Most of us would be pretty mortified if somebody sent pictures of our genitals to complete strangers. Indeed, people throughout the ages have coughed up vast amounts of cash in an attempt to stop this sort of public humiliation.
However, there are far too many awful human beings out there who will merrily slide an explicit, full-frontal nude pic straight into the DMs of someone they’ve never so much as exchanged a ‘good morning’ with.
This sort of behaviour is way more than simply a modern-day nuisance. Unsolicited dick pics are a gross and completely unacceptable invasion of a person’s privacy, making them feel unsafe, targeted and vulnerable.
Open up a conversation about dick pics in any group of mates, and you’ll most likely encounter at least one individual who has received one completely out of the blue, and without their consent.
According to pretty dismaying YouGov figures from 2017, 60% of women in the UK have been at the receiving end of an unsolicited dick pic, with findings stating, ‘more young women responded that they’d received an unwanted “dick pic” than had received one because they asked for it’.
Sadly, many women feel rather powerless after such intrusions, which, of course, is often the motivation. After all, it’s not immediately clear what to do when someone barges into your life dick-first, as though they are somehow entitled to make you feel frightened as you go about your day.
However, one witty and brilliant woman from Washington, D.C., has given the dick pic response to end all dick pic responses, taking complete control of the situation while giving the amateur photographer the fright of his life.
After a dodgy bloke slid into her Instagram DMs with a grimly predictable NSFW pic, crime festival director Jennifer Tisdale decided she wasn’t having any of it.
After tricking him into believing the picture had been obscured by a special app called ‘Cockblock’, Jenn proceeded to freak him out further by claiming the fake app had automatically sent the picture and user profile to the police. And he fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Jenn has since shared the exchange over Twitter, where it has gained over 109,000 likes at the time of writing, illustrating just how many people can relate all too well to this unsettling situation.
With a hilariously polite and cheerful tone, Jenn wrote:
Sorry! Whatever image you sent isn’t coming through. I have a photo blocker on IG. It’s very useful for women, because sometimes men – and I mean the saddest men – men so so so sad that women never touch them. Ya know the kind?
Men so incredibly sad and unfuckable… They try to send inappropriate pics so I downloaded an app that blocks them.
The uninvited gentleman – who claimed the pic had been the ‘punchline’ to a ‘really shitty joke’ – initially agreed with her, enthusiastically describing such people as ‘animals’ and declaring that the maker of the ‘Cockblock’ app deserved a ‘Nobel Peace Prize’.
However, he got decidedly less chatty after Jenn dropped the following bombshell:
It’s also very intuitive. It immediately sends the image and profile to the local police. I will get a call from local law enforcement asking when I can come in to file a sexual harassment report.
Men who have sent me d*ck pics have been arrested. It’s wild. LOL one guy lost his job and his wife. Technology is wild.
Suddenly the conversation went tellingly quiet on the other end, and you can almost feel the rising panic radiating from that final message left on ‘seen’.
Jenn told UNILAD about the hugely positive response she has received after her story went viral, from men and women alike:
The responses have been 100% positive across the board, from both men and women, which I think is a sign of the changing times. Getting a dick pic you didn’t ask for is so clearly something that no one should support.
I also think the fact that this tweet went viral is possibly stopping anyone from jumping into my mentions with nonsense opinions. In fact, this may stop men from sending unsolicited dick pics in the future. What a gift that would be.
Jenn added:
I have not contacted the police. I don’t know anything about the man who sent the photo, and while I equate this to getting flashed in the streets (a thing that actually happens), this isn’t technically illegal except for in Texas, which is such a surprise.
That’s not a very Texas move. The internet is still very much like the Wild West in many ways, and the conversation of how to regulate it is still pretty divided. What’s even more sad is the conversation on how to respect/believe women is still pretty divided as well.
Unfortunately a lot of men don’t view this as an issue. Just last night a woman tweeted at me that her husband didn’t see unsolicited pics of genitalia as a problem.
The majority of the law-making decisions in this country are being made by men and I wouldn’t be shocked to discover they believe the same thing… it’s not a big deal.
Well, I told that woman to leave her husband.
In August 2019, Texas state lawmakers passed a ban on sexually explicit material being sent without the recipient’s consent, thanks partly to advocacy from Austin-based dating app Bumble. Those who break this law will now have to pay a fine of $500.
Bumble – which was designed with female users in mind – is now looking to push for this ban to be implemented throughout other US states, sending a clear message that such behaviour should be treated with the upmost severity.
Unsolicited d*ck pics are all too often brushed off as a ‘normal’ part of being a woman on the internet, with the sh*tty way it makes you feel shoved under the carpet.
But we shouldn’t just ignore or tolerate it. You wouldn’t ignore it if somebody masturbated at you on the tube. And you wouldn’t tolerate it if somebody flashed you on a darkened road.
And so you absolutely shouldn’t have to deal with this sort of deeply inappropriate boundary-crossing while simply scrolling through Instagram or checking your Facebook inbox.
Jenn told UNILAD:
I respond to these kinds of messages with humor because I have that luxury. Some people are not so lucky. My ability to process things comedically has served me well.
My rage over unsolicited genitalia pics comes from two places. First of all it’s the disgust I feel towards the sender, and the idea that they are hoping to anger, injure, or shame the recipient in some way.
Secondly, I think about people who cannot take such a jovial stance, perhaps because receiving a pic like that when they didn’t ask for it triggered previous trauma in some way.
I’m not saying I’m a hero, because that would be insane, but if I can take that unsolicited photo and turn it into something else that makes that dude, or the next dude, think twice about sending one… then that’s a good day.
Hopefully Jenn’s story will make others think twice before toeing such a serious line. However, as our online life increasingly merges with the offline, it’s evident there needs to be more widespread policies in place to ensure such individuals are held to account.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 802 9999 between 12pm–2.30pm and 7pm– 9.30pm every day. Alternatively, you can contact Victim Support free on 08 08 16 89 111 available 24/7, every day of the year, including Christmas.
Male Survivors Partnership is available to support adult male survivors of sexual abuse and rape. You can contact the organisation on their website or on their free helpline 0808 800 5005, open 9am–5pm Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays; 8am–8pm Tuesdays and Thursdays; 10am – 2pm Saturdays.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.