BSB/4/9
Sponsored by Ashley Yim, Elly Wu, Krishna Patel of Baylor School
This legislation was filed in the Education category
Presented as part of the YIG Volunteer 2024 conference
| 1 | BE IT ENACTED BY THE TENNESSEE YMCA YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Section 1: Terms in this act are defined as follows: |
| 4 | a. Sextortion - The act in which a perpetrator threatens to expose sexually compromising |
| 5 | material, usually in the form of photos or videos of the victim, unless the victim meets |
| 6 | certain demands. |
| 7 | b. Perpetrator - A person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act. |
| 8 | c. Trauma - An emotional response caused by harmful, disturbing, or very stressful events. |
| 9 | It is often difficult to control. |
| 10 | d. Stigma - Disapproval or discrimination against an individual or group of people based on |
| 11 | perceived characteristics. |
| 12 | e. Curriculum - Subjects comprising a course in school. |
| 13 | f. Curriculum contractor - An educational professional who is responsible for developing |
| 14 | curriculum programs taught in public and/or private schools. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Section 2: This act requires public high schools to incorporate curriculum involving sextortion, if |
| 17 | not done so already. |
| 18 | a. Examples of what could be comprised into the curriculum include: |
| 19 | i. How to identify and avoid sextortion situations |
| 20 | ii. Common tactics perpetrators use |
| 21 | iii. How to cope with the emotional trauma/abuse victims undergo during or after sextortion |
| 22 | iv. Resources possible victims can reach out to for aid |
| 23 | v. Stigma sextortion victims face |
| 24 | b. Additional information that is deemed pertinent can be incorporated as necessary |
| 25 | depending on the school. |
| 26 | c. This curriculum is suggested to be integrated into health and wellness classes. |
| 27 | i. Sextortion will be added as a separate unit/topic into wellness classes |
| 28 | ii. Curriculum will be designed by a hired contractor by the Tennessee Department of Education |
| 29 | (TDOE). |
| 30 | |
| 31 | Section 3: Internet safety classes will be required to be offered, if not done so already. These |
| 32 | classes should be integrated as a separate unit in wellness classes. |
| 33 | a. Examples of what could be comprised into the curriculum include: |
| 34 | i. The importance of safe online behavior |
| 35 | ii. Interactions with strangers |
| 36 | iii. Understanding risks of sharing personal information. |
| 37 | b. Classes do not have to solely focus on sextortion, but rather general safety on the internet. |
| 38 | c. Curriculum will be designed by a hired contractor by the Tennessee Department of |
| 39 | |
| 40 | |
| 41 | Section 4: Units for sextortion and internet safety will be rotated every 2 years throughout high |
| 42 | school. |
| 43 | a. Ex. Freshman and juniors will partake the sextortion unit; sophomores and seniors will partake |
| 44 | the internet safety unit. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | Section 5: Help should be made more available to possible victims in schools by implementing |
| 47 | resources such as: |
| 48 | a. Awareness campaigns |
| 49 | b. Posters |
| 50 | c. Inviting experts to speak about sextortion |
| 51 | d. Hotline number in case in danger |
| 52 | |
| 53 | Section 6: If enacted, this bill will cost $300,000 and come from the Tennessee Department of |
| 54 | Education. The money will be used to hire the contractor(s) for redesigning the health and |
| 55 | wellness curriculum. The remaining will be utilized for teacher training in the subject(s). |
| 56 | |
| 57 | Section 7: All laws or parts of laws in conflict with this are hereby repealed. Section 8: This act |
| 58 | shall take effect at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. |
| 59 |