Teenage sexting has recently managed to spark a moral panic. Susie O 'Brien and Imre Szeman have this to say about moral panic: At its height, moral panic spreads a wide blanket over social experience, interpreting diverse and random behaviors or practices as signs of a danger. Regardless of its general mythological origins, moral panic has real, measurable effects in the form of individual behavior, social behavior, in governmental policy. Sexting stands as a strange new practice that many are perceiving as dangerous. Parents are viewing sexting as a dangerous and vile act that is putting their children at risk ask. Sexting is regarded as a stain upon our society that, if left to manifest, will cause all our children to become sexual deviants. …show more content…
A good deal of the adults who despise sexting are people who possess minimal knowledge of modern technology. These are people who were not raised with this sort of technology and scores of them are weary of it. The lack of understanding has led to adult seeing sexting as a virus that has infiltrated society 's youth, when it is arguably a safer alternative to sex. In Madeleine Thomas ' "The Teen Sexting Overconnection," she quotes that "You can allow, them or you can prohibit them, but [teens] are going to sext and they are going to have sex regardless." This statement holds obvious truth and it also arouses the question "is the moral panic around sexting really about sexting, or is it about technology?" It would seem that there is a strong probability that a large part of the problem adults have with sexting is brought on by the fears they have regarding …show more content…
The other side has to do with the teens themselves. Why do teenagers sext? That is what one must think about to truly grasp the phenomena. A study conducted by Bridgewater State University found this: ... the most important motivation for sexting revealed in this study (and others) was pressure or coercion. Girls were more likely than boys to report that they had sexted, but the gender difference was entirely due to the girls being more likely to report that they had been pressured, coerced, blackmailed, or threatened into sexting. (Englander