Call me naive. But until last week, I had no idea just how creepy “reputable” sites like Reddit could be.

Oh, I knew that pornographers used the internet to anonymously cater to all sorts of perverse fantasies. But I truly had no idea that creepy old men had been stealing pictures of scantily clad under-16 girls off their Facebook profiles and uploading them to Reddit for the sexual gratification of others who get off on that sort of thing, or snapping secret photos of girls breasts and backsides, and uploading them for the same purpose.

Disgusting.

It wasn’t until Gawker reporter Adrian Chen revealed the true identity of Violentacrez, who was famous for creating and moderating some of the most disgusting sections of Reddit–classy places like “Jailbait” (featuring pics of underage girls), “Niggerjailbait” (to keep Jailbait “pure”), “Beatingwomen” and “Chokabitch” (for those who get off on violence against women), and “Picsofdeadjailbait” (pictures of what else–dead teenage girls–because there’s nothing like looking at dead little girls to relieve stress after a long day of taking Creepshots of unsuspecting women)–that I realized the scope of this widely-accepted and apparently completely legal depravity.

The tragic suicide of Amanda Todd, a young teenager haunted by a topless pic of her posted online, makes more sense now. I knew about internet porn, I knew about sexting, but that this sort of atmosphere exists online–I just can hardly fathom it.

Happily, some of those subreddits have been banned now. But the internet is still the “Wild West” of modern society, and judging from the way “free speech advocates” have been rushing to the defense of Michael Brutsch (aka Violentacrez), (because all Americans should have the right to post pictures of unsuspecting underage girls online for the purposes of mass masturbation without being called out on it or suffering any negative consequences), we can expect similar sites to be cropping up.

Parents, please talk to your kids about internet safety. I think we all know that it’s perfectly normal for teens to experiment with flaunting their newly-found sexuality, whether it’s the old-school versions of Truth or Dare we played in middle school, or Temporary Hormonal Insanity 2.0 like posting those sultry, pouty-lipped self-portraits on Facebook, or flirting with adult ideas on Twitter. But it may not just be their circle of teenage friends admiring those pictures or reading those posts. And thanks to the internet, every moment of teenage indiscretion can be preserved for years to come, for the enjoyment of sickos who spend their spare time collecting and posting pictures of naive, insecure teenage girls.

Gross.

Here’s the story of Amanda Todd, the little girl who just committed suicide, in her own words.