Boys forced into sexting, study shows

TEENAGE boys feel bullied into sending and looking at explicit images on their mobile phones, research shows.

texting

TEENAGE boys feel bullied into sending and looking at explicit images on their mobile phones, research shows.

While girls are more likely to be victims of "sexting", the pressure felt by boys to participate had not previously been investigated.

Preliminary results from a Melbourne University study found teen boys face school-yard taunts and exclusion "if they're not into" sharing pornography.

Lead researcher Shelley Walker told the Australasian Sexual Health Conference on Tursday boys were feeling peer group pressure "to be involved in sexting to fit in".

"Many of the boys talked about feeling pressured to either have sexy photos on their phones or to be looking at the photos on other people's phones," said Ms Walker, from the university's Primary Care Research Unit.

"Young men's masculinity was in question if they weren't into it.

"Some young men talked of the silent treatment they got if they weren't into it, or of being called 'gay'."

Ms Walker said it was almost impossible to estimate the extent of sexting among young people because "very few published studies have been conducted".

But her interviews with 33 males and females, aged 15 to 20, suggest exposure to explicit images - of strangers or people they know - is reasonably commonplace.

"All the young people interviewed had at least one story to share, if not more," she said.

Scenarios reported to her included:

A BOY, 17, saving a naked photograph of his girlfriend "for blackmail".

A GIRL, 17, sending a "sexy photo" of herself to a boy she liked, before he forwarded it to several mates.

VIDEO of a girl, 17, performing sexual acts at a party, circulated at school.