Reasons Not to Indulge in Sexting
by kalyani10
The advances made by communication technology in recent years have meant that now it is easier than ever to stay in touch with loved ones. Texting in particular has emerged as a popular communication option which allows for sending and receiving of short texts, images and even voice messages. However one troubling offshoot of this has been sexting which on the surface seems a merely a way to get flirty but in reality can create complications in your personal life.
What is sexting?
Sexting can be understood as the sending, sharing or receiving of sexually explicit content - whether in the form of text or images - through digital or electronic devices, most commonly cell phones. It is commonly assumed that sexting is more common among teens than rest of the adult population. This could be because this is the generation which is most concerned about self-perception, the need to be considered popular and most subject to peer pressure. Young adults, most commonly teenage girls, succumb to the temptation of sending nude or sexually explicit images of themselves to boys or others in an attempt to be thought of as attractive. In the US, roughly 20 percent of teens admit to participating in "sexting," according to a February 2009 news article at cbsnews.com1 which quoted a nationwide study conducted by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. However more recent studies suggest that sexting among teens is not as widespread as was previously feared. A May 2011 news article that appeared in usatoday.com2 reports that only 2.5% of kids ages 10 to 17 admit to creating or appearing in such photos or videos, and even fewer produce images that amount to pornography, according to a national study on youths who share sexual images on phones and the Internet and published in the journal Pediatrics. Incidentally these new figures have been accompanied by rising evidence of increasingly wider adult participation in sexting. According to a report3 from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project based on a representative sample of 2,252 adults, sexting is far more common among people aged 18 to 29 of which nearly one-third say they have received sexually suggestive or nude photos of someone they know and 13 percent say they have sent them. Even among 30-to-49-year-olds, 17 percent say they have received such photos and 5 percent admit sending them. So texting is now definitely mainstream and not something that only teens and high schoolers indulge in.
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Ruins relationships
The biggest argument against sexting is that it amounts to cheating if you are already in a relationship and the recipient is someone other than your partner. Sexting is the digital equivalent of heavy flirting in real life. So if you wouldn’t like to be caught by your partner flirting with someone else at a party or a bar, it would be wise not to indulge in sexting as well. Just because a message or image is sent electronically and not verbally or through body language does not mean it is less indicative of the sender’s intentions.
Does not say much about your integrity
Before you press the send option on a sex-text, stop a moment and consider what the recipient will think of you when he/she receives that that cutesy but racy photo or highly erotic text message or naughty email. You might think it is fun to share a virtually nude image of yourself with a classmate or a dirty joke with the guy you met at yesterday’s party. But in all probability you are sending across the message that you are sexually available and even sexually promiscuous. Instead of making you seem attractive, the sextext actually makes you come off as cheap and plain desperate. If this is not the impression you want to convey to the recipient, then you better avoid sexting. keep in mind that the Internet is capricious – even as it allows you to communicate freely and easily, it also contributes to the image of yourself that is forever out there.
You are not anonymous in the digital world
Most people who engage in sexting, send photos or messages to someone they only know online. But your screen name, identity, profile, email address or phone number are no guarantee of privacy. It’s easy enough for people to bypass filters and get to your true identity. This could have long-term and potentially devastating consequences like for example being thrown out of school, college or workplace if they happen to be spotted by concerned authorities
Sexting will leave footprints in cyberspace
Even if you do not encounter direct consequences of sexting, any sexually explicit content you send or share through digital means will always remain in cyberspace. This is because once something appears on the Internet, it’s there forever. This is equally true of the pillow talk or the racy photo of yourself that you are planning to send via text, email or in MySpace, Facebook or other social media. You may think nothing of it now and even imagine that it’s cute and fun and everyone’s doing it, but someday in the future when you are vying for that coveted job or running for a public office, the sextext could come back to haunt you. Perhaps you are married but have been sexting an online date; you never know how and when the message can be traced back to your cell phone or social media account and not only lead to a depressing breakup but a very expensive divorce too. This is because the moment you send anything out into the internet, you lose control over it. The sexually explicit messages and images that you have sent can be accessed even after you delete them since they many have been copied and posted several times over elsewhere.
It is against the law
This of course is the biggest reason not to engage in sexting. If you send or even forward sexually explicit images digitally, you could be legally charged with child pornography or for sexual offenses; depending on the nature of your act and your circumstances, then you may have to register yourself as a sex offender, pay heavy fines or even go to jail. Teens have been convicted of child pornography distribution because they emailed photos of a sexually explicit nature to each other4. In some states like the US state of Rhode Island, sexting is already a criminal offense punishable by law. Indeed the state of Indiana can prosecute kids and their parents for child pornography or felony obscenity. And although states like Florida, New Jersey and Texas have in 2011 have made punishments less sever for first-time offenders, repeated sexting could definitely land you in trouble with the law.
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