teens these days

This Canadian Nonprofit Is Telling Teens to Send Pics of Naked Mole Rats Instead of Nudes

A naked-mole-rat meme.

Ah, teens. When they aren’t cutting Paul Ryan down through Instagram comments or having illegal sleepovers at Ikea, they’re apparently sending nude pictures of themselves — and risking exploitation as a result. But now, a nonprofit in Canada is urging teens to stop sending dick pics, and instead send pictures of naked mole rats, the New Yorker reports.

Fun (gross) fact: If you Google image search “penis with teeth” (don’t do it, you will regret it, I assure you), some of the first images that pop up are actually naked mole rats, as the animals are known for looking eerily similar to … penises with teeth. With that in mind, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection kicked off its campaign to end “sextortion” (which, in this case, is considered to be the blackmailing of a person with the threat of releasing sexual pictures of them) by instructing teens to send images of naked mole rats to anyone who asks for a sexually suggestive picture.

At the website DontGetSextorted.ca, teens can download a number of naked-mole-rat memes, ranging from the Gosling-inspired “Hey Girl” meme to a Seinfeld-esque gif with the text, “No nudes for you.” As the campaign’s video, which began circulating last week, explains, “Long, veiny, and fleshy, the naked mole rat — you can call it Willy — looks a lot like that picture you were just about to send, except it’s got two beady little eyes and four sharp teeth at the tip.”

Lianna McDonald, the executive director of the Centre, told the New Yorker that the campaign attempted to use humor to tackle such a serious topic in order to actually reach teens. “It’s brazen,” McDonald said. “But when you’re dealing with young people, you have to think creatively. If we’re not getting their attention, we’re not doing our job.”

Since the naked-mole-rat picture really only works as a stand-in for male anatomy, might we recommend an arm belfie for the ladies out there?

Canadian Group Tells Teens to Send Mole-Rat Pics, Not Nudes