Sexting is defined as “the sending of sexually explicit digital images, videos, text messages, or emails, usually by cell phone.”20 Sexually explicit pictures can be exchanged or obtained in numerous ways including flirting, a profession of love, response to threats of breaking up, hacking, demands, or catfishing. They can also be obtained through someone who was a friend. Sometimes bullying or harassment happens as a result of sexual images that are shared and spread around.

Watch the video below and ask yourself:

  • What is the girl's name?
  • Did she deserve what happened?

Video | 4:28

Lawmakers have recently realized that when bullying, harassment, and sexting are combined, the consequences can range from life-altering to deadly.

Sadly, pictures shared with an expectation of privacy often do not stay private. This is often referred to as “revenge porn” since these photos are sometimes shared after the relationship ends. Retaliation is often not the motive of many perpetrators, so calling it revenge porn can be misleading. It also implies the victim has some culpability. Experts in this area prefer to use the term “intimate image abuse” or “cyber sexual abuse” as it involves sharing intimate photos or videos of someone without their consent. To stay in line with what experts recommend, we will use the term “intimate image abuse.” In intimate image abuse, the pictures are often sent out (usually with no warning) to ruin the life of the victim, for their own amusement, or for financial or other motivation. Examples include:

  • Teens proving their sexual prowess to gain status among peers; this can happen with any gender.
  • Exes may do it to punish, control, or humiliate the other person.
  • Frenemies may do it because they are jealous, in a fight, or are bullying.

As you will see in the next module, laws have been passed so that intimate image abuse and sextortion carry severe penalties. In fact, even threatening intimate image abuse or sextortion can get you in trouble with the law.

What Young People May Think About Sexting

  • It is just flirting.
  • I can tell if someone is lying.
  • No biggie, nothing will happen.
  • Don't tell your parent you did it because they will take your phone.
  • Adults don't get that it's modern-day dating.
  • Common beliefs:
    • He loves me and promises he won’t share it with anyone.
    • If I don’t do it, then they will break up with me.
    • Hey if she did not want people to see it, then she would not have sent it.
    • Everybody does it. What is the big deal?

What Adults May Think About Sexting

  • My child knows better and would never do that.
  • I check my child’s phone. I would know if they did that
  • Only bad kids do that.
  • I talk about this with my kids. They would tell me if they were sexting.
  • My child does not even think about sex yet.

Watch the video below and ask yourself:

  • Who is in the wrong? Legally? Morally?

Video | 3:02

What Predators Think About Sexting

  1. A sick sense of pleasure
    • They are motivated by the thrill of the chase or feeling superior to their victims.
    • They may have been abused and are determined to punish others to get revenge.
  2. Money
    • Phone hacking is fast, simple, and yields personal data, social media, pictures, banking info, etc.
    • Individuals or companies often pretend to be looking for models, and offer to buy selfies or seek sexualized images, but their true motive is selling nude pictures of underage individuals.
    • Nude pictures of underage individuals end up on child pornography websites or chatrooms.
  3. Community
    • Predators, especially those who prey on young people, no longer have to hide in the shadows but network together on the internet to share techniques and images. There is a huge market for nude pictures of underaged victims.

Unintended Consequences

Pictures can easily end up living forever on the internet in places you don’t want them to be. Remember, once an image is shared, it can’t be unshared. Emotions are temporary and relationships end. Unfortunately, these kinds of pictures often end up on child pornography websites. Once the picture is shared, you no longer have control over who sees it, where it goes, and how it will be used. Even just taking nude pictures without sending them can be risky. Cloud storage where images are saved can be hacked and those images are sold or used as blackmail for money or to get more pictures. An impulsive decision at a young age can be a mistake that lives forever on the internet.

What We Know About Sexting

  • Sexting is a safety issue.
  • There is no way to completely delete anything on the Internet.
  • Once these pictures are shared, they almost always get spread.

Pictures and video with sexual content are of value on the black market no matter how they are obtained, shared, found, or catfished. Pictures are traded like baseball cards among predators to add to collections, be used as revenge, or to manipulate people for profit. Once sexualized photos are taken and shared, they almost always boomerang back, which leads to one of the fastest growing crimes in the world – sextortion.

References

20Sexting - www.dictionary.com/browse/sexting?s=t

Table of Contents Table of Contents Module 1 .0 Module 1 .0 Module 1 .1 Module 1 .1 Module 1 .2 Module 1 .2 Module 1 .3 Module 1 .3 Module 1 .4 Module 1 .4 Module 2 .0 Module 2 .0 Module 2 .1 Module 2 .1 Module 2 .2 Module 2 .2 Module 2 .3 Module 2 .3 Module 2 .4 Module 2 .4 Module 2 .5 Module 2 .5 Module 2 .6 Module 2 .6 Module 3 .0 Module 3 .0 Module 3 .1 Module 3 .1 Module 3 .2 Module 3 .2 Module 3 .3 Module 3 .3 Module 3 .4 Module 3 .4 Module 3 .5 Module 3 .5 Course Summary Take Assessment