This Morning viewers were ‘appalled’ when they heard how a school slut-shamed a 13-year-old after she was coerced into sending nudes to older boys.
Roxy Longworth, now 19, was forced to send revealing pictures to male students who shared them around her school when she was just 13.
Sharing her story on This Morning, the teen, who is studying neuroscience at University College London, revealed her school made her write an essay about what she had done wrong, but did not punish the boys who were spreading her pictures.
Her mother, Gay Longworth, who co-wrote When You Lose It, which tells the story of Roxy from both hers and her mother’s perspective, said she had no idea Roxy what Roxy was going through, until her daughter confessed and later attempted to take her own life.
Viewers were moved by the teenager’s story and slammed the school for slut-shaming her when she was the one who needed help.
Roxy Longworth, now 19, left, was forced to send revealing pictures to boys who shared them around her school when she was just 13 in 2016
Roxy revealed on the show she was pressured by one boy to send nude pictures, and that he then shared them with others.
When other boys used the pictures they had seen to request more pictures from her, 13-year-old felt she had no choice but to keep going, and didn’t know who to turn to for help.
Word got around school that her nude pictures were being circulated, however, Roxy claimed she received no support from the adult in charge.
Instead, she was punished, and made to write a reflective essay.
Viewers were appalled by the reaction of Roxy’s school, who punished her for sending the pictures, but did not punish the boys for sharing them
‘School got involved three, four weeks later, she was well into term dealing with it all by herself,’ Gay told host Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
‘They gave me a reflective essay to write, about why I had done what I did why I wouldn’t do it again,’ Roxy said.
‘That was actually the first time I self-harmed,’ she added.
Holly said it was important to discuss Roxy’s story because support could have made a world of difference to Roxy’s life.
‘This is what happens where there isn’t [support] or when you are made to feel like you were the one who was wrong,’ the presenter said.
[‘I felt so guilty, that I was being punished,’ Roxy agreed. ‘And that’s when I started punishing myself.
Roxy admitted that the lack of support around her lead her to self-harm, which eventually led her to try and take her own life
People said they are ‘crossed’ about the way the school treated Roxy, and that it had lessons to learn from Roxy’s story
‘It took me years to even think that something had been done to me. Years,’ she added.
Phil asked Roxy if there had been any consequences for the boys who passed her pictures around.
And the 19-year-old, who dropped out of school due to the fallout from the pictures, said the boys were not disciplined like she had been.
‘That was the issue, everybody at school knew it was happening because they all had the photos,
Roxy talked to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby with her mother Gay and the psychologist Dr Elizabeth Kilby, in blue, right
Gay Longworth said she had no idea what her daughter had been going through before Roxy confided in her
And so, by not punishing the boys, the school sent this message that what was happening was okay,’ Roxy said.
Viewers watching Roxy as she bravely shared her story said her school’s reaction was ‘appalling.’
‘Makes me so cross that the school made Roxy write a essay, when she was the victim here. She’s so brave and I have so much respect for her,’ one wrote.
‘How is it the girl’s fault that boys blackmailed her into sending nude photos? The school need some lessons here,’ one wrote.
‘Yes because it’s always the woman’s fault. What a disgusting lesson to teach a 13 year old,’ another said.
‘So they slut shamed her? That school sounds appalling,’ another wrote.
‘So many elements of this story are disturbing, most of all the school’s response,’ one said.
Roxy admitted she initially felt ‘flattered’ when an older boy began to message her and show her attention back in 2016.
The conversation between them soon turned sexual and he asked her to send pictures, which she refused.
The boy began to pressure her, saying he would tell people she was ‘frigid and boring’ if she didn’t sent the snaps. He also threatened to stop speaking to her and said ‘everybody is doing it, so it’s a bit weird you’re not.’
Roxy caved and sent him snaps, however, she soon realised he had shared them when another boy reached out to her.
She explained the other boy used the fact he already had snaps of her to get more out of her.
She explained she understood the boys were trying to play ‘top trumps’ with her pictures and to see who would get the best one.
‘I didn’t feel like I had an option, I kept doing it until he asked for a video,’ Roxy said.
Meanwhile, Gay did not realise something was going on with her daughter, until one day where her 13-year-old received a disturbing call on her phone.
‘Roxy went sheet white,’ she recalled.
The teen then admitted to her mother that someone had called her, asking ‘if it was the number of the local prostitute.’
That’s when Roxy confided into her mother that there were rumours circulating about her at school.
However, the fallout from the pictures had terrible consequences on Roxy, who was self-harming.
This led her to attempt to take her own life, which left her in hospital.
However, five years on, Roxy said she can finally see what happened to her is not her fault, and is focusing on her studies as well as spreading awareness on sending nudes.
Psychologist Elizabeth Kilbey, who appeared on This Morning alongside Roxy and her mother, said that sending nude pictures is very ‘normalised’ amongst teens, and that there is ‘a lack of outrage’ from adults.
She added: ‘young people don’t the skills to know it isn’t okay.’
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