Melbourne School Boys’ ‘Sexualized’ Instagram Account Shut Down

Authorities are looking into the Instagram page run by students belonging to a prestigious private school in Australia’s Melbourne city for allegedly sexualizing younger girls.

The page created by two boys from the all-boys Brighton Grammar School (BGS) carried pictures of girls some of whom were as young as 11 or 12 without the girls’ knowledge. The page titled @ys_academy_puspus reportedly invited people to vote for “slut of the year.” The page was shut down Saturday.

In a statement released Monday, the school’s headmaster Ross Featherston said, “The Instagram post is disgraceful and does not reflect the values of BGS. Disrespectful behavior on any social media site is simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

The school also said that the two boys allegedly involved in the matter had been suspended Monday and added that the school will continue further investigations into the matter.

The page was brought to public attention over the weekend when the mother of one of the girls featured on the page lodged a complaint to the Victoria police. She also complained to the school and reportedly published an open letter on Facebook. In the letter she claimed that some images showed girls partially undressed or had captions referring to sex acts.

“I am writing this as a mother of a girl that has not only been sexualized but violated within our small community,” she said, “I will not rest until the consequence for the crime meets the severity of the crime itself – for my daughter and all other young unsuspecting girls.”

A spokeswoman for the Victoria police said, “Police can confirm it has received a report in relation to inappropriate content on an Instagram account originating in the Bayside area.”