On this very blog I have been castigated by readers for calling sexting a very serious and problematic pastime. Some of my readers have insisted that sexting is just an innocent activity synonymous with a teenager’s tendency to be flirtatious and experiment with new ways of expressing their sexuality.
I couldn’t disagree more.
Like many other forms of controlling behaviour, it is often designed to pressure impressionable teens (mainly girls) to conform in a way that may lead them to serious humiliation in the short and long terms. Whilst sexting can be consensual, the research shows that is often done due to great pressure and with great reluctance:
Six out of 10 teenagers say they have been asked for sexual images or videos, an NSPCC/ChildLine survey seen by the BBC’s Newsnight programme suggests.
Of those questioned, 40% said they had created a sexual image or video, and about a quarter said they had sent one to someone else by text.
The NSPCC’s head, Peter Wanless, said “sexting” was getting much more common.
“These results show that sexting is increasingly a feature of adolescent relationships,” he told Newsnight.
“It is almost becoming the norm that a young person in a relationship should share an explicit image of themselves,” he said.
For the survey, NSPCC and ChildLine spoke to 450 teenagers from across the country.
Of those who had sent an image or video to someone else by text, 58% said the image had been sent to a boyfriend or girlfriend, but a third said they had sent it to someone they knew online but had never met.
About 15% said they had sent the material to a stranger.
Of those who said they had sent a photo to someone, 20% said it had then been shared with other people, while 28% said they did not know if their picture had been shared with anyone else.
More than half (53%) of those questioned said they had received a sexual photo or video, a third of whom had received it from a stranger.
Click on the link to read 30 Per Cent of Teens Have Sent Naked Images of Themselves Online: Report
Click on the link to read Sexting Reaches our Primary Schools
Tags: 58% said the image had been sent to a boyfriend or girlfriend, Education, Jonathan Baggaley, NSPCC/ChildLine survey, Parenting, Peter Wanless, Sexting, sexting strangers, teenagers and sexting, teenagers and sexting research, teenagers and sexting statistics, teenagers say they have been asked for sexual images or videos
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