Mobile sex-tech apps: How use differs across global areas of high and low gender equality

Sex on screens: the language of sexting and amateur pornography

Frequently referred to as 'sexting' or 'amateur pornography', digital sexual images and videos form an increasingly common part of adult sexual relationships. However, the vocabulary available to speak about these practices is limited, with 'sexting' often associated with young people in negative terms. This study is based on 23 interviews with adults in Australia who are 25 years and older. It explores the language adults employ to discuss and comprehend the creation and sharing of sexualised images and videos. Findings show that negative or positive connotations associated with the terms used to discuss sexual images and videos influenced the ways participants drew on, or rejected, terms to align digital practices with their sexual subjectivity. Reticence to engage in active communication about digital sexual practices, and participant's distancing of their own practices from the terms commonly understood to refer to such practices, made it difficult to engage in conversations about consent or desire in the context of digitally mediated sex. Findings provide insight into the ways that -digital sexual subjectivities are discursively framed and extend these implications for sexual health promotion with respect to how to frame messages of digital sexual safety in a sex-positive and open way.

The Media and Sexual Violence Among Adolescents: Findings from a Qualitative Study of Educators Across Vietnam

Growing access to technology and media has presented new avenues of influence on youth attitudes and norms regarding sexuality and sexual violence, as well as new technological pathways through which to perpetrate sexual violence. The aim of this research was to understand contextual influences on and needs for scale-up of sexual violence prevention programming in the media-violence context of Vietnam. We conducted 45 interviews with high school teachers (n = 15), university lecturers (n = 15), and affiliates from youth-focused community service organizations (n = 15) from across Vietnam. Additionally, we conducted four sector-specific focus groups with a sub-sample of interview participants (k = 4, n = 22). Media and technology were brought up consistently in relation to sexual violence prevention and sexual health information. Key informants noted that, in Vietnam, generational differences in acceptability of sex and lack of comprehensive sexuality education intersect with new technological opportunities for exposure to sexual information and media. This creates a complex landscape that can promote sexual violence through priming processes, instigate mimicry of violent media, and presents new opportunities for the perpetration of sexual violence though technology. Development of comprehensive sexual education, including violence prevention education, is imperative, with consideration of age-specific needs for Vietnamese youth.

Engagement with Emerging Forms of Sextech: Demographic Correlates from a National Sample of Adults in the United States

Social technology is ever-evolving, and increasingly offers novel domains for sexual experiences. In the current study, we investigated demographic correlates of engagement with emerging forms of sextech, defined here as internet-based applications, platforms, or devices used for sexual pleasure. Our web-based, demographically representative sample included 7,512 American adults aged 18-65 years, with a near-even gender split of men/women and moderate racial diversity (63% White). Participants indicated their engagement with eight forms of sextech, including six emerging forms of sexual technology (visiting erotic camming sites, participating in camming streams, teledildonic use, accessing virtual reality pornography, playing sexually explicit video games, and sexual messaging with chatbots or artificially intelligent entities) as well as two more common domains (online pornography and sexting). Participants who were younger, were men, had higher income, and were sexual minorities reported more frequent engagement with all forms of sextech assessed. Unlike prior work on pornography, religious individuals were more likely to engage with emerging sextech. Beyond online pornography (50%) and sexting (29%), visiting camming sites (18%) and playing sexually explicit video games (13%) were relatively common. Findings may contribute to the destigmatization of sextech engagement and forecast future norms in technologically-facilitated sexual behavior.

Learning on OnlyFans: User Perspectives on Knowledge and Skills Acquired on the Platform

OnlyFans is a digital patronage platform on which over two million content creators produce sexually explicit content for more than 130 million users. Increased Internet access and innovative technologies that enhance sexuality via connections and knowledge are changing the ways people navigate their sexual lives. OnlyFans is unique due to its position between digital sex work and social media and its high degree of cultural assimilation. We explored with a mixed-method approach how OnlyFans users perceive the effects of their OnlyFans use on their sexual learning and sexual lives. A diverse sample of 425 OnlyFans users participated in our online survey. The quantitative results revealed that participants reported mostly positive influences of OnlyFans on their sexual lives, and that they learned new things in terms of sexual practices, sexual preferences, relationships, and sexual health. Participants also reported that they tried new things, including toy use, sexual identity exploration, sexual and relationship practices, and gender identity exploration. Thematic analysis for the qualitative question revealed increases in declarative/conceptual and procedural knowledge in terms of sexual improvements/expansion; improvements in relationships; self-improvement/expansion; skill acquisition; connecting with others through OnlyFans; and value-related learning outcomes. These results provide insight into the ways users engage with OnlyFans for sexual learning, exploration, and expansion at individual and partner-levels. Findings have implications for sex education and research and practice in digital spaces.

