The emotional bystander: sexting and image-based sexual abuse among young adults
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The emotional bystander : sexting and image-based sexual abuse among young adults. / Harder, Sidsel Kirstine.
In: Journal of Youth Studies, Vol. 24, No. 5, 2021, p. 655-669.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The emotional bystander
T2 - sexting and image-based sexual abuse among young adults
AU - Harder, Sidsel Kirstine
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Digital sharing of sexually explicit imagery is a social and emotional phenomenon with at least three actors: A sender of an intimate image who is sexting with a consensual receiver – and a third party, who might non-consensually view the image later. In this paper, third parties are conceptualized as bystanders and it is analysed first, how non-consensual sharing makes the bystanders feel and secondly, how sexters feel about the potential bystanders. Data consists of 25 interviews with 18–25-year old Danes, who had experiences with sending, receiving and viewing intimate images digitally. Their narratives are analysed using Arlie Hochschild’s sociology of emotions to understand how young adults work with changing and expressing emotions in digital intimacy. Findings suggest that bystanders experience non-consensual sharing situations as awkward, uncomfortable and ethically problematic ‘oversharing’. Rather than intervening, bystanders manage their conflicting feelings by resorting to ‘surface acting’. In sexting, ‘deep acting’ and cropping technologies are used to reduce the emotional harm of bystander viewing. The role of bystanders constitutes an important research gap in relation to the affective complexities of sexual image exchange. The paper’s findings are applied in a critical discussion of campaigns advising young people to ‘sext safe’ and ‘speak-up’.
AB - Digital sharing of sexually explicit imagery is a social and emotional phenomenon with at least three actors: A sender of an intimate image who is sexting with a consensual receiver – and a third party, who might non-consensually view the image later. In this paper, third parties are conceptualized as bystanders and it is analysed first, how non-consensual sharing makes the bystanders feel and secondly, how sexters feel about the potential bystanders. Data consists of 25 interviews with 18–25-year old Danes, who had experiences with sending, receiving and viewing intimate images digitally. Their narratives are analysed using Arlie Hochschild’s sociology of emotions to understand how young adults work with changing and expressing emotions in digital intimacy. Findings suggest that bystanders experience non-consensual sharing situations as awkward, uncomfortable and ethically problematic ‘oversharing’. Rather than intervening, bystanders manage their conflicting feelings by resorting to ‘surface acting’. In sexting, ‘deep acting’ and cropping technologies are used to reduce the emotional harm of bystander viewing. The role of bystanders constitutes an important research gap in relation to the affective complexities of sexual image exchange. The paper’s findings are applied in a critical discussion of campaigns advising young people to ‘sext safe’ and ‘speak-up’.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - sexting
KW - image-based sexual abuse
KW - bystanders
KW - emotions
KW - young adults
U2 - 10.1080/13676261.2020.1757631
DO - 10.1080/13676261.2020.1757631
M3 - Journal article
VL - 24
SP - 655
EP - 669
JO - Journal of Youth Studies
JF - Journal of Youth Studies
SN - 1367-6261
IS - 5
ER -
ID: 241750918