Hi everyone it’s Ali for D News.

Sexting is super controversial and yet it happens all the time!

Sexting = sex + texting. But this can mean a lot of things. Dirty talk over texts, risque

photos, or stripping selfies. Today I’m going to focus on sending and receiving nudie

pics.

In a recent review of the research, Deakin University psychologists discovered that 12%

of teenagers send dirty digital images and around 12% of teens receive them. The data

skyrockets when you look at young adults - almost 49% of young adults send and 57% receive sexts.

That’s a lot of naughty bits getting sent around the interwebs!

People who do this aren’t dumb, they know bad things can happen. 75% of teens and and

71% of young adults understand the consequences. Private photos could get passed along to other

people and that might lead to bullying and sexual abuse, your phone could be hacked and

things get leaked to the public, your ex could blackmail you, as former congressman Anthony

Weiner taught us, you can lose your job over a sext, and if you’re under 18 you might

get sent to jail for having “child porn”.

Just think about that for a moment - in most states two consenting 16 year olds can have

sex but if they take photos they’re breaking the law.

Some states are trying to change the laws on sexting so if minors are caught they have

to pay a fine, do community service, and attend a prevention program. Embarrassing yes, but

better than a criminal offense.

There’s no one reason why people sext. 85% do it to because they want to start sexy time.

80% want attention from their partner. 65% are just flirting. 30% send sexts because

they’re pressured to. It’s not just people who are hooking up - a lot of couples in long

term relationships send naked photos to stay connected when they’re away from each other.

You’ve heard the horror stories - someone, usually a woman, is pressured into sending

a nude photo, and then that photo gets shared all over the place. That does happen - about

17% of people who receive a sext share it with their friends to show off, make a joke,

or do it out of boredom. And yes, it seems like males are more likely to pressure females

by sending them texts like, “Show me your boobs! You’re only sending it to me. I’ll

delete it after I see it! Don’t be all stuck up”. Giving in to the pressure is risky.

Social media makes it easy to share photos and people can this without having to interact

with you in person. That removes empathy and guilt from the equation which would normally

keep people from breaking your trust.

But most sexts end up just where they’re supposed to. Under the right circumstances,

sexy texts can lead to a sexy relationship. Drexel University’s Emily Stasko and Pamela

Geller recently completed a study of 870 adults between the ages of 18 and 82. Yes - senior

citizens sext too, don’t be all agist people! What they found is not only did 88% of their

sample try sexting at least once in their lives, but those who did had higher levels

of sexual satisfaction. This relationship was stronger for those in committed relationships

as long as the both wanted to dabble in some smartphone sexiness. If one person wanted

to sext but the other didn’t, it was related to lower levels of satisfaction. If this finding

continues to pan out in future studies, then sexting might get incorporated into couples

therapy as a way of increasing intimacy.

Sexting is here to stay folks. It’s easy to do and our culture is beginning to change

its views on nude images. That’s why the Miss America CEO recently apologized to Vanessa

Williams for taking away her crown 32 years ago after nude photos of her were published.

The real issue is consent - is this something both individuals want to do or is something

you are being pressured to do? If you think about it like that, then sexting is just another

aspect of normal human sexual behavior and part of a larger discussion we need to have

about consent.

What do you think about sexting? Let me know in the comments below. And if you wanna know

more about how normal, plain-old, non-dirty TEXTING affects our relationships, check out

this DNews video right here:

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What do you think about sexting? Let us know on the Discovery News Facebook page or you

can find us on Twitter @DNews. And you can find me @alimattu. Thanks for watching!