In some instances, sexting got simply another as a type of sexual term between two people who were already sexually productive collectively, because got your situation for an associate who blogged, a€?I only get it done with my girl because there is been already sexually effective with each othera€? (M16). Various other circumstances, however, sexting served as an alternative for sexual activity. ..we are not having sexual intercourse we have been sexting. It Isn’t against my personal religion or everything…sexting is not as bada€? (M16). Rest mentioned trading sexts with an established romantic partner [a€?if my personal girlfriend delivers one she actually is anticipating one from mea€? (M17)], suggesting that reciprocity ended up being sometimes a motivation for sending sexts.
The results reported above in addition show that these relational characteristics bring aside differently for girls and men. We’ll ready those observations aside for now and progress to the normative contexts of adolescent sexting, but we will come back to this theme in a part that explicates gender and get older fashions in the relational and normative contexts of teenage sexting.
Normative Contexts of Teenage Sexting
The vast majority of information on teenagers’ ideas of sexting came from the part of the transcripts approaching whether or not they spotted sexts as a€?over the singlemuslims linea€? or a€?no big issue.a€? Thirteen players (25 %) would not create an answer; twelve (24 %) mentioned they thought sexting got a€?over the linea€?; twenty-one (41 per cent) thought that sexting was a€?no big deal,a€? and five (10%) supplied replies indicating that sexting got a problem in a number of circumstances but not rest. 4 a lot of teens, after that, considered that sexting had been a€?no big deal,a€? although a notable minority thought that it absolutely was a€?over the line.a€?
As another participant revealed, a€?Once per week if me and my girl enter a hot discussion sometimes we sext
Individuals with strong judgments against sexting typically provided one of two grounds. The initial had been driving a car that sexting may have adverse consequences when marketed to unintended others. Together person demonstrated, sexts tend to be over line a€?because individuals could show another person or posting they towards the weba€? (M13). Another reasons players provided to take into account their particular perception that sexting was on the line was actually that sexting got a€?wrong,a€? highlighting a personal injunctive standard in what people should or must not would. One participant, like, believed that sexting ended up being during the line a€?because they were doing something which was wrong though they typically overlook the facta€? (M14). These replies suggested a collection of principles or morals that led these players to see the a€?wrongnessa€? of sexting as self-evident.
Players provided a far more diverse selection of details to be the cause of the greater amount of commonly-held belief that sexting was no big deal. Some noticed sexting as an enjoyable diversion [a€?I favor texting and producing videos so it is perhaps not a problem personally…it’s really fun to demonstrate my personal photosa€? (F12), characterizing it as a€?silly and meaninglessa€? (F15), or claiming that folks whom sext tend to be a€?just joking arounda€? (M13)]. Additional players given reports that proposed they would not distinguish between real-life nudity and graphic depictions from it. As one blogged, sexts are a€?no fuss, because your (sic) probably merely going to find it anywaya€? (F15). Relatedly, some participants believed that as long as they had been currently physically intimate with someone, getting a sext from that individual was not problems simply because they had currently heard of body illustrated: together associate explained, the sexts he obtains from his girl were a€?not really a big deal because…we’re already intimately energetic with every othera€? (M16).
Another reason participants given to account for their particular notion that sexting is a€?no large deala€? advised that descriptive norms impact perceptions of how really serious sexting is actually. Together associate revealed, sexting a€?happens a whole lot, my pals do it all enough time, it isn’t really a big deala€? (F16). Another published, a€?i am aware men and women thought this might be harmful but for me it’s not a big deal because I have all of them a lota€? (M14). For both these participants, the fact sexting was a€?no huge deala€? co-existed with understanding of potential consequences-the very first wrote elsewhere within her reaction that exes a€?will send the nudes as blackmaila€? after a breakup; another known that other individuals watched the attitude as unsafe. Thus, in these cases, it appears that the descriptive norm that sexting is a common activity is likely to be applying a higher impact on evaluations of sexting than popularity of negative consequences.