Abstract
Educational interventions on youth sexting often focus on individual sexters or would-be sexters, and are driven by the aim of encouraging young people to abstain from producing and sharing personal sexual images. This approach has been criticised for failing to engage with the complex sociocultural context to youth sexting. Drawing upon qualitative group and one-to-one interviews with 41 young people aged 14 to 18 living in a county in south-east England, I explore young people’s perceptions and practices surrounding sexting. By taking a grounded theory approach to the research, I reveal how young people’s shaming of digitally mediated sexual self-expression shaped and was shaped by a denial of rights to bodily and sexual autonomy and integrity. This denial of rights underpinned harmful sexting practices, including violations of privacy and consent, victim blaming, and bullying. I conclude that responses to youth sexting should attend to this broader youth cultural context, emphasise the roles and responsibilities of bystanders, and encourage a collectivist digital sexual ethics based upon rights to one’s body and freedom from harm (Albury, New Media and Society 19(5):713–725, 2017; Dobson and Ringrose, Sex Education 16(1):8–21, 2015).
Highlights
Sexting involves the digital production and exchange of personal sexual messages and images (Hasinoff 2015)
The analysis revealed that harmful sexting practices—including violations of privacy and consent, victim blaming, and bullying—involved the social shaming of young people who sext and were predicated upon a denial of rights to bodily and sexual expression
They were concerned about reputational damage. Their constructions of sexting were shaped by meanings and norms surrounding gender and sexuality, which worked to delegitimise and deny rights to bodily and sexual expression
Summary
Sexting involves the digital production and exchange of personal sexual messages and images (Hasinoff 2015). While increasingly characterised as a developmentally normative adolescent activity in scholarly circles, youth sexting tends to be depicted as inherently risky and harmful in mainstream public debate about the phenomenon (Albury 2017; Döring 2014; Hasinoff 2015, 2017). In this context, youth sexting is delegitimised as a phenomenon. The analysis revealed that harmful sexting practices—including violations of privacy and consent, victim blaming, and bullying—involved the social shaming of (some) young people who sext and were predicated upon a denial of rights to bodily and sexual expression. My participants collectively contributed to making sexting meaningful and, had roles and responsibilities as bystanders in youth sexting culture (Bailey and Mouna 2011; Crofts et al 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
