
Teen sexting is an overblown moral panic, according to a new study - coloneltcb
https://www.technologyreview.com/f/613980/teen-sexting-sextortion-is-an-overblown-moral-panic-according-to-study/
======
fatnoah
>About 14% of middle and high school students reported getting a sexually
explicit image from someone they were dating, while 11% said they sent one.
Around 14% of respondents said they had gotten a sexually explicit image from
someone they weren’t romantically involved with.

It's interesting how facts are used. The above 14% statistics are presented as
a way of saying that there's not really a problem. After all, if only 1 in 7
kids is sending explicit imagery, it's not a big problem, right?

Putting it another way would be that 1 in 7 teens commits felony possession or
distribution of child porn. That's how law enforcement views it in some
states!

My son is 11, and we haven't broached this specific topic, but we do
consistently remind him that he should treat any electronic communication as
if he expected it to become public.

~~~
i_am_proteus
Am I the only one who sees this as kids today using the iPhone for the same
thing we used to use the Polaroid for?

The technology has changed, but adolescent behavior hasn't.

~~~
mikepurvis
A 4" square blurry Polaroid picture that can be shown to a select few friends
and eventually lost or destroyed has nothing to do with a high resolution
image that is trivially forwarded to the entire school by the recipient,
acquired via hacking or social engineering, and can be manipulated with
photoshop.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
A polaroid, or the artful b&w 10x8 developed in photography class can just as
easily be passed round half a school in one break or lunch time, or left on
teacher's desk. Or sent in to a 1990s Reader's Wives magazine, then
publication would have come down to whether they _looked_ school age or not.

That it can spread wider, go viral, or be manipulated is a case against _any_
electronic communication in place of paper or film photography. The choice to
send it further is the problem not the medium.

~~~
mikepurvis
Right, but every student getting a glimpse of it as it goes by is completely
different from everyone having the full-fidelity copy on their device
permanently. And a magazine's editorial board being the gatekeeper on wide
distribution is completely different from anyone who has it being able to pull
the trigger at any time.

If you really think these are in any way the same, you'll be shocked to hear
what record companies thought about Napster in the early 2000s. Turns out
sharing a digital file and sharing/copying a physical artifact are not even
remotely the same. As tech people, we don't get to just wash our hands of
these consequences and say that it's down to individual human choices any more
than car companies can avoid building in safety features by saying they'd be
unnecessary if only people were better drivers.

------
Nasrudith
Really even if teen sexting was ubiquitous it would still be an overblown
moral panic as the law continues to insist on things which just aren't true -
like it makes any sense to have the victim and victimizer be the same person.

I am sure everyone who grew up with the internet knows the 18+ restriction is
a joke, widely flouted, and there were no benefits from actually obeying it
but it is taboo to suggest considering changes as most would rather not think
about that subject at all and are suspicious of those who do. And those who
grew up before likely knew of secret stashes or "poor man's alternatives".

Any member of Congress who proposes reform would fear torpedoing their
reputation.

------
ceejayoz
The big risk of sexting seems to be idiot prosecutors going after kids for it
being technically production and distribution of child pornography, leading to
cases where the victims are also the perpetrators.

[https://www.aclu.org/blog/juvenile-justice/minnesota-
prosecu...](https://www.aclu.org/blog/juvenile-justice/minnesota-prosecutor-
charges-sexting-teenage-girl-child-pornography)

It becomes particularly baffling that you can be old enough to consent to
_sex_ in some states, but not old enough to consent to a naked selfie.

[https://lacrossetribune.com/news/sexting-makes-minors-
simult...](https://lacrossetribune.com/news/sexting-makes-minors-
simultaneously-victims-and-perpetrators-of-child-
porn/article_8ee303e2-5f39-54b8-823b-ff8cdfc29df6.html)

------
thaumasiotes
> Other surprises:

> Teens who identified as not straight in the survey were almost twice as
> likely to engage in sexting as their heterosexual counterparts.

This shouldn't have been called a surprise, and should have been broken down
by gender. Gay men indulge in much more sexual behavior than straight men do,
because they can. Lesbians are not known for this.

The study intentionally threw this data away:

> The clear majority of the sample said they were heterosexual (92.8%), while
> 0.7% said they were lesbian, 0.5% said they were gay, 2.8% said they were
> bisexual, 2.3% said they were questioning, and the remaining 0.9% selected
> “other” as a response choice. These responses were dichotomized where 1 =
> heterosexual and 2 = non-heterosexual.

~~~
mises
This is a bit of a controversial comment, but I'll try to keep it objective.

I think part of this might be cultural? Maybe there's something about the "gay
subculture" that encourages this? I'm no expert; some one more involved might
be able to comment, but that's the external perception, any way.

I think the other part might be that the type of youth who "experiment" might
have more promiscuous tendencies, leading to a higher incidence.

~~~
AstralStorm
Perhaps there is a difference. Why is it worth looking into?

Why do you use a loaded word like "promiscuous" instead of plain "sexually
active"?

------
tlb
If a study says something is overblown, check to see if it provides a correct
level of blown-ness or a threshold for something to be a reasonable moral
panic. If not, they haven't provided a falsifiable hypothesis.

In this case, they have a survey with numbers of how many teens sext. What
numbers would have resulted in a different conclusion?

To me, "18% of 15-year-olds reporting that they sext" seems like a lot of
people doing something extremely dangerous.

