The Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) Health Education Office is set to host two free public screenings of the documentary “Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic” to bring awareness to the online exploitation of young people. The film is an investigation into the world of online grooming and sextortion, which is a present-day reality for one in seven children online.
By unsealing the federal case of a top-gun pilot with hundreds of victims and interviewing survivors and their parents, this true-crime piece exposes an often-overlooked crime against children, the tactics of online predators, and the voices of parents and law enforcement poised to stop online child exploitation in its tracks.
The screenings will be held at Broadneck High School on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 6 p.m. and Meade High School on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 6 p.m. Each screening will include the full film viewing, panel discussion, and community question-and-answer session. Due to the subject matter, the film is not suitable for audiences younger than middle school age, and students attending should be accompanied by an adult. Translation and childcare services will be available at no cost.
Tickets for the Broadneck High School screening are available through https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sextortion-the-hidden-pandemic-community-film-screening-tickets-558207893837. The ticket link for the Meade High School screening will be announced at a later date.
The AACPS Health Education Office also announced that portions of and topics related to the film will be a part of the secondary level health education curriculum in the next school year.