Sexting for 2 out of 3 guys, 13% is more fulfilling than sex

Exchanging sexual videos or messages and chats with red light content. Sexting is now a widespread practice among young people and “boys like to play with ‘fire’. Even if they know the hidden risks behind sending photos or videos of their private parts, they do not disdain the exchange: two out of three boys they claim to have received sexually explicit messages on the Internet at least once. Half recognize that sexting even with a partner is not safe and harmless “. This is what emerges from the third part of the results of the survey conducted by the National Childhood and Adolescence Observatory of the Italian Federation of Scientific Sexology (Fiss), based on the responses of 3,500 boys between 11 and 24 years of age to a questionnaire, published on the Skuola website. .net last November. “Sexting among young people is very widespread – continues Fiss – a share, albeit small, equal to 8.9%, receives them almost daily. What effect did it generate? Most felt disturbed, while only one a minor share did not detect anything. For 14.4% of the boys receiving sexual messages aroused curiosity, but for 13.5% it created embarrassment. Those who felt aroused were 10.9% and only a minor part had reacted with anger (8.3%). It is mainly the under 18 who feel disturbed compared to older boys, who react mostly with indifference, and only a few with anger. With respect to gender and sexual orientation, it is females (35.6%) and young people with heterosexual and bisexual orientation to say they are more disturbed “. And between sex and sexting? “More than half of teens find real sex more fulfilling than sexting, but there is still a percentage (12.8%) who don’t think so. For them it is more fulfilling to receive sexual messages or photos than real sex. They are. especially males, between the ages of 19 and 24, those who declare themselves asexual or pansexual to prefer sexting more than real sex “, highlights the survey that will be presented at the Observatory conference to be held on June 24, organized from Fiss. “These data show us that sexting is a growing phenomenon among adolescents and young adults – warns Piero Stettini, psychotherapist and clinical sexologist from Savona and vice president of Fiss – Compared to the investigations of some time ago, the reception of sexual images via the web has definitely increased, especially among girls, while similarly in the past it is more boys who react with curiosity and excitement and more girls with embarrassment and discomfort. However, more than half of the sample reports disturbed reactions, which indicates that sexting, while constituting a new widespread form of communication, exploration and experimentation among young people, presents potentially harmful aspects in developmental age, which require adults to implementation of adequate educational and risk prevention measures “. “These data tell us that sexting contains an idea of ​​transgression that particularly worries smaller groups, girls and those who define themselves as heterosexual. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the older groups who have a greater domesticity with pornography , even if Covid has lowered the age of users, they can evaluate it as less worrying. In general, a different awareness is emerging also for the dissemination of news and the work done at school “, comments Roberta Giommi, psychotherapist, clinical sexologist, director of the International Institute of Sexology of Florence, member of the Fiss board. “In fact, 12.8% declare that they have shared at least once an intimate photo or video of other people without first requesting their consent. Among these, 6, 5% say they have done it many times. Those who share without consent are the largest (22.1%), females (7.7%). The data tells us that a certain attraction / curiosity remains for this modality which is intriguing and easily achievable. Unfortunately, in these cases there is no perception of the invasion of the other’s field, the non-respect and the prevarication of a personal space. After all, this is also a form of violence that should be stressed several times: sexting can be an intriguing game, but only if shared “, admonishes Roberta Rossi, psychotherapist and sexologist, director of the Institute of Clinical Sexology in Rome and past president Fiss .