~~~
adrianN
What is extremely dangerous about sexting? Honest question.

~~~
romaaeterna
As a parent, I feel that I have some responsibility to provide my daughters
with the best life outcome possible.

Examples of failed life outcomes would be drug addiction, poverty, suicide, or
dying alone with their cats. There are many more.

In general, unrestrained sexual behavior tend to be bad for your odds ratio.
That's not even getting to positive life outcomes, which involve developing
fully as a human being, and with full and deep relationships to the other
human beings around you. Unrestrained sexual behavior tends to be bad for this
too.

In case you've ever wondered, this is also why sex on television is so much
worse than violence on television. Seeing a murder on television doesn't
really alter my children's odds ratio for becoming a violent criminal too
much. But seeing a lot of sex on television makes it much more likely that
they'll take sex less seriously than is good for them.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> In general, unrestrained sexual behavior tend to be bad for your odds ratio.

On the other hand, it's great at avoiding the "dying alone with your cats"
failure mode.

~~~
romaaeterna
> On the other hand, it's great at avoiding the "dying alone with your cats"
> failure mode.

For a woman? You really think so? My impression has been that unstable
relationships tend to make stable pair bonds far less likely in the future
(for men too, but not quite as starkly). Further, women have a much easier
time forming lifelong bonds in their 20s and early 30s than in their 40s and
50s (men too, but the effect is not as stark).

In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that if someone really wanted to
maximize their chances of dying alone, unstable sexual relationships
throughout their peak reproductive years is by far the best method.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> I'd even go so far as to say that if someone really wanted to maximize their
> chances of dying alone, unstable sexual relationships throughout their peak
> reproductive years is by far the best method.

Not even close. Unstable sexual relationships through the peak reproductive
years mean you're likely to end up with children.

~~~
romaaeterna
That has not really been the case ever since the advent of modern birth
control.

~~~
thaumasiotes
It's still the case now. There's a very large subpopulation who aren't really
capable of using birth control effectively.

~~~
romaaeterna
Can you be more detailed about this subpopulation?

~~~
thaumasiotes
Sure thing. From Planned Parenthood:

> If you use condoms perfectly every single time you have sex, they’re 98%
> effective at preventing pregnancy. But people aren’t perfect, so in real
> life condoms are about 85% effective — that means about 15 out of 100 people
> who use condoms as their only birth control method will get pregnant each
> year.

( [https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-
control/condom...](https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-
control/condom/how-effective-are-condoms) )

This applies to all forms of active birth control, and is the major reason
people push for passive forms such as IUDs and long-term implants.

~~~
romaaeterna
So by "very large subpopulation who aren't really capable of using birth
control effectively", what you meant to say that "people who report using
condoms alone for birth control only have an 85% success rate?" Which in turn
you are using to prove that "unstable sexual relationships through the peak
reproductive years mean you're likely to end up with children"?

I think that you may wish to reinvestigate your original point.

~~~
AstralStorm
It gets more complicated once you statify by age or income. Birth control is
not free, intoxicants and general carefreeness limit how successfully birth
control measures are applied.

------
GuiA
Has there ever been a widespread, harmful teen phenomenon that wasn’t an
overblown moral panic? Whether it’s tidepods, sexting, or fortnite bullying,
it seems like journalists and politicians would rather focus their energy on
this kind of nonsense than actual concerns (proper sex education comes to
mind).

~~~
neom
Vaping is one I'd like to see us put the kibosh on, however.

~~~
justforyou
Vape Panic: more vestigal puritanical nonsense hysteria distraction.

~~~
mastratton3
except it does carry actual health risks?

~~~
chachachoney
If health risks are the concern the focus should be on harm reduction.

~~~
AstralStorm
Then the question is if studying efficacy of harm reduction methods including
bans or age limits or wide educational campaigns, monitoring of quality or
other measures.

But moral panic wants none of that.

------
duxup
What is the measurement of "overblown"?

>Overall, approximately 13% of students reported that they had sent a sext,
while 18.5% had received a sext. About one-third of those who sext had done it
just one time.

Perhaps people who are concerned would find those numbers concerning?

If that is true... then is it "overblown"?

~~~
AstralStorm
It depends on whether it causes harm and degree thereof. Some people love
black and white thinking...

------
b_tterc_p
The question appears to ask about sending sexually explicit imagery. I think
that would catch a lot of people who have exchanged something pornographic but
not of themselves or people they know.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> Sexting was defined for respondents in the survey as “when someone takes a
> naked or semi-naked (explicit) picture or video of themselves, usually using
> their phone, and sends it to some-one else. The image is called a ‘sext’.”

~~~
celticmusic
how did they ask the question?

Because that's not sexting to me. sexting to me is literally just talking
naughty in explicit ways. Part of that foreplay can be sending images, but I
suspect most people don't limit sexting to strictly the sending and receiving
of images.

Or maybe I'm just old, who knows.

------
inanutshellus
Clickbait junk. Conclusion akin to "Drinking and driving probably okay
usually".

~~~
nerdponx
I don't understand this. Are you equating teen sexting to drinking and
driving?

~~~
paulddraper
The article only assessed the prevalence, _not the consequences_ , of sexting
and then concluded that panic is unjustified.

That can make for a poor conclusion; e.g. concluding that panic over teen
drunk driving is unjustified, because <10% of teens have done it.

I don't think OP means to say they're the _same,_ just means to illustrate a
flaw in the argument.

------
PaulHoule
When I think of sexting I think of baby boomers like

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Weiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Weiner)

the teens I know today smoke pot more than they smoke tobacco and they smoke
pot less than when I was growing up.

As much as older folks like to fantasize that young people do it like bunnies,
I think the issue with kids today is that they aren't going to have sex enough
to reproduce themselves,

~~~
paulddraper
> I think the issue with kids today is that they aren't going to have sex
> enough to reproduce themselves,

Birth rates might be a problem, but I don't think the amount of sexual acts is
the limited factor.

