This is a presentation I gave about my PhD topic at the North West Gender Conference. It is about the role of gender in 'youth sexting' - young people creating and sharing sexual images of themselves via technology. I discuss background info and the direction of my research.

1. Gender and Youth
Sexting
Emily Setty, PhD Student
University of Surrey
e.setty@surrey.ac.uk

2. What is sexting?
“… exchange of sexual messages or images” (Livingstone et al.,
2011)
“… creating, sharing and forwarding of sexually suggestive nude
or nearly nude images by minor teens” (Lenhart, 2009, p. 3)
“using a camera cell phone to take and send nude (including
semi-nude) photographs to other cell phones or Internet sites”
(Chalfen, 2009, p. 528)
Lenhart, A (2009). Teens and sexting: how and why are minor teens sending sexually suggestive nude and nearly nude images via text messaging. Pew Research Centre: Pew
Internet and American Life Project. Millennials: a portrait of generation next.
Chalfen, R. (2009) ‘It's only a picture’: sexting, ‘smutty’ snapshots and felony charges. Visual Studies, 24(3), pp. 258-268
Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Görzig, A., & Ólafsson, K. (2011). Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European children. Full findings. LSE, London: EU Kids Online.

3. Youth sexting: public discourse
• Media attention and
public concern to the
issue of ‘youth sexting’
• Young people framed as
impulsive and naïve to
the consequences of
sexting
• Legal and psychosocial
consequences for youth
sexters emphasised in
public discourse
See Moran-Ellis J (2012) Sexting, intimacy and criminal acts: Translating teenage sexualities. In:
Johnson P, Dalton D (eds) Policing Sex, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 115–132.
for discussion of public discourse and response to sexting in UK, US and Australia

4. Sexualisation and technology
“… when adolescents are taught that sexual expression is not
only normal, but desirable, and they have tools that facilitate
such expression, including inexpensive digital cameras, cell
phones, and social networking sites, it seems almost inevitable
that they will participate in their own forms of sexual
expression” (Lunceford, 2010, p.241)
Lunceford, B. (2010). Sex in the digital age: media ecology and Megan’s Law. EME, Hampton Press, Inc. and MEA, pp.239-244

5. Public discourse: gendered
dimensions
http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/14_plus/need-advice/selfies-and-sexting/
• Sexting involves young women producing
and sharing images with young men
• Young women who sext are making ‘bad
choices’
• Non-consensual distribution inevitable
• Sexting causes negative consequences of
judgment bullying, harassment and so on
within the peer group
• No room for safe, positive sexting for girls

6. Public discourse: gendered
dimensions
“… high school boys did as high school boys will do and traded
the photos among themselves” (ACLU, 2010, cited in Simpson,
2013, p.698)
Simpson, B (2013). Challenging childhood, challenging children: children’s rights and sexting. Sexualities, 16(5/6), pp. 690-709

7. Young people’s experiences of
sexting: survey results
• 22% of girls vs. 18% of boys aged 13-19 have sent an image of
themselves via internet or mobile phone1
• 12% girls vs. 6% of boys have sent an image of themselves via
internet or mobile phone2
• 49.7% of males vs. 30.9% of females have received an image of
someone else3
• Retrospective account of sexting in high school: 20.1% of females vs.
17.8% of males had sent an image, 47.1% of males vs. 32.1% females
had received an image and 12.3% of males vs. 4.7% of females had
forwarded an image4
1National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy & CosmoGirl.com (2008). Sex and tech: Results from a survey of teens and young adults.
2Cox Communications. (2009, May). Teen online & wireless safety survey: Cyberbullying, sexting, and parental controls. Atlanta, GA: Cox Communications, National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children.
3Strassberg, D.S., Rullo, J.E and Mackaronis, J.E. (2014). The sending and receiving of sexually explicit cell phone photos (“sexting”) while in high school: one college’s students’ retrospective
reports. Computers in Human Behaviour, 41, pp. 177-183
4Strassberg, DS., McKinnon, RK., Sustaita, MA. And Rullo, J. (2013). Sexting by high school students: an exploratory and descriptive study. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 42, pp. 15-21

