Analysis of Image-Based Sexual Harassment and Abuse in Adolescents' Socio-Affective Relationships

The recent reconceptualization of the phenomenon of sexting between consensual and nonconsensual represents a relevant turning point in identifying and addressing nonconsensual sexting behaviors as online sexual violence. These practices of nonconsensual sexting, therefore, represent forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence, incorporating the terms image-based sexual harassment (IBSH) and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) to describe the distribution of self-produced sexualized images in the online sphere by adolescents, who use the online environment as their main socialization space. The objective of this investigation is dual. First, we analyzed the experiences of adolescents who have been victims and/or aggressors of image-based harassment and/or sexual abuse, and second, we identified the motivations for engaging in IBSH and/or abuse among adolescents. This qualitative study analyzed the results of 19 focus groups with 223 adolescents (107 girls and 116 boys) aged 14 to 18. The main results of our qualitative study show that most adolescent boys perpetuate IBSH behaviors by sending unwanted sexual requests and images, and also carry out behaviors of IBSA such as producing, sending, forwarding, exchanging, and/or disseminating sexual images without the other person's consent. Girls are the main victims. In addition, the results of our study show that male and female adolescents do not identify IBSH and IBSA as a form of sexual cyber violence, and, consequently, as a sexual crime. The adolescent collective considers these practices social, normal, harmless, and amusing. Therefore, sex education programs, from a comprehensive model, are the best co-educational tool to prevent, raise awareness of, and eradicate these behaviors of sexual and gender-based cyber violence in adolescents.