When Sexting Transcends From Private Affair To Public

You know when you’ve done something you really regret?

Something simple, like telling a secret that you weren‘t supposed to tell or procrastinating on something important.

There are those moments where you wish you could do things over again, but since you know you can’t.

What do you do when something you thought was private is not so private anymore and you can’t take it back?

Sexting can be considered one of those moments. Once you press send, there is no going back.

Sending raunchy pictures in messages can end up backfiring badly. | minaeditores/ photobucket.com

Let’s be clear on the definition of sexting. Sexting is the sending of explicit sexual messages, in text form or in pictures, from one cell phone to another.
In this day and age, sexting is like a new way of flirting.

There are many people who are not comfortable with speaking to someone they like face-to-face or even on the phone. It is much easier for them to send flirty texts.

There is a fine line between a flirtatious text message and a sexually explicit one.

Telling someone what you’d like them to do to you with a particular body part is not exactly a publicly accepted form of courting.

Yes, you may trust the person you’re with, but at the same time there is not a 100 percent guarantee that whatever you send will not be shared with other people.

It seems like that’s impossible, right?

You can’t imagine you’re loved one