Self-produced sexual images have become an increasing source of interest and concern by professionals working within education and law enforcement, as well as the general public.
This behaviour is is often referred to as ‘sexting’ or ‘nude selfies’. To further understand self-produced images, the European Commission funded qualitative research in this field. This research was led by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with CEOP and sought to recognise and dissect the complexity of sexting behaviour and what meaning it may hold for young people.
The research used a sample of 51 UK and Sweden people (aged 12-25) who had shared a nude or nearly nude image before the age of 18. SPIRTO discusses the motivations for taking images; the reasons why they have been shared and the outcomes for young people by using first person accounts and in-depth interviews.
You can access the research here.