Technology-Mediated Sexual Interactions, Social Anxiety, and Sexual Wellbeing: A Scoping Review

Technology-mediated sexual interactions (TMSI) are interpersonal exchanges via technology of self-created sexual material, including photos, videos, and auditory or text messages. There is little research on the factors that predict both TMSI experiences and their sexual wellbeing outcomes. Social anxiety is anxiety experienced in response to social or performance situations. From a cognitive–behavioural perspective, people higher in social anxiety may avoid TMSI, preventing positive or negative consequences. They also may use TMSI to avoid the anxiety caused by in-person sexual interactions, benefiting from access to sexual interactions while perpetuating anxiety about them. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the role of social anxiety in TMSI and its sexual wellbeing outcomes. We executed a comprehensive search strategy across eight academic databases and searched reference lists of included articles. We included 19 articles written in English or French that had a human sample and were published between 1991 and 2021 and evaluated connections between social anxiety constructs (e.g., shyness, anxiety) and TMSI-related experiences (e.g., sexting, internet sex addiction). The pattern of results suggested that social anxiety constructs may predict some but not all forms of TMSI. Future research from a cognitive–behavioural perspective will expand knowledge on social anxiety, TMSI, and its sexual wellbeing outcomes.

Traversing TechSex: benefits and risks in digitally mediated sex and relationships

BACKGROUND

Digital technologies play a significant role in people's sexual and intimate lives via smart phones, cameras, dating apps and social media. Although there is a large body of research on the potential risks posed by these technologies, research on benefits and pleasures is limited.

METHODS

This study explored digital sexual practices, including perceptions of risks and benefits among a sample of Australian adults (n=445). Data were collected in 2020 via an online survey. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were undertaken to identify significant relationships between demographic variables and the use of technologies in relation to perceived risks and benefits. The mean age of participants was 42 years, over half were women (58.5%) and identified as heterosexual (61.1%).

RESULTS

Findings reveal that use of digital media was common in participants' sex lives and relationships; 60.3% of participants had viewed pornography online, 34.9% had used dating apps, and 33.9% had sent sexual or naked self-images to another person. Over one in three reported positive outcomes from this: 38.2% felt emotionally connected to their partners due to online communication; 38.0% agreed that digital technologies facilitated closer connections;however, the majority of participants were aware of potential risks associated with online sexual engagement, particularly non-consensual exposure of their sexual or naked images, with women expressing greater concern.

CONCLUSIONS

Policy, legal and educational responses should be based on holistic understanding of digital sexual engagement, acknowledging the ways in which technologies can support sexual relationships while also building people's knowledge and capacity to manage risks.

Love in the Time of Corona: Predicting Willingness to Engage in Sexting During the First COVID-19-Related Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, lockdowns limited the options for physical intimacy and many resorted to technology-mediated forms of intimacy such as sexting. However, it is unclear what predicted willingness to engage in sexting during the lockdown. The present study filled this gap by investigating COVID-19-related social isolation, privacy concerns, age, and gender as predictors of willingness to engage in sexting. We further examined an interaction of COVID-19-related social isolation and privacy concerns on willingness to engage in sexting. We conducted online surveys with 494 young adults (Study 1) and with a quota-based sample of 437 adults (Study 2) in Austria. In both studies, negative binomial regressions revealed a positive effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting. Privacy concerns hindered young adults in Study 1 from engaging in sexting but not relatively older adults in Study 2. However, in neither study did privacy concerns moderate the effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting: Even individuals with high privacy concerns were more willing to sext under conditions of social isolation, suggesting that the need for intimacy outweighed the need for privacy protection. Gender had no effect in either study, indicating that men and women used sexting to cope with the unprecedented COVID-19-related situation.

Love in the Time of Corona: Predicting Willingness to Engage in Sexting During the First COVID-19-Related Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, in early 2020, lockdowns limited the options for physical intimacy and many resorted to technology-mediated forms of intimacy such as sexting. However, it is unclear what predicted willingness to engage in sexting during the lockdown. The present study filled this gap by investigating COVID-19-related social isolation, privacy concerns, age, and gender as predictors of willingness to engage in sexting. We further examined an interaction of COVID-19-related social isolation and privacy concerns on willingness to engage in sexting. We conducted online surveys with 494 young adults (Study 1) and with a quota-based sample of 437 adults (Study 2) in Austria. In both studies, negative binomial regressions revealed a positive effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting. Privacy concerns hindered young adults in Study 1 from engaging in sexting but not relatively older adults in Study 2. However, in neither study did privacy concerns moderate the effect of COVID-19-related social isolation on willingness to engage in sexting: Even individuals with high privacy concerns were more willing to sext under conditions of social isolation, suggesting that the need for intimacy outweighed the need for privacy protection. Gender had no effect in either study, indicating that men and women used sexting to cope with the unprecedented COVID-19-related situation.