Abstract
With the advancement of technology, sexting has become more prominent in high school and university samples. The current study examined the rates and characteristics of sexting among an online sample of 2,828 young adults aged 18–30, primarily from the U.S. and Canada. We found that most participants sext (81%), sext often (most report ≥ 11 sexts), and start young (most by 16–17 years of age). Common reasons for sexting echoed reasons for participating in other normative sexual behaviors, including that it was sexually arousing, they were asked and wanted to reciprocate, or they wanted to flirt. Sexual coercion was a gendered phenomenon, with 1 in 10 cisgender women and 1 in 50 cisgender men reporting having sent a sext due to being threatened. The body parts captured in cisgender men’s sexts were more diverse, whereas cisgender women focused on their chest, underwear/genitalia, and stomach. Sexual orientation was also found to be a relevant factor, with different patterns in sexting experiences emerging across identities. The current study adds to the mounting evidence that sexting is a normative sexual behavior. Sexual education programs should provide youth with information on consent and safe sexting practices rather than follow an abstinence approach.
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Data Availability
The data are made available by request from the corresponding author.
Code Availability
The code is made available by request from the corresponding author.
Notes
Sexting may also be considered the sharing of sexually explicit text (Barrense-Dias et al., 2017), but for the purpose of this research, it will refer to the sharing of sexually explicit images and videos.
These participants will be used in a second study with a specific focus on transgender people.
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R. Fisico completed part of the work while a student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
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Facebook Online Safety funded part of this research but did not have any input on the content of the survey, the analyses, or this article.
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Thorne, E., Babchishin, K.M., Fisico, R. et al. Sexting in Young Adults: A Normative Sexual Behavior. Arch Sex Behav 53, 593–609 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02728-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02728-x