8. Young people’s experiences of
sexting: qualitative research
• Sociocultural context of gendered sexual pressure, harassment and
scrutiny of young women1
• Hyper-masculine norms and expectations regarding male sexual
behaviour2
• Images of young women acting as currency in male peer groups and
proof of masculinity for young men2
• Gendered double standard: young women are chastised for engaging in
sexting, whilst young men are lauded2
“… the belief that young women who send naked pictures of themselves
are ‘sluts’ then serves to justify any subsequent sexual abuse, as by offering
their sexualised body publicly, they are perceived to surrender any rights to
protect its boundaries” (Coy et al., 2013, p. 50)
1Ringrose, J. Gill, R., Livingstone, S. and Harvey, L. (2012). A qualitative study of children, young people and ‘sexting’: a report prepared for the NSPCC. National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children, London, UK
2 Ringrose et al., 2012; Phippen, A (2012). Sexting: an exploration of practices, attitudes and influences. NSPCC and UK Safer Internet Centre; Albury, K. (2013). Young people and sexting in
Australia: ethics, representation and the law. UNSW and CCI. Final Report; Walker, SJ. 2012. Sexting and young people: a qualitative study. University of Melbourne, Degree of Master of Primary
Health Care (by research); McGraw, J.M. (2013). Sexting unleashed: the social phenomenon according to youth sexters. Dissertations and Theses, Paper 1491; Coy, M., Kelly, L., Elvines, F., Garner,
M. and Kanyeredzi, A. (2013). “Sex without consent, I suppose that is rape”: How young people in England understand sexual consent. London: Office of the Children’s Commissioner.

9. Sexting and gender
• Is technology providing new platforms for negotiating and
expressing gendered identities?
“[Both young men and young women are] victims of a sexual
environment that places pressure on them to conform to
gendered stereotypes” (Walker, 2012)
“… [the technology] provides new ways for value to circulate
through images and for value to become materially marked on
particular bodies as part of that process” (Bailey and Mouna,
2011, p. 317)

10. Young women: victims?
• Diverse range of contexts and motivations for sexting1
• Pressure and coercion not uniform2
• Not all sexting involves non-consensual distribution2 3
• Sexting may be associated with risky behaviours and
social/emotional problems for some but not all young people4
• Important to acknowledge the complex spirals of pleasure and
pain in sexting5
• Space needs to be provided for expressions of safe, positive
experiences, opportunities for agency and alternative ways of
‘knowing and being’6
1 For example see Albury (2013). Young people and sexting in Australia: ethics, representation and the law. UNSW and CCI. Final Report and National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned
Pregnancy & CosmoGirl.com (2008). Sex and tech: Results from a survey of teens and young adults.
2 Englander, E. (2012). Low risk associated with most teenage sexting: a study of 617 18-year-olds. Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Centre (MARC) Research Reports, paper 6
3 Strassberg, D.S., Rullo, J.E and Mackaronis, J.E. (2014). The sending and receiving of sexually explicit cell phone photos (“sexting”) while in high school: one college’s students’ retrospective
reports. Computers in Human Behaviour, 41, pp. 177-183
4 Joseph A. Dake PhD, MPH , James H. Price PhD, MPH , Lauren Maziarz RN, MSN & Britney Ward MPH (2012) Prevalence and Correlates of Sexting Behavior in Adolescents, American Journal of
Sexuality Education, 7:1, 1-15
5 Karaian, L. (2012). Lolita speaks: ‘sexting’, teenage girls and the law. Crime Media Culture, pp. 1-17
6 Lee, M. and Crofts, T. (2015). Gender, pressure, coercion and pleasure: untangling motivations for sexting between young people. British Journal of Criminology, 55(2)

11. Harm reduction
“… if government and educational interventions approach the
problem of viral digitally mediated sexual communication
between young people from a framework that does not make
explicit underlying social gender roles that potentially makes it
socially risky for girls to participate in taking sexts and socially
risky for boys not to participate in a culture of pressure and
coercion of girls, they risk reinforcing the gendered assumptions
about girls’ and boys’ sexuality and social vulnerabilities that are
part of the cause of social and psychological harms experienced
by young people, in gender‐specific ways, because of their
participation in sexting practices” (Dobson, Rasmussen and
Tyson, 2012, p. 4-5)
Dobson, A.S., Rasmussen, M.L. and Tyson, D. (2012). Submission to the Victorian Law Reform Committee; inquiry into sexting. Monash University. Submission No. S34

12. Harm reduction
“… the mere existence of the photographs demonstrated a lack
of a reasonable expectation of privacy because the odds were
good that the photographs would eventually be shown to third
parties for the purpose of profit, the attempt to gain ‘bragging
rights,’ or simply due to the ending of the immature
relationship…” (Weins and Hiestand, 2009: 5 citing AH v. State
949 So. 2d 234, at 237-239, cited in Simpson, 2013)
What is the role of privacy1 and empowered consent in sexting2?
1 See Dana Boyd for work on young people and privacy in online spaces e.g. Boyd, D. (2007). Why youth heart social network sites: the role of networked publics in teenage social life.
Berkman Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University
2 See for approach to consent used in this study: Primoratz, I. (2001). Sexuality morality: is consent enough? Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 4, pp.201-218