Is Sexting Illegal? What States Have Sexting Laws?

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Sometimes, the best way to confidently sext is to go back to the basics of what you love sexually about your partner. If you love how their skin feels or you enjoy the way they sound in bed, that will help you with things to say while sexting. If the act of sexting is taking place and the material is mishandled by sharing without authorization or usage for monetary gain, it results in conditions of the other two. Both parties may be of consensual age, but that does not mean that there is no legal penalty for sexting.

Sexting, Mental Health, and Victimization Among Adolescents: A Literature Review

They also vary according to the content of the messages (sexual pictures, videos, or text) and the degree of sexual explicitness (suggestive or explicit) (Barrense-Dias et al., 2017). In this context, sexting encompasses the sending, receiving, and forwarding of suggestive and explicit sexual pictures, videos, or text messages via cell phones, the Internet, or other electronic means (Mitchell et al., 2012). Because sexting is an evolving concept that has become increasingly complicated (Van Ouytsel et al., 2018), each study and the sexting behavior must be analyzed, as the action to be taken may vary depending on the behavior displayed. Sexting has become a new form of intimate interaction in line with contemporary communication methods. This phenomenon often leads to positive outcomes, but it can also have negative repercussions depending on the situation, such as the context of the relationship, and whether it is consensual or coercive. Despite this, the main types of sexting behaviors (sending, receiving, and third-party forwarding) must be addressed in order to promote safe and healthy practices.

Sexual Slang Terms Parents Need to Know

Future research should consider examining other forms of sexting (e.g., coerced sexting, receiving solicited sexts) and relationship contexts of sexting (e.g., being asked to send sexts from romantic partners vs. peers). Fourth, the survey did not include mental health treatment histories, which may have contributed to the link between sexting and psychosocial health. Lastly, while out of the scope of the present study, future research should consider examining how the associations between sexting and psychosocial health may differ by gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality, and other demographic factors. Sexting is the sending of nude or sexually explicit photos by electronic means, such as a text message. Some states, like New Jersey, have specific legislation that deals with teen sexting. In states without specific legislation, children who share nude or sexually suggestive photos of minors can be convicted of crimes under a state’s child pornography or child enticement laws, which are intended to target adult sexual predators and carry harsh penalties.

Brief report: The association between adolescents’ characteristics and engagement in sexting

This supports previous literature that claims sexting is not a gender neutral activity (Wood et al., 2015). Therefore, educational efforts should also focus on promoting gender equality and healthy relationships (Dobson & Ringrose, 2016; Wurtele & Miller-Perrin, 2014). It is particularly important to discuss with young people the sexual double standard and to avoid the use of gender stereotypes when devising and implementing strategies to tackle sexting (Döring, 2014; Wood et al., 2015).

In a study, close to half of the adults’ interviewed had sexual photos or texts on their mobile device(s). Many of these intimate images and words are actually sent to complete strangers. In an article in Scientific American, however, the article says that men are actually more likely to initiate some form of intimate communication, like sending nude photographs or suggestive text messages. The reasoning behind this is that men seem to be more open about their sexual drive, which promotes the instigation of sexual contact. Also in this article, it says, “The age group that is most keen on sexting is 18- to 24-year-olds”.[39] This is when young adults are at their prime of sexuality, and are looking to find their partners while also exploring their bodies and sexuality.

For instance, federal law considers any sexually suggestive image of a minor to be CSAM. The government can prosecute anyone for the production, distribution, reception, and possession of CSAM. They might threaten to distribute someone’s sexual images, videos, or texts unless that person pays them money or provides additional sexual content.

• The willingness to engage in a behavior refers to the likelihood with which people think they would engage in a behavior when the situation lends itself to this behavior (van Oosten & Vandenbosch, 2017).
• Need for popularity could also be linked to impact of sexting, as suggested by Alonso and Romero (2019), although maybe not in the same way for boys and girls.
• Research that applies nationally representative and random sampling survey techniques is clearly needed.
• It also can happen through apps or direct messaging on social media sites.

The most simple ones refer to sending sexually explicit images (Choi et al., 2016, Marume et al., 2018, Wolak et al., 2012, Ybarra and Mitchell, 2014). Forwarding of sexual content is not included in most studies, even though it has the highest potential to do harm (Livingstone and Görzig, 2014, Madigan et al., 2018, Strassberg et al., 2017). Forwarding refers to sending someone else’s sexual content to another person (Strassberg et al., 2017). The former includes creating, sending and forwarding, whereas only receiving content is seen as passive sexting (Barrense-Dias, Berchtold, Surís, & Akre, 2017).

Worried parents may want to have a broader discussion about safe sexual activity with their teens. Even if a parent is sure their teen does not have sex offline, erotic photos can still be used for blackmail or exploitation. It is important to teach one’s teen about consent and cyber safety, regardless of the type of sexual activity taking place.

In general, they found that people who sext tended to send sexual words more often than pictures. Studies also have shown that sexting is most common among people who are in a committed relationship. It is less common among those who are dating casually or who are not in a romantic relationship. Sexting is what it sounds like it might be–sending sexually-implicit or explicit text message. These are usually multimedia texts–pictures of the sender in various stages of undress.

As long as North Carolina child pornography laws are used to govern sexting behavior amongst minors, North Carolina minors are at risk for being charged and convicted of felonies. Although House Bill 280 did not affect the consequences of minors who engage in sexting behavior, the bill does act as an admission from the North Carolina General Assembly that minors should be treated differently under state laws. If anything, House Bill 280 can be considered a small step towards the realization that the treatment of minors possessing and/or distributing sexually explicit material should be different than the treatment of adults engaging in the same conduct. It is important to first note that the exact legal definition for criminal sexting will depend on local state laws.