On April 4, 2013, Rehtaeh Parsons (, ; December 9, 1995 – April 7, 2013), a 17-year-old student at Cole Harbor District High School, attempted suicide by hanging herself at her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, leading to a coma and decision to shut down medical support machinery on April 7, 2013 . Her death was attributed to online photo distribution of a gang rape that occurred 17 months before the suicide, in November 2011 .
On the Facebook page raised in tribute to her daughter, her mother blamed the young men who had raped her.
In November 2011, then aged 15, she was sexually abused at a friend's house during a party. She doesn't remember what happened that day, only remembers throwing up.
The photos of the November 2011 sexual abuse that took place were made public in just three days. Since then, several colleagues started calling her a prostitute and began sending her text messages asking for sex. She told her family and police what happened several days later.