How to teach your teenagers to SEXT safely: Scientists give 10 tips – including sending pictures that are 'suggestive' and 'flirty' but not fully nude
It is time to teach teenagers how to send sext messages safely, argue two researchers from the US who have published 10 tips for shrewd cheeky chats.
Among their recommendations for adolescents is seeking consent before sexting, sending suggestive rather than nude images and deleting sexts promptly.
The researchers found that 14 per cent of young people aged 12–17 in 2019 have sent sexually explicit images while 23 per cent have received them.
The published advice is not meant to encourage sexting, the team said, but instead acknowledges that it is happening and that guidance could be of use in such cases.
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It is time to teach teenagers how to send sext messages safely, argue two researchers from the US who have published 10 tips for shrewd cheeky chats
'The truth is that adolescents have always experimented with their sexuality, and some are now doing so via sexting,' said paper author and Florida Atlantic University criminologist and cyber-bullying expert Sameer Hinduja.
'We need to move beyond abstinence-only, fear-based sexting education or, worse yet, no education at all,' he added.
'Instead, we should give students the knowledge they need to make informed decisions when being intimate with others — something even they acknowledge is needed.'
Together with fellow criminologist colleague Justin Patchin of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Professor Hinduja conducted a survey of sexting practices involving nearly 5,000 young people aged between 12–17 in the April of 2019.
They found that 23 per cent of respondents had received sexually explicit images while 14 per cent admitted to sending such sexts.
This represents increases of 22 per cent for receiving and 13 per cent for sending on a similar survey the pair had run three years previously.
Among their recommendations for adolescents is seeking consent before sexting, sending suggestive rather than nude images and deleting sexts promptly
Youth need to understand that the practice of sexting carries with the inherent risk of significant and long-term consequences, the researchers argue.
These, they noted, include humiliation, extortion, victimisation, school sanction, reputational damage and even criminal charges.
'Although it would no doubt be safer if minors did not engage in sexting at all, we know that some will participate; indeed, our data suggest that those numbers are increasing,' the researchers wrote in their paper.
'As such, parents, educators, and medical professionals should provide teens who choose to sext with information they can use to mitigate the potential fallout.'
'This is not about encouraging sexting behaviours, any more than sex education is about encouraging teens to have sex,' said Professor Hinduja.
'It simply recognises the reality that young people are sexually curious, and some will experiment with various behaviours with or without informed guidance.'
'Sexting is no exception.'
The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
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