Importance Of Sexting In The Media

Sexting: The Media’s Favourite Topic Sexting is almost never portrayed in a positive light. Almost 100% of the time media portrays sexting, specifically youth sexting as wrong and dangerous, and when sexting isn’t portrayed negatively it is commonly adult sexting in which they poke fun at this cultural phenomenon. In both cases, sexting is always a big obstacle, or big plotline in the show or movie. Sexting is never brought up in passing without some issue. Because of the negative media representation, it can add to the persons negative feelings if they ever get caught. Sexting has come to such intense scrutiny because it is thought of as scandalous and wrong by many people. Firstly, it seems that certain media, such as
This stereotyping can be dangerous because it consistently shows young girls as sluts and young guys as evil. Not to mention, the media always seems to use an example of a heterosexual couple being the ‘sexters’ where the female sends and the male receives. The media almost never portrays homosexual couples in this way. The media use these stereotypical representations to build on the characters in their story. They may use this to antagonize a male character for sending the pictures to his friends or even to antagonize a female character for sending the picture in the first place. Many times, this classic example of teen sexting is thought of as educational by promoting abstinence from sexting. Shows and movies with storylines like this are basically saying, ‘If you sext, everyone will see it. You will be bullied. You will become depressed. Your family and friends will be ashamed of you, and you will commit suicide.” This further develops the moral panic in parents by agreeing that this is something that will kill their child. It validates their feelings and gives them something that they can hold above their child’s head. It also pushes the moral panic onto the teens themselves by seeing the issue in the media which basically influences their every move. Teens then see the sexting ‘problem’ as an actual concern and not just that their parents are being overprotective. This also further develops gender roles in the media, like what was discussed in class. What’s interesting about Degrassi: The Next Generation is that the show is made for teen consumption. The show is made for teenagers and centered around teenagers, so when they write the story that they want to tell about sexting, it’s negative. For adults, sexting can be portrayed positively for some reason, and almost never follows the storyline of someone’s pictures being