P
reaching sexual ab-
stinence to youth
was popular for a
number of decades, but research
repeatedly found that such edu-
cational messages fell short in
their intended goals. Simply tell-
ing youth not to have sex failed
to delay the initiation of sex,
prevent pregnancies, or stop the
spread of sexually-transmitted
diseases.
Since the advent of photo-
and video-sharing via phones,
children have received similar
fear-based messages to discour-
age sexting — the sending or
receiving of sexually explicit or
sexually suggestive images (pho-
tos or video) usually via mobile
devices. Unfortunately, messages
of sexting abstinence don’t seem
to be reducing the prevalence of
adolescents sharing nudes.
Consequently, in a new pa-
per published in the Journal of
Adolescent Health, researchers
from Florida Atlantic Univer-
sity (FAU) and the University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire, say that it
is time to teach youth “safe” sex-
ting.
criminal charges. But they also
want youth who are going to do
it anyway to exercise wisdom
and discretion to prevent avoid-
able fallout.
“This is not about encourag-
ing sexting behaviors, any more
than sex education is about en-
couraging teens to have sex,”
said Hinduja. “It simply rec-
ognizes the reality that young
people are sexually curious, and
some will experiment with vari-
ous behaviors with or without in-
formed guidance, and sexting is
no exception.”
Time to
Teach Teens
“Safe” Sexting
“The truth is that adolescents have
always experimented with their sexu-
ality, and some are now doing so via
sexting,” said Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D.,
co-author and a professor in the School
of Criminology and Criminal Justice
within FAU’s College for Design and
Social Inquiry, and co-director of the
Cyberbullying Research Center. “We
need to move beyond abstinence-only,
fear-based sexting education or, worse
yet, no education at all. Instead, we
should give students the knowledge they
need to make informed decisions when
being intimate with others, something
even they acknowledge is needed.”
Hinduja and co-author Justin
Patchin, Ph.D., a professor of criminal
justice at the University of Wisconsin-
Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyber-
bullying Research Center, acknowledge
12 WNY Family March 2020
It’s 2020:
Source: Florida Atlantic University
that although participating in sexting is
never 100 percent “safe” (just like en-
gaging in sex), empowering youth with
strategies to reduce possible resultant
harm seems prudent.
Hinduja and Patchin collected (un-
published) data in April 2019 from a na-
tional sample of nearly 5,000 youth be-
tween the ages of 12 and 17, and found
that 14 percent had sent and 23 percent
had received sexually explicit images.
These figures represent an increase of
13 percent for sending and 22 percent
for receiving from what they previously
found in 2016.
The authors do want youth to un-
derstand that those who sext open them-
selves up to possible significant and
long-term consequences, such as humil-
iation, extortion, victimization, school
sanction, reputational damage, and even
Hinduja and Patchin provide
suggested themes encapsulated
in 10 specific, actionable mes-
sages that adults can share with
adolescents in certain formal or
informal contexts after weighing
their developmental and sexual
maturity.
1) If someone sends you a
sext, do not send it to — or show
— anyone else. This could be
considered nonconsensual shar-
ing of pornography, and there
are laws prohibiting it and which
outline serious penalties (espe-
cially if the image portrays a minor).
2) If you send someone a sext, make
sure you know and fully trust them.
“Catfishing” — where someone sets
up a fictitious profile or pretends to be
someone else to lure you into a fraudu-
lent romantic relationship (and, often, to
send sexts) — happens more often than
you think. You can, of course, never re-
ally know if they will share it with others
or post it online, but do not send photos
or video to people you do not know well.
3) Do not send images to someone
who you are not certain would like to see
it (make sure you receive textual consent
that they are interested). Sending unso-
licited explicit images to others could
also lead to criminal charges.
4) Consider boudoir pictures. Bou-
doir is a genre of photography that in-
volves suggestion rather than explicit-
ness. Instead of nudes, send photos that