Technology is constantly advancing within contemporary society and this allows for personal information to be openly shared among individuals with great ease and speed. This technology savvy environment is strongly evident within the life of teenagers and young adults. Lenhart (2009) found that 95% of teenagers have access to the Internet, and 75% own cellphones. Lenhart's study (as cited in Brown et al., 2009), discussed that due to the extensive popularity of personal communication methods, more intimate and explicit communications are occurring. It is becoming apparently aware that the increase in sexting is due to these technological advances (Gordon-Messer, Bauermeister, Grodzinski, & Zimmerman, 2013). The concept of sexting is defined as, “sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, or nude, partially nude, or sexually suggestive digital images of one self or other via a cell phone, email, or Internet” (Dake, Price, Maziarz, & Ward, 2012, p. 2). Research conducted found that 30% of young adults have sent a sext at least once, and 41% have received a sext at some point (Gordon- Messer et al.). The underlying problem with sexting is being unaware of the short and long-term effects sexting can have on not only themselves but on others as well. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender contributes to the attitudes, behaviours and consequences of sexting. Specifically this paper will highlight potential differences and similarities between genders in relation to sexting.

With regards to attitudes towards sexting, research has shown that there are some definitive differences amongst males and females (Walker et al., 2013; Lenhart, 2009; Dir et al., 2013). Adult youth are conscious of the double standards that are present for men and women in regards to the correlation between sexual reputation and sexting (Walker, Sanci, & Temple-Smith, 2013). Lenhart (2009) found that female’s attitudes towards sexting were negative, teen girls viewed sexting as a risk to their reputation, inappropriate, ‘slutty’, and disrespectful to themselves. On the other hand, the study found that the majority of males feel it is not a big deal because they are not actually having sexual intercourse, just sexting. These results are similar to Walker et al. (2013), who reported that sexting was perceived to make a male masculine and a female destructive of her sexual standing. Another study conducted by Dir et al. (2013), contrasts this gender difference theory and relies more heavily on relationship status as a predictor of attitudes towards sexting. The study states that individuals who were married, dating or cohabitating had more positive expectances of sexting than those who are single. It was also found that the overall attitude to sexting was it being flirtatious and a way to experiment and explore with your own sexuality. That being said the sample studied by, Dir et al. (2013) was 611 undergraduate students 18-43 years old, and therefore the attitudes of sexting among adolescents was not taken into consideration. It also used a cross sectional method of study which limits causality conclusions (Dir et al.). Overall, the empirical research suggests that gender does in fact contribute to the attitudes toward sexting.

Secondly, there was contradicting research on whether gender differentiates behaviours of sexting. Gordon-Messer et al. (2013) found that sexting was more likely in young adults who are already sexually active. The study also found that sexting is a reciprocal behaviour, 66% of young adults who received sexts reported sending one in returns. Lenhart (2009) found that 13% of the sample sent sexts and 31% received them. Contrasting with Dir et al. (2013), which found that 30% of the sample had received and41% had sent sexts. This increase in research results could be attributed to technological advancements, as well as a larger sample age range in the later study. In regards to gender differences, Dake et al., (2012) established that females had an increased likelihood of sending sexts (65%), than males (35%). In agreement with the previous two studies, “sexting is not a gender-neutral activity, but is in fact influenced by gender dynamics and ... many young people involved in sexting do so in response to pressure” (Walker et al., 2012). These results contrast with Lenhart (2009), data, which found that there was no behavioural difference in sexting between genders, males and females, are equivalently likely to send sexually explicit messages and images to one another. Instead, the data results suggested that age was a determinant to the probability of participating in sexting with others, 4% of 12 year olds, increased to 20% at 16 years old and even high to 30% when age reached 17 (Lenhart, 2009). However, Lenhart (2013) sampled from one Midwestern state, therefore geographic scope was relatively small, possibly affecting external validity of the discoveries. According to multiple studies including the aforementioned, sexting behaviour do differ among age. Older individuals within relationships are more likely to participate in sexting regardless of gender, as formerly referenced research states. Sexting also has the potential to differ among gender, but further research should be done to concretely outline those variances.

Lastly, this paper aims to touch upon whether there are gender differences and/or similarities in the consequences of sexting. There are multiple ramifications to sexting, ranging from psychological distress to social humiliation and cyber bulling (Dir et al., 2013). Dake et al. (2012) states that when “sexts are intentionally forwarded to unintended parties” it is then considered cyber bullying. Walker et al. (2013) and Dake et al. (2012), both found that the teens that participated in sexting by sending suggestive images indicated they felt pressured to send them in at least one or more situations. Dake et al. (2012) found that the consequences of sexting were uniform between most ages and genders; the research found that substance use behaviours, psychological distress, and increased sexual behaviours were all consequences derived from sexting. Emotional health items are of important concern, from the sample of individuals who had participated in sexting, 52% were at some point forced to have sexual intercourse, 50% and 39% had attempted and anticipated suicide respectively, and 29% had felt depressed within the past year for multiple weeks (Dake et al.). Use of substances such as marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol, as well as high risk unprotected sexual behaviours with four or more sexual partners were also related to sexting (Dake et al.). In contrast with the findings of Dake et al., Gordon-Messer et al. (2013), found no association between sexting resulting in depression, self-esteem issues, anxiety, or any other type of psychological distress. However, Gordon-Messer et al. (2013) was a cross sectional web based study that does not establish causal relationships between sexual or mental health and sexting.

Sexting is an increasingly relevant trend in society’s everyday environment. It is predominately visible in teens and young adults as a form of elicit personal communication. Some research states that the mass media has pinpointed sexting being a large problem, and sourcing it to ever-evolving technology (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2014). In regards to implications, health professionals and parents can create a line of open communication in regards to sexual exploration and forming guidelines to safe sexting (Ybarra & Mitchell 2014). After thoroughly analyzing the empirical research, it was clear that there were multiple limitations throughout. Many of the studies used cross-sectional methods of data collection and therefore due to the nature of the study, sexting, it limits causality conclusions (Walker et al., 2013; Dake et al., 2013; Ybarra et al., 2014; Dir et al., 2013). Lastly, the ability for multiple samples to be generalized is potentially limited due to the fact that the majority of sample groups were based on predominantly Caucasian and heterosexual adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 18 and 18 to 24, respectively. Suggestions for further research would be as follows; more gendered context research needs to be conducted in order to truly understand the differences for male and female sexting behaviours (Walker et al.). Multiple studies were unable to retrieve results on sext senders or reciprocal senders, individuals constantly receive sexts but some refuse to reciprocate, this may lead to sexual objectification. In order to acquire more comprehensive information about this behaviour further qualitative research should be conducted (Gordon-Messer et al., 2013). Due to the lack of ethnic diversity within sample sized, discussed in limitations, further research should be completed with more diverse sample groups in order to account for any sexting differences that may be present among various cultures.