology and Behaviour 8:473-485; Mitchell, K., Finkelhor, D., Wolak, J., 2003; Wolak, J., Mitchell, K., Finkelhor, D., 2007; OECD, 2011. The Protection of Children Online. Risks Faced by Children Online and Policies to Protect them. Available at http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/ the-protection-of-children-online_5kgcjf71pl28-en. 141 Online “Predators” and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment, Janis Wolak, PhD, David Finkelhor, PhD and Kimberley J. Mitchell, PhD Crimes Against Children Center at the University of New Hampshire and Michelle L. Ybarra, PhD, “Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc.”, American Psychologist, Vol. 63, No.2. Available at http://www.apa. org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-632111.pdf 142 Blumenfeld, W. J., Cooper, R. M., 2010. “LGBT and Allied Youth Responses to Cyberbullying: Policy Implications”, International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3:114-133. 143 UNICEF, 2006. Child Sexual Abuse and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Pacific Region. Available at http:// www.unicef.org/eapro/Pacific_CSEC_report.pdf. 144 Ibid. 145 J. Raphael, 2004. Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty, and Prostitution. 140 24 STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ON THE ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN