“In my village everything is known”: sexting and revenge porn in young people from rural Spain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sexting, and the cyber violence that may result from it, such as revenge porn, have received great attention from many different scientific disciplines. The present study incorporates an important dimension in the research conducted on these expanding digital behaviours, namely place and its influence on the effects that may unfold. Our objective has been to study, from a feminist perspective, the practices of sexting and revenge porn, the gender implications and its consequences for young people in a rural Spanish context. For this, we undertook a qualitative methodology obtained from in-depth interviews (N = 40) carried out with young people (22 women and 18 men) between 18 and 24 years of age who reside in rural areas in northern Extremadura (Spain). The results show that transgressions of gender mandates through sexting pose a greater challenge for young women in life environments in which there is little space for it to go unnoticed. The characteristics of rurality accentuate the effects for the protagonists of the non-consensual circulation of images, such as greater social pressure or the devaluation of their femininity. The findings are discussed and contributions to the debate on the responsibility of young women in the agency of sexting and its consequences are included.