News Archive

Professor Jennifer Drobac warned about the dangers of two relatively new social media apps that could be utilized by sexual predators. She discussed the apps, the dangers, and what parents can do to keep their children safe in a television news story for WRTV in Indianapolis. The piece aired August. 17.

Yellow is social media app that allows users to make new friends and meet them in person. Sarahah is a messaging app that allows users to send messages anonymously. Both have law enforcement officials concerned.

“A lot of sexual predators use these apps to cultivate and attract young people, as young as 12, 13, and even younger,” Professor Drobac said in the news story. She stressed how important for parents to be actively involved in their children’s use of social media, and emphasized that “just say no,” isn’t effective.

Professor Drobac is a nationally known scholar who is frequently sought out by national media for her expertise in the areas of sexual harassment law, and adolescent neurological and psychological development and the law. Her latest book, Sexual Exploitation of Teenagers: Adolescent Development, Discrimination, and Consent Law, was published by University of Chicago Press. She was recently a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall and at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. She was researching a new book, The Myth of Consent, that she will write with Professor Oliver Goodenough.