What is sexting?

Sexting refers to making and sending sexually explicit messages, especially images, via the Internet. Sexting can contribute to different dimensions of young people's sexual development and can be considered normal sexual behavior that is an expression of sexual agency, exploration and expression. However, there is also the risk of other people distributing the message without the maker´s consent. This non-consensual sharing is a form of sexual violence or abuse.

What is problematic about interventions aimed at preventing non-consensual sharing of digital sexual images?

The interventions are often focused on (potential) victims who are discouraged from making and sharing such images. Besides that these interventions try to limit young people's sexual freedom, they also encourage victim-blaming in case of incidents by placing responsibility for the distribution of the images with the victim instead of the perpetrator. It also makes those who are actually responsible invisible.

What forms of non-consensual image sharing are there?

Image-based abuse can take many different forms:

• Non-consensually produced images: people may be forced or talked into making and/or sending sexual images of themselves, sexual images may be made without a person knowing (like upskirting or child pornography) and images may be deepfaked or photoshopped.
• Consensually produced images: images may be stolen (for example through hacking) or shared without a person's consent.
• Sextortion: when non-consensually or consensually produced images are used to blackmail that person.
• People may receive unsolicited and unwanted images.

In which ways are there double standards for boys and girls in modern society with regards to sexting?

Firstly, girls are encouraged to be ´sexy´ while at the same time they are discouraged from and punished for performing sexiness (through moralizing and pathologising). They are made responsible for preventing the abuse of their images. Boys however can gain respect through the possession and distribution of sexual images of girls. It is viewed as a kind of proof of the boys ́ ability to gain access to girls, which increases their popularity and desirability. Secondly, gendered evaluations of ´sexual´ images make girls more vulnerable for becoming victims of sexting as their pictures are judged as more sexual (for example, a picture of a girl without a shirt is a sexual picture, but a picture of a boy without a shirt is not).

What is the stereotypical sexting scenario and how does reality differ from it according to the study done by Naezer & Van Oosterhout (2021)?

The stereotypical scenario is that a girl sends a nude picture to her boyfriend, the relationship ends and the boy shares the picture with others out of revenge. Naezer & Van Oosterhout (2021) show that this scenario does not do justice to people´s diverse experiences. They encountered the following differences:

• Differences in terms of context: the people involved were not exclusively ex-lovers, but also friends, acquaintances and people unknown to the maker of the images. Perpetrators were not only boys, but just as often girls.
• Differences in terms of motives for sharing: revenge does not have to be limited to lovers (sometimes friends take revenge on each other) and it was not always the motive. Other motives were releasing of tension/sharing excitement, reinforcing friendships, discussing and learning about sexuality, regulating other people's sexual behavior, and gaining popularity.
• Differences in the kind of images that were shared: images may be pictures or videos and can be distinguished between having been made in a long-term relationship and made outside of such a relationship. It was generally felt that it was more acceptable to share those images made outside of a long-term relationship.
• Differences in how and with how many people the images were shared: images can be physically shown, forwarded, or uploaded. In many instances the ¨audience¨ is quite limited and consists, for example, of a small group of friends or all students from a certain grade in one school.
• Differences in the consequences for the victim: some victims are bullied and harassed and it can last from a few weeks to months or even years, but not all responses are necessarily negative. Sometimes there was hardly any upheaval and sometimes it created a kind of popularity for the victim.

How do gendered sexual norms contribute to victim-blaming?

Sexting is often viewed as a shameful activity that is only done by weak, desperate, insecure girls. Many are not able to imagine why their peers would make and share sexual images, especially outside of formal romantic relationships. This lack of understanding is embedded in present-day negative discourse about sexting and makes it easier for perpetrators to share other people's images without their consent and blame the victim for it.

How do gendered sexual norms justify sexting by boys?

There is a kind of tradition of boys´ and men´s (hetero)sexuality being regarded as more natural, acceptable and uncontrollable than that of girls and women. People often say: ¨Boys will be boys¨. It is often believed boys cannot be stopped from their sexual behavior and that it is in their nature to show off, forward pictures and act cool. This gendered sexual norm is a myth and an excuse that legitimizes sexual violence committed by boys and men.