Skills for the Job: Be aware of ‘sexting'

What is “sexting”?
Sexting is an exchange of sexualised or sexually explicit imagery, usually in the form of photos or video clips. They can be produced by young people themselves, acquired from their peers or downloaded from the internet.

Images or clips are usually passed on via smartphone, or posted onto online networks such as BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) and other social networking sites such as Facebook.

The increase in sexting has matched the development of smartphone technology. Many children and young people see their smartphone as an extension of themselves and it is the first thing they communicate with in the morning and the last thing they communicate with at night. They are never without them.

How many children do it?
It is very difficult to know the exact scale of sexting but access to hardcore pornography, which is arguably linked to sexting, has increased over recent years.

There has been a rise in the availability of free and easy-to-access hardcore pornography online, much of it hosted on websites outside the European Union.

Boys in particular are accessing very explicit material from a young age, with more than 50 per cent viewing highly sexualised and sexually explicit material.

This can drive young people’s sexual expectations and habits, pressurising girls over the way they feel they should look and what they should be expected to do in terms of sexual acts.

Why do they do it?
Young people can feel under pressure to fit in with a group. Boys, in their own words, can feel pressure to “look h