Intimacy and Betrayal A Study Guide on The Hunting

In 2016, it came to light that a number of boys across various Australian schools had been involved in a series of cybercrimes against their female peers. Police were called in to investigate the sharing of nude images, including social-media pages set up specifically to encourage the secret acquisition and posting of illicit photographs – as well as stalking – of underage girls. One such Instagram account invited its followers to vote for ‘slut of the year’, and included images of girls as young as eleven.¹

A little over twelve months later, the #MeToo movement gained traction after a couple of dozen women raised allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Originated in 2006 by American activist Tarana Burke, the #MeToo hashtag provided the opportunity for survivors of sexual assault and harassment to come together and speak out publicly. An avalanche of accounts by everyday people – emboldened by the Hollywood disclosures – of experiences of sexual aggression filled social-media pages, leaving many men bewildered that so many of the girls and women in their lives had experienced such treatment.² Of course, these disclosures were no such surprise to women, and there was a commonly held sense of catharsis and relief that the lid had been lifted on the misogyny underpinning this scourge of societally rampant harassment and abuse.

As schools began to roll out their Respectful Relationships curriculum and programs like mine were taken up in droves, filmmakers began to tell these stories of online exploitation, cyberbullying, consent, respect and toxic masculinity. In August 2019, on the heels of Greta Nash’s award-winning short film (2017), SBS TV released , a four-part miniseries exploring the impacts and consequences of the acquisition and sharing of nude images of underage girls. Set between two secondary schools, follows the lives of four students and their teachers and families as they grapple with the legal, ethical and cultural ramifications of what has become a real-life nightmare for many in the digital age. As an educative tool, the series provides plenty of opportunities for reflection and discussion in the