What Is Sexting: Consequences And How To Prevent It

The term sexting refers to the action of send or receive images, photographs or videos, with sexual content through mobile phone, social networks or other electronic means. This term was used for the first time in 2005 and takes its name from the Anglo-Saxon acronym formed by sex (sex) and texting (sending text messages using mobile phones). In this practice, the person generates sexual content in a way voluntary and deliberate

Types of sexting

• Active sexting: the role played by the person who creates and sends sexual content, whether images or videos.
• Passive sexting: the role of the person who receives said content.

Why is sexting done?

The causes of sexting are varied and diverse, some of them are:

• With the objective of generate sexual interest in another person in this case it can be carried out as a form of sexual experimentation, as a prior sexual activity seeking excitement and desire, to attract attention from another person and with the goal of feeling attractive and sensual.
• The current cultural context is highly sexualized, so this practice is increasingly found normalized between the people. Furthermore, despite living in a general framework of hypersexualization, today bodies are still not naturalized and continue to be a taboo subject.
• The social pressure to adapt to a sexualized environment, so some people might engage in sexting with the goal of social validation and self-esteem.
• A misuse of new technologies for which there is an abuse of them as well as a lack of knowledge about the risks involved.

There is a growing trend of this practice among young adolescents and minors However, sexting is a phenomenon also present in the adulthood In fact, most studies indicate that the incidence is higher in adulthood. The fact that investigations and prevention actions are usually directed at minors is because they are considered more vulnerable to the risks of this practice. This situation of special vulnerability may be due to the unawareness about potential risk and the lack of a culture of privacy, the awakening and exploration of sexuality at this stage, the need for self-esteem and the search for self-affirmation and the continued use of technology in adolescence.

Why is sexting dangerous? The practice of sexting implies that the person voluntarily decides to send sexual content to another person. Generally, the sender trusts the recipient, either because they know them and there is a prior relationship of trust, or because they do not believe there are reasons to think that they will misuse this content. However, sometimes, the person who receives the photograph or video causes harm to the person who sends it. spreading it without your permission These images may also be stolen or leaked. In these cases, it may mean a crime

Some of the consequences that arise from these dishonest and non-consensual actions are the following:

• Decontextualization of the initial situation: The generated content responds to a specific, intimate and sexual context, which makes sense for the person doing sexting. When the situation becomes public, the context varies and the protagonist does not feel comfortable with this exposure.
• Exposure: The dissemination of images or videos beyond the recipient causes them to be received and viewed by more people than intended, resulting in unwanted exposure and loss of privacy.
• Damage to web reputation: Due to the permanence of content on the Internet over time and the difficulty of deleting it, it is possible that this material remains on the Internet. Due to this, the content is related to the identity of the protagonist through online search. This content can cause damage to online reputation in the present and in the future.
• Sextortion: refers to the blackmail and extortion carried out on the person who is the protagonist of the erotic content. This material is used to obtain something in return from the victim through the threat of publication and dissemination. Sextortion is based on the fear and shame of the photograph or video being public.
• Grooming: Grooming is the practice of sexual harassment by an adult of a minor with the aim of obtaining sexual concessions. Through sexual deception, the adult gets the minor to send him or her a sexual photo or video, which she subsequently uses as blackmail or sextortion to obtain more content or to achieve sexual encounters. Sexual content is therefore used as a means to achieve an abusive relationship.
• Cyberbullying: Sexting and cyberbullying are closely linked, since in many cases sexting is the prelude to virtual harassment. As a result of the public dissemination of an image or video, cyberbullying occurs in the form of ridicule, humiliation, insults and continued harassment through virtual means. In some cases this material may be blurred or edited in order to be more humiliating and generate greater ridicule.
• Physical risks and geolocation: They can occur when some elements that facilitate the recognition and location of the person can be identified in the content of the sexting. This information can be used for robberies, thefts, threats, as well as for the selection of victims by pedophiles.
• Psychological consequences: The public exposure of sexting images or videos can lead to the development of feelings of humiliation, shame, fear, mistrust, loss of self-esteem, regret, guilt, perception of disappointment in family or friends, social isolation, etc.
• Development of psychological disorders: Mental pathologies such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse and suicide have been associated.
• Legal consequences for the person or persons who spread the image without permission: in some countries there is already specific regulation on sexting and its dissemination. Not yet in Spain, but although at a legal level sexting is not contemplated independently in the criminal code, crimes related and involved with the public exhibition of the content are contemplated and penalized.

How to avoid sexting? How to combat sexting? To prevent sexting, it is necessary above all to educate and inform.

Sexting prevention

A series of axes are identified in the prevention of sexting. Below we present 11 tips to avoid sexting:

1. Information: Information and awareness about this phenomenon is necessary not only on the part of the people who are potential victims, but also on the part of parents and schools. In this way, we can proceed to design specific actions and generate a preventive culture of the negative consequences of sexting. The dissemination of campaigns through social networks and the media is also vital.
2. Sexting Education: Another recommendation to avoid sexting is training on sexting by teaching staff. It is important to prepare specific material on sexting in the school environment, as well as the generation of an intervention protocol by the entire academic community, which promotes rapid and forceful actions in cases of dissemination of this type of content.
3. Sexuality education: work on the deconstruction of false concepts about love, sexuality and beauty from the school and family environment, as well as promote a critical vision of those social mandates and pressures on sexuality prevailing in society.
4. Education in values: how to prevent sexting? Through the general promotion of values ​​such as empathy and respect as protective factors against dishonest behavior. On the other hand, raising awareness about the negative consequences on the victim of the dissemination of content without consent can reduce the prevalence of this action, as well as make it easier for other people not to get involved, generating a chain of propagation of the material.
5. Education in the use of technologies: knowledge about the risks of sexting and technology in general, about the culture of privacy, and the transmission of healthy and respectful interaction with technological devices.
6. Communication: Family relationships that are based on trust, communication, sensitivity and security facilitate, on the one hand, the transmission of information and education about sexting at home. On the other hand, if a person is a victim of sexting, they should be able to communicate it to the family, without excessive feelings of fear or guilt, and intervene early.
7. Self-esteem: Promoting self-esteem from the family and school environment is vital for coping with social pressure in adolescence. Insecurity is a risk factor for carrying out actions in search of social validation and approval through physical appearance and beauty, as well as self-affirmation through sexuality. Therefore, working on self-esteem is also a way to prevent sexting.
8. Focus on the aggressors: It is essential that the idea that sexting is not negative is conveyed from all environments. per se, when it is completely voluntary, and that the negative consequences derive from the risks of dissemination and exposure by the recipient or third parties. This focus on the person who carries out this type of behavior without consent facilitates their blaming and social censure, instead of on the person who took the photograph or video. It also promotes less development of feelings of guilt and shame in the victim and the ability to act firmly in this situation. Finally, this change of perspective encourages the company or other people who receive this material not to forward it and to point it to the diffuser person as one who has acted inappropriately.
9. Knowledge: Knowledge about the legal consequences of the public dissemination of private content can reduce the frequency of this behavior, as well as enable the victim of this exposure not to give in to blackmail and pressure and decide to report so that this action does not go unpunished.
10. Commitment: An important condition for the prevention of sexting is a society committed to not humiliating people through sexual content, thus not being a participant in the dissemination and sending of this material helps in preventing the misuse of sexting.
11. Society and media: Society and the mass media are responsible for generating a context that is not hypersexualizing, promotes self-esteem beyond beauty and the prevailing beauty canons, and promotes sexual education based on respect and care.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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