Sexting abstinence? No way!

As sexting on smartphones becomes all-pervasive, parents and teachers need to move beyond fear-based education and rather prepare teenagers about ‘safe’ sexting, says a study.

Preaching sexual abstinence to youth was popular for a number of decades, but research repeatedly found that such educational messages fell short in their intended goals. Since the advent of photo and video-sharing via smartphones, children have received similar fear-based messages to discourage sexting. Unfortunately, messages of sexting abstinence don’t seem to be reducing the prevalence of adolescents sharing nudes, said the team from Florida Atlantic University.

“The truth is that adolescents have always experimented with their sexuality, and some are now doing so via sexting,” said Sameer Hinduja, study co-author and a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice within FAU’s College for Design and Social Inquiry.

They have proposed 10 specific, actionable messages that adults can share with adolescents. If someone sends you a ‘sext’, do not send it to — or show — anyone else. This could be considered nonconsensual sharing of pornography. “If you send someone a sext, make sure you know and fully trust the recipient. “Consider boudoir pictures. Boudoir is a genre of photography that involves suggestion rather than explicitness. Instead of nudes, send photos that strategically cover the private parts. They can still be intimate and flirty but lack the obvious nudity that could get you in trouble,” said the researchers.—IANS