By Brian Jules Campued
Hello, could you spare us just a minute and think of a situation like this?
Imagine you are chatting with a “friend” you met online; he says he’s from overseas and he’s fun to talk to. He likes to send emojis to show that he’s interested and excited talking with you and it’s fun to make new friends, right?
Along the course of your engaging conversation, he sent you an eggplant emoji (🍆), along with water droplets (💦). Now, by any chance, do you know what this person means with these emojis?
If you are an adult reading the situation above, there’s a high chance that you already know the subliminal meaning of “🍆💦”. However, what would an innocent kid know?
Being born to a world where digitalization is already engraved into daily life, we usually would not understand the intention behind a message from another person miles away from us unless they express their emotions through emojis. Of course, a smiley emoji could also indicate a lot of emotions besides happiness—and that’s why sexual predators have stepped in to exploit these seemingly cute pictograms and victimize children.
As the government continues to ramp up its efforts to better fight online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) and the proliferation of child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM) in the country, predators are also getting more creative with their approaches to children.
As part of its campaign to spread awareness among parents and guardians in safeguarding their children against online child exploitation, non-profit children’s rights organization Bahay-Tuluyan made a video showing some of the emojis that are being used by pedophiles in luring minors to engage in sexual behavior. These abusers often lurk on social media and gaming platforms to prey on unknowing victims.
In one of the scenes in the video, a boy who was being bullied was befriended by means of an eggplant emoji. The non-profit group’s campaign features various emojis that are used by predators to convey certain body parts or sexual meanings:
- Eggplant 🍆 – penis
- Peach 🍑 – buttocks
- Water droplets 💦 – orgasm
- Wink 😉 – lust
- Cherry 🍒 – breasts
- Taco 🌮 – vagina
- Donut 🍩 – anus
- Noodles 🍜 – nude photos
- Corn 🌽 – pornography
- Scissors ✂️ – sexual intercourse
- Octopus 🐙 – cuddling
- Tongue 👅 – oral sex
- Drooling face 🤤- sexually aroused
Most of us, if not all, use emojis in our messaging apps regularly. Citing the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), Bahay-Tuluyan estimates that at least 500,000 online predators use emojis to befriend children.
The group also urged the public to be vigilant and to report possible cases of child abuse to the authorities, such as the Philippine National Police – Women and Children Protection Center.
Through the campaign, may we understand that while emojis were created to make our conversations with other people more fun and engaging, these icons have also been given different meanings. As responsible adults, we can help reduce cases of abuse against children by educating ourselves about the languages and methods that predators use to communicate with our children.
Together, let’s provide a safer online environment for children. – iro/avds