A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting ... - NSPCC
A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting ... - NSPCC
A qualitative study of children, young people and 'sexting ... - NSPCC
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A <strong>qualitative</strong> <strong>study</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>children</strong>, <strong>young</strong> <strong>people</strong> <strong>and</strong> ‘sexting’<br />
I: A teacher?<br />
R: Actually I wouldn’t.<br />
I: You wouldn’t tell anybody. Would you tell your mum?<br />
R: Yeah.<br />
I: And what would your mum do?<br />
R: Call the school probably, she would call the school.<br />
I: Okay, so she thinks the school would do something? Does she believe in the school or?<br />
R: Yeah, I think so.<br />
I: Okay, but so far you haven’t really said anything?<br />
R: No. (Claire, year 8, School One)<br />
This account again reinforces the culture <strong>of</strong> silence in which girls find themselves trapped. They know<br />
they could <strong>and</strong> perhaps even ‘should’ tell a teacher or a parent, but they fear being thought a ‘snake’<br />
so they do not. Mostly they are left entirely alone to deal with the consequences <strong>of</strong> what happened –<br />
consequences that, as we have seen, include them being blamed for not fighting back – as if this meant<br />
they did not really object.<br />
Coping <strong>and</strong> surviving<br />
In order to survive, some girls called upon a range <strong>of</strong> impressive coping strategies. For some this involved<br />
simply developing the emotional resources to believe in yourself, even when everyone around you was<br />
telling lies about you. As 13 year old Jodie explains:<br />
R: My friend. She was going out with this boy <strong>and</strong> then they had an argument <strong>and</strong> then they<br />
broke up <strong>and</strong> then he put up, I don’t know if it was her or not, I don’t think it was, but he put<br />
a photo up <strong>of</strong> just like the breast bits so you couldn’t see who it actually was <strong>and</strong> said it was<br />
my friend. But I don’t think it was her because she’s not like that. But everyone believed him<br />
<strong>and</strong> but now that was like in year seven, so now everyone has now moved on from it.<br />
I: Was that bad for her then?<br />
R: She didn’t really care because she is like, ‘As long as I know the truth <strong>and</strong> as long as I know it<br />
wasn’t me, I don’t really care what anyone else thinks’ (Jodie, year 8, School Two)<br />
For others their strategies involved defiance <strong>and</strong> resistance:<br />
R: If you st<strong>and</strong> there <strong>and</strong> let someone take you for a mug then that is what it is going to be like<br />
forever, so you have to like st<strong>and</strong> up for yourself. So as soon as someone does something to you<br />
you have to go back, think about it, <strong>and</strong> do something twice as worse, sort <strong>of</strong> thing. Because if<br />
you don’t it is just like everyone will be like, ‘Oh you’re a pushover’ <strong>and</strong> they take you for like<br />
basically a bit <strong>of</strong> a mug. (Kylie, year 10, School One)<br />
A small minority displayed extraordinary ingenuity in creatively managing sexting culture in a way that<br />
allowed them to determine what they would do or not do, but also allowed the <strong>young</strong> men concerned<br />
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