‘Hey, U up?’: Deception in the Solicitation of Sex and Sexual Images or Videos as a Gendered Deviance

• In Event: Online Harm, Just a Single Swipe Away!: Harassment, Coercion, and the Internet

Abstract

Thanks to the ubiquity of technology-facilitated communication in the current era, the sending and receiving of sexual images and videos – or ‘nudes’ – has become a prevalent aspect of dating and relationships. While often consensual, the practice of sending nudes does present serious risks for coercion and abuse — especially for women and girls, who are far more likely to report being coerced into sending intimate images or videos of themselves than men. This disproportionate impact is in alignment with other forms of gendered sexual violence, both online and offline. This presentation will present the results of an experimental survey in which respondents were randomly selected to give their perceptions of deceptive practices that are used to solicit another person to (a) participate in in-person sexual acts, or; (b) send sexual images or videos of themselves using technological means, like smartphones. The results highlight key differences in how respondents perceive the use of deception when used in online versus in-person environments, and reinforces how deviant behaviors are able be normalized (or not) based on the context in which they occur.

Authors

• Megan Trafford, University of New Haven

• Paul Bleakley, University of Kentucky