A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting ... - NSPCC

A qualitative study of children, young people and ‘sexting’
both traditions – and the policy reports that are based on them – have ignored practices to focus instead on
products or consumption, whether this is media products or consumer items such as Playboy stationery
or padded bras being marketed to pre-pubescent girls. Not only has the literature on ‘sexualisation’ not
been concerned with ‘sexting’ but, more generally, the focus on consumption of products rather than on
social practices has given much of the research in the field of ‘sexualisation’ a ‘lifted out’ quality, rather
than understanding its significance in the daily flow, texture and lived experience of young people’s lives
(cf Livingstone, 2009; Ringrose & Renold, 2011; Renold & Ringrose, 2011; Jackson & Vares, 2011; Vares
et al., 2011).
In this study we move beyond the limitations of both these traditions to an approach that might be
called ‘psycho-social-cultural’ – to capture the way in which it pays attention to the different moments
of ‘sexualised’ experience in young people’s lives. The study offers a detailed, qualitative exploration of
young people’s experiences of ‘sexting’ and of the culture of mobile internet technologies more generally.
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