Sexting

S

exting is the practice of sending or posting sexually suggestive text messages and images, including nude or semi-nude photographs, via cellular phones or over the Internet . In a study conducted in 2009 by Amanda Lenhardt, her participants identified three main contexts for sexting:

1. Exchange of images solely between two romantic partners
2. Exchanges between partners that are shared with others outside the relationship
3. Exchanges between people who are not yet in a relationship, but where at least one person hopes to be.

Sexting has become much more prevalent in the era of smartphones and social media, and, while it is done by people of all ages , it is more notably associated with adolescents and young adults. Because sexting's popularity is still relatively recent, both the ethics and legislation surrounding it are still being developed. Sexting can be seen as acceptable in certain relationships, but there are many circumstances where it is a negative concept. Since it’s development, sexting has prompted privacy concerns, created a whole new form of sexual harassment and bullying, raised new issues regarding consent, and sparked the creation of legislation.

Snapchat

Snapchat was first created in 2011 by Stanford alum Bobby Murphy and Stanford dropout Evan Spiegel for a product design class. The application was rated for users twelve and older with the company description of:

“Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment with friends. You control how long your friends can view your message- simply set the time up to ten seconds and send. They’ll have that long to view your message and then it disappears forever. We’ll let you know if they take a screenshot! Build relationships, collect points, and view your best friends Snapchat is instantly fun and playful. Show your friends how clever you can be and enjoy the lightness of being!”.

Since its launch, Snapchat has been notoriously known as a sexting application . Snapchat was even name “the greatest tool for sexting since the front-facing camera” . People feel a sense of safety and in sending their nude photos because they disappear, or are deleted, from the company’s server. However, what happens when those photos are not permanently deleted or removed but, instead, stay in circulation on the Internet and its platforms?

There are ways that receivers of snapchats can save them forever . They can screenshot the snapchat, which notifies the sender, or they can use someone else’s phone to take a photo of the snapchat which avoids the screenshot notification. In the latter, the sender would be under the false assumption that their photo had disappeared because they never received a screenshot notification. Apps have been created for purchase that will also save snapchats without notifying the sender of it. This is an invasion of both physical privacy and decisional privacy, for the original sender of the photos no longer has the freedom to decide who views the photos of their exposed body . These photos are going on and being shared to wide audiences and appearing on various social media accounts; for instance, the Twitter accounts like ‘Sexy Snapchat Sluts,’ ‘Snapchat sluts’ or ‘Snapchat_Sluts.’ These public Twitter accounts share the nude photos of strangers for anyone to see, allowing anyone to become voyeurs. As Tony Doyle stated in Privacy and Perfect Voyeurism, “Persons are worthy of having their autonomy respected because they are persons,” and accounts like these blatantly take away people’s autonomy.

Ethical Concerns

Sexual Harassment and Bullying

Sexual harassment is bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, and sexting is often a result of one person in the exchange asking or telling someone to send photos of themselves. It is characterized as sexual harassment, many times, because the request is unwarranted and someone might be coerced into sending photos.

Public humiliation and sexual shame is something that results from the spreading of someone’s photos after they partook in sexting. In September of 2010, a video called Megan’s Story was put on YouTube to teach a message about sexting and demonstrate that, once you share something digitally, you lose control over who sees it and what they do with it .

“The video begins with a teenaged girl called Megan, as she emerges from a women's bathroom into a school hallway. She holds her phone in her hand. She smiles to herself as she fastens the top button on her shirt. As she enters a classroom, we hear a mobile phone beep, as a boy in the class receives her message. Then we hear new beeps around the room, as the image is forwarded to other classmates. Another boy turns to her and nods suggestively. The teacher arrives and begins to mark the roll. Shots of Megan looking increasingly worried and upset are intercut with the beeping sound of incoming messages, and shots of her classmate's stares. Girls look at their phones, glare at Megan, and then turn away in disgust. Megan is close to tears. Finally the teacher's phone beeps. He looks at it, looks at Megan, and shakes his head in disappointment. Megan breaks down and runs from the room.”

The sharing and spreading of these photos is a form of cyberbullying that many adolescents experience. Having something that you sent privately for a set of eyes to see shared publicly and spread around is an invasion of one’s privacy and sexual freedom. Not only that but “depression, suicide, mood disorder, adjustment reactions, and anxiety disorders are some potential mental health implications that can arise after falling victim to sexting” .

Consent

Sexting raises a plethora of new issues surrounding consent. The most obvious is that many times, consent is not given and photos are sent to people who do not want to receive them. As mentioned previously, this is a blatant form of sexual harassment.

However, the law views people under the age of 18 as being unable to give consent to sexting, even when many of them are over the legal age for sexual consent in their state. As of August 1, 2018, the age of consent in 38 out of the 50 states is under 18 . This is particularly a problem because sexting is most prevalent among adolescents who already view themselves as having full sexual agency. Because of the laws set in place, a teenage who sexts consensually could be committing four different crimes: “solicitation, production, distribution and possession of child pornography” . This has caused states to begin regulating the act of sexting amongst teenagers.

Legislation

Many states have taken action to create laws that they feel will properly solve this ethical dilemma. Vermont, for instance, created an exception for consensual sexting between teenagers of specific ages. Vermont Senate Bill 125 amended child pornography laws to exclude persons “less than 19 years old, [when] the child is at least 13 years old, and the child knowingly and voluntarily and without threat of coercion used an electronic communication device to transmit an image of himself or herself to the person” . Other states, however, have created stricter sex offender laws in response to sexting. In 2012, South Dakota criminalized a minor’s intentional creation, transmission, possession, or distribution of “any visual depiction of a minor in any condition of nudity or involved in any prohibited sexual act” . Another varying legal approach is educational programs. New York Assembly Bill 8131 “directs the attorney general to establish a 2-year juvenile sexting and cyberbullying education demonstration program in not less than 3 counties as a diversionary program for persons under 16 who have engaged in cyberbullying or sexting, in lieu of juvenile delinquency or criminal proceedings” . A large ethical dilemma surrounding sexting is that many states fail to have existing laws regarding it. In these such states, prosecutors are left to follow the laws that are already established, mainly child pornography or obscenity laws. This often results in teens being labeled as sex offenders which is something that could permanently alter their lives in a negative way.