Sexting And Teens

 Sexting is the sending or receiving of sexually suggestive images. Sexts traditionally involve the sending or receiving of nude or semi-nude images via cell phones to romantic partners or interests. This is not always the case, however, as the term sexting has come to include the transfer of images over email, social media, and video chat.

 

It's natural for teens to be curious about their emerging sexuality. But most middle-schoolers aren't prepared for the risks of exploring this in the digital age. Help students think critically about self-disclosure in relationships and practice how they'd respond to a situation where sexting or a request for sexting might happen.

 

Sexting is when people share a sexual message and/or a naked or semi-naked image, video or text message with another person. It's also known as nude image sharing. Children and young people may consent to sending a nude image of themselves. They can also be forced or coerced into sharing images by their peers or adults online. If a child or young person originally shares the image consensually, they have no control over how other people might use it.

 

About sexting and its potential links to sexual behavior, including risky sexual practices, have received scholarly scrutiny, but this literature is marked by divergent perspectives and disparate findings.  Sexting behavior was positively related to sexual activity, unprotected sex, and one's number of sexual partners, but the relationship was weak to moderate. Additional information, gleaned from a critical review of included studies, helped contextualize these findings and point to specific limitations and directions for future research.

 

Teens can be cruel when it comes to taunting each other online, especially if there are nudes being circulated around. Images are quickly manipulated and passed around to humiliate someone similar to generations earlier when notes were passed from desk to desk poking fun at a classmate. Back then it was isolated to the school, now it’s viral and much worse because it can impact their future, especially when it comes to their online reputation.

 

Teen behavior and digital invention have outpaced the development of new laws, and this has the potential to have dire legal ramifications for teens. Separating consensual sexting from nonconsensual sexting and actual child pornography is a critical next step for law enforcement agencies and policy makers to catch up to technology. In this article, we argue that consensual teen-to-teen sexting does not warrant law enforcement involvement but rather is a health and education issue that is better addressed at home, in schools, and in primary care.

 

Sexting appears to most often be done consensually compared with nonconsensually, and only a small minority of adolescent girls and boys report being coerced to sext. Although consensual sexting it is not known to be initially harmful to either party, the act of sexting does carry the risk of prosecution in many states as well as the risk of future nonconsensual dissemination of sexual images. In the most extreme consequences, sexts have been disseminated without consent, constituting a form of cyberbullying with tragic outcome.

 

Parental and societal concerns inevitably revolve around teens’ sexual activity, and sexting has brought those concerns front and center. Government has always had a compelling interest in protecting minors, but only using the least restrictive means necessary. Fears that sexting represents an increased sexualization of teens in society do not appear justified because sexual intercourse and certain risky sexual behaviors have actually decreased over the last 2 decades.