The emergence of social media has also given rise to a new form of sexual violence: the non-consensual sharing of other people’s digital sexy images. A research study among young perpetrators shows that solving this problem will start with a more positive and emancipated discourse about sexting. Social media provide young people with new opportunities for experiencing sexuality, for instance through sexting, the creation and sharing of sexy images of oneself through social media. Reasons for sexting include: for fun, flirting, being sexy, initiating sexual contact, attracting the attention of a current or potential partner, creating sexual arousal, maintaining a love relationship, self-expression, self-representation and experimenting with sexuality (1, 5). Although sexting sometimes involves pressure or coercion, studies show that most sexts are sent for positive reasons (8, 5). Therefore, provided that sexts are sent voluntarily and that both parties are happy about it, sexting can be seen as a normal part of the sexual development of young people and as an expression of sexual agency, exploration and expression (9). A much-discussed risk of sexting is when the recipient shares the material with third parties without consent. This non-consensual sharing of sexy images is a form of sexual violence, since the original creator hasn’t given their consent. In the current battle against this form of abuse, the focus is often on potential victims: what can they do to ensure that their material won’t be distributed? Much less attention is paid to those who are really responsible: the potential perpetrators who distribute sexy material without consent. In order to change perspective, we [Marijke Naezer and Lotte van Oosterhout, ed.] studied young people’s motives for non-consensually sharing other people’s sexy digital visual material (photos, videos). The research offers important points of departure for addressing this new form of sexually transgressive behaviour. Research study For the study, we conducted 21 individual in-depth interviews with young people who had been involved in non-consensual image sharing, as perpetrators (15), victims (2) or bystanders (4). These young people were 15 to 21 years old at the time of interview; at the time of the incident they were aged 14 to 18. The incidents varied in nature, magnitude and impact, thus shedding light on the various possible motives and scenarios. Six motives From our data, we identified six motives that young people may have for non-consensually sharing other people’s sexy images. The first concerns the well-known reason of wanting to hurt someone, as an act of revenge for something the other person has done. That other person could be a current lover, ex-lover or a friend: “I was involved with a boy and we had sent naked photos to each other. And then I ended the relationship and I became involved with another boy. When I was with that other boy, my ex showed those photos to his friends” (girl, 15, victim). A lesser known scenario involving this motive is when someone is sent unwanted explicit material. A number of girls in our study received unwanted material of this kind from boys: a kind of ‘digital flashing’. For these girls, forwarding the material was a way of putting the material’s creator in his place. Being a victim and being a perpetrator overlap in this scenario: the person who forwards the material without consent is guilty of transgressive behaviour, but they do so because they were sent the material against their will at an earlier stage. A second motive relates to the fact that nudity and sexuality are new for many young people and that sexy images therefore cause a degree of tension. Some young people feel the need to share this with others: “You get a picture like that and it scares you a little, and then you just show it like: look what I've been sent!” (girl, 17, perpetrator). In this type of scenario, the purpose of forwarding the image is not to hurt the person pictured or to cast a slur on them, as was the case with the first motive, but to release their own tension. A third motive for sharing sexy material with third parties is to reinforce friendships, based on the norm that friends share everything: “It’s ... a friend thing I think, that you share things. If you’re sent something, you just pass it on. ... Not necessarily to act cool, but that’s just what we do for each other. ... Sharing is caring” (boy, 16, perpetrator). Sharing other people's material can thus confirm and strengthen a friendship. A fourth motive for forwarding someone else's sexy material has to do with talking and learning about sexuality: “I don't remember exactly what that conversation with my friend was about. About sex, I think. ... We were swapping information. ... There were no sexual overtones. It was more a matter of: you’ve got this and I’ve got that, we had such a laugh. ... It also wasn’t about making people look bad. ... It was really just about the fact that we had it” (boy, 19, perpetrator). Here, the sexy images functioned as a tool for talking about sexuality. A fifth motive relates to wanting to regulate another's sexual behaviour, especially that of girls: “She had to be taught a lesson that she shouldn’t send pictures” (girl, 16, perpetrator). Several perpetrators explained that they wanted to ‘teach’ girls not to engage in sexting, and they saw the non-consensual distribution of the material as a suitable way of achieving that. In this kind of scenario, the material is often widely disseminated. The victim is then stigmatised as a ‘slut’ and ridiculed, mocked and bullied. One final motive for non-consensually distributing someone else's sexy material is to increase one’s own popularity. Sexy material of others has a certain ‘economic value’ (7) and some young people hope that by sharing it they can gain recognition from their peers. One respondent talked about her decision to send naked pictures of another girl: “And then I sent it to his friend. ... He was quite popular. I think I did that partly so that he would like me, to help me belong. ... Kind of like ‘Please like me!’” (girl, 19, perpetrator). Norms regarding gender, sexuality and sexting Contemporary norms and taboos regarding gender, sexuality and sexting played a key role in our respondents’ stories. These norms and taboos pave the way for the non-consensual image sharing and contribute to the normalisation of this form of sexual violence. For instance, there is the taboo against nudity and sexuality. This taboo makes sexy images ‘interesting’, ‘exciting’ and thus able to cause a stir, which makes exposing this kind of material more attractive. The taboo is especially strong if the material is exchanged outside an existing love relationship; sexting between young people who don’t have an ‘official’ relationship often met with opposition among respondents. This fits within a broader western discourse, in which sexuality is considered most acceptable within a long-term love relationship, especially where the sexual activity of girls and women is concerned (4). This brings us to the aspect of gender: nudity and sexuality continue to involve a greater taboo for girls (and women) than for boys (and men). This makes girls extra-vulnerable to the unauthorised dissemination of their images. Although we did not conduct any quantitative research, it appears that girls are more likely to be victimised than boys: of the 22 incidents we discussed with our respondents, the victim was a girl in 18 instances (82%). The existing research on this subject is limited and not entirely unambiguous, but it seems to point in the same direction (for an overview, see 6). The consequences also seem to be greater for girls. Our respondents reported that girls whose sexy material was exposed were readily called ‘whores’ or ‘sluts’. There is no such condemnation of boys who engage in sexting. A nude photo of a boy is sometimes not even labelled as a nude photo. One respondent reported: “Imagine that it was a man who had taken a photograph in the same pose: many people wouldn’t regard it as a nude photograph” (boy, 17, bystander). Our findings thus indicate that there is a double sexual standard, also in relation to sexting: ‘He’s a stud, she’s a slut’. This double sexual standard and the non-consensual sharing of sexy material are inextricably linked: the double standard makes it ‘interesting’ to expose especially girls’ material (because only girls’ material is considered ‘slutty’), and the non-consensual sharing and associated slut-shaming in turn reproduce the double standard (because girls who participate in sexting are punished for doing so). This link between the double sexual standard and the unauthorised dissemination of sexy material is even more powerful because of the way in which the behaviour of male perpetrators is condoned: “We’re just men and we just flirt and stuff. That [forwarding girls’ sexy material] is simply what happens” (boy, 19, perpetrator). Both boys and girls assume that boys, by nature, like to look at naked women, and they see this as an excuse, or at least a mitigating circumstance, for the non-consensual sharing of other people's material:‘boys will be boys’. Finally, the taboo on sexting plays a role as well. Although the Netherlands has an international reputation for its sex-positive approach to sexuality, the debate about sexting is characterised by fear and disapproval (5, 2 and 3). We saw this reflected in the interviews with respondents: sexting was often described as something bad, dirty, stupid and dangerous, and/or as something that is mainly done by ‘weak’, ‘insecure’ people with ‘no self-respect’. This negative image around sexting makes it harder for young people to empathise with peers who engage in it. It makes them more likely to expose someone else’s sexy material and to more readily condemn the victim. Indulging in sexting In this article, we have shown that young people may have different motives for non-consensual image sharing. One underlying factor appears to play a role in all cases, however: young perpetrators feel supported by contemporary norms and taboos regarding gender, sexuality and sexting. The taboo against nudity and sexuality, the double sexual standard, the idea that ‘boys will be boys’ and the negative discourse about sexting all make it attractive to disseminate someone else's sexy images, especially those of girls. They also facilitate victim-blaming and help to trivialise the behaviour of perpetrators. This means that a more positive and emancipated discourse on sexting has a key role to play in addressing this form of sexual violence. As soon as young people (and adults) become better at understanding that sexting can make a positive contribution to the lives of both boys and girls, they will be more inclined to keep other people’s sexy images to themselves and, in the event of an incident, to support the victim and to call the perpetrator to account. In other words, they will be more inclined to contribute to a world in which young people can happily indulge in sexting. The full research report is available on www.marijkenaezer.nl/sharingiscaring or www.jongenjewilwat.nl/sharingiscaring (report in Dutch). An English translation will be available in the future. Please contact M.Naezer [at] ru.nl (M[dot]Naezer[at]ru[dot]nl) if you are interested in receiving the English report. Text: Marijke Naezer and Lotte van Oosterhout. This article previously appeared on Raffia. Image Bruno Gomiero via Unsplash.