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Safe sext
Education is the key to dealing with sexting among school students .
By Conor Burke
We can ’ t stop teenagers sending and receiving sexually explicit texts , so it ’ s time we started to include sexting as part of sex education , an expert says .
Professor Andrew Goldsmith from Flinders University is part of a longitudinal study tracking a group of adolescents through their secondary years looking at their online behaviours , and their links to potentially problematic issues , including committing crimes online .
The researchers ’ latest paper looked at one aspect of teenage life , sexting .
They looked at a group of 13-14 year olds , asking them questions about what they got up to in the online space and if they sent and / or receive sexts .
Goldsmith and his colleagues found that the respondents in this sample reported somewhat low rates of sexting behaviours .
“ I think it ’ s something like three and a half , four per cent admitted to sending sexts , and about 13 or 14 per cent admitted to receiving them . So when you look at the numbers in the study , that ’ s probably less than 50 admitted to sending , and around 180 , 200 admitted to receiving sexts ,” Goldsmith told Education Review .
However , he points out that these were younger adolescents , and if the figures were extrapolated to the whole teenage population , including older teenagers who are potentially more sexually mature , then these figures would likely rise .
“ There ’ s no doubt that from a policy point of view it ’ s seen as a problem of some scale , certainly of some seriousness . We have a whole bunch of laws at the Commonwealth and state level to try and clamp down on what we might call sexting behaviours , particularly of underage people ,” he said .
Goldsmith argues that sexting is now part of the way teenagers mature sexually , and instead of scandalising the behaviour , more should be done to educate children about online safety .
“ Although a lot of parents get alarmed , of course , when they find out their children are doing it . I guess we see it as part of normal adolescent behaviour to be sexually curious , to be sexually experimental , and the online technologies , I think , are definitely a part of that scene and to some extent enhance opportunities to explore various forms of sexual curiosity ,” he said .
“ One of the things that this study does point to is that people who spend a lot
Schools can play a role in safe sexting education .
of time with their mobile phones , and particularly those looking at pornography , the more likely they ’ re getting involved in sexting , and that ’ s where sexting can stem from something consensual and small scale into something non-consensual and a ‘ dissemination to all your mates ’ sort of problem .
“ So the question I pose is not ‘ can we stop it ?’ But ‘ how do we moderate the risks and protect people as much as possible ?’
And for Goldsmith , that comes down to the way we teach sex education .
“ There ’ s literature starting to emerge around what safe sexting education looks like . I guess you would look to schools primarily as socialising influences in this space ,” he said .
“ I ’ m not an expert in the extent to which schools take on safe sex education , but schools are a natural forum for these sorts of opportunities to make young people aware of the risks that they take .
“ A lot of young people , compared to later in life , lack the self-control that can protect them from some of these things . So schools can play a role in safe sexting education , as well as safe sex education .” ■
educationreview . com . au | 5