This crime of sextortion where a victim is blackmailed to pay their attacker in one of two ways has reached epidemic proportions.

So your child takes their phone into their room? Stop it,say ‘sextortion’ experts

‘Sextortion’ is becoming disturbingly common:online scammers posing as attractive teens to lure young people into sending money or nude images – then blackmailing them.

  • Madonna King

Latest

L Platers:How to support your teen daughter on the road to adulthood,by Madonna King,is out now through Hachette Australia.

‘We want to be ourselves’:Students are teaching us a gender lesson

For gender-questioning teens,it can be a complex,tortuous,lonely and liberating time:a time for parents,schools,politicians and the wider community to help,not hurt.

  • Madonna King
Melbourne teen psychologist Andrew Fuller:“In terms of creative and critical thinking,they’re very good. Where they struggle often is in disruption in friendships,how to repair a relationship,and often[they] may become overly concerned about minor setbacks in their life,so they freak out.”

'My friend,she's really skinny,I need to lose weight'… the teenage angst swamping 10-year-old girls

Body anxiety. Friendship break-ups. Social media obsessions. Tears,so many tears. For today’s Australian girls,tweens are growing up faster than ever. Welcome to the life of the “ten-ager”.

  • Madonna King
Hannah with her children (from left:Laianah,Trey and Aaliyah).

'Intimate terrorism':why the murders of Hannah,Aaliyah,Laianah and Trey must spark change

Rowan Baxter had barely ever laid a hand on his wife Hannah Clarke – until he set fire to her and their three kids on a suburban Brisbane street in February. The crime shocked the country,and strengthened calls to criminalise coercive control.

  • Madonna King
Former Chief Justice of the Family Court Alistair Nicholson's comments support those of domestic violence experts,and several victim support groups,which have been lobbying for change.

Ex-Family Court chief wants coercive control laws to criminalise'intimate terrorism'

His comments,made on the eve of White Ribbon Day,add weight to campaigns being waged to make coercive control,or non-physical domestic violence,a specific offence in mainland Australian states

  • Madonna King
Their biggest gripe? That they’d grown apart from their father and couldn’t navigate a way back.

What our daughters need from their fathers during home isolation

The challenges for our daughters in the response to COVID-19,and their inability to access the camaraderie of their friends at school,cannot be underestimated.

  • Madonna King
Advertisement
Lola,Ava,and Alexia Warner video-chat with their friends,Ava and Anya,while home schooling due to the coronavirus.

'I'm just lost':What students - and their parents - really say about this year

You’re not hearing them whinging out loud. This generation of 17-year-olds understands how far down the COVID-19 queue of concern they currently sit.

  • Madonna King
After being undervalued in pay and conditions and having your voice dismissed for so long,you’re all of a sudden"essential".

To all the teachers,with love

If there's one thing home-schooling is teaching us,it's how hard it might be to walk in your shoes.

  • Madonna King
Waiting room.

All over the world,patients are lying about virus:GP

For every act of kindness during the crisis,we’ve also seen how the fear of this disease can bring out the worst of human behaviour.

  • Madonna King
Queensland schools are weighing a range of options to address the coronavirus's spread.

Queensland schools weigh months-long closures,reduced lessons

Principals across the state have already cancelled out-of-school activities,excursions and school trips,and are now gearing up to provide lessons to students at home.

  • Madonna King