The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on Friday urged caution as sexual assaults stemming from online dating continue to climb, particularly among teenagers.
For the first time last year, reports of sexual assault involving an offline meetup exceeded 10 percent of the total number of sexual assaults at 924 cases, or 10.82 percent, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
Last year, 3,680 cases reported involved victims aged 12 to 18, 9.4 percent of which involved an offline meetup, the highest percentage in the past few years.
The ease with which bad actors can hide their true identities and intentions online, combined with teenagers’ curiosity toward their developing sexuality, is a dangerous combination, said Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Protective Services.
Aside from the risk of unwanted pregnancy, blackmail using intimate photographs is becoming increasingly common, Chang said, urging caregivers to keep tabs on which apps their children are using and who they are meeting.
Teens are used to their schools and parents advising them to be cautious when dating online, Taiwan Association for Sexuality Education executive director Cheng Chi-chia (鄭其嘉) said.
However, most tend to believe that nothing will happen to them and brush off “the talk” as a standard speech given by all parents, she said.
Instead, Cheng suggested changing up the discussion by offering academic literature or sharing true stories.
Through frank and positive conversation about online dating, teenagers have the chance to internalize the lessons and better understand how they could find themselves in a dangerous situation, she said.
Yet if something does happen, help is immediately available, Chang said.
The nonprofit Institute of Watch Internet Network can help take down intimate photographs or videos, while perpetrators can be prosecuted for assault and the threat of using intimate images against them, she said.
To minimize risk when meeting up with someone offline, the HPA offered a list of recommendations.
Before leaving, notify friends or family about where and with whom the meetup is going to happen, it said, suggesting a busy location for the meeting.
The agency also cautioned against posting identifying information online, including one’s name and photographs showing clear features.
Lending money to or accepting gifts from unfamiliar people is also inadvisable, including consuming food or drink offered by a stranger, it added.
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
RSS