CEDAR CITY — (KUTV) - Taylor Cella didn’t know the guy, and she certainly didn’t want a picture of his penis, but the man, via SnapChat sent that image anyway, “and then the next day I’m get a picture from him,” says Cella, “why do I have to see that when I don't know you we don't have a relationship,” she says.
Cella is the victim of a growing, and disturbing phenomenon, men sending pictures to women, uninvited, of their genitals. It is a problem that is often ignored, or laughed off, but Turner Bitton with the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says it is a serious affront to women, and can be called nothing else but sexual harassment, “the person who is motivated to do this sort of thing is motivated by a desire to have power and control,” says Bitton.
It might be the next battleground in the MeToo Movement.
ON-LINE CANCER: Increasingly, woman are getting inappropriate, unsolicited pics from men. Its often ignored, laughed off. Experts say it's #sexualHarassment, & next battle ground in the #MeToo movement. A #CedarCity woman tells us her story, @KUTV2News @10.
— Chris Jones (@jonesnews) January 6, 2018
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says sending a sexually explicit picture unsolicited could be grounds for charges, “you shouldn’t be subjected to this, if you are a victim of this, file a report contact your law enforcement (agency).”
Bitton, Gill, and Cella all agree it is time for men who send these kinds of pictures to realize it is time to grow up, “as our technology evolves our response has to evolve and we have to become good digital citizens as well as offline citizens,” says Bitton.
UCASA will be sponsoring a symposium on sexual harassment on-line on January 16th, 2018 at the University of Utah Student Union building, in the Saltair Room.
This piece first appeared on kutv.com. Click here to read the original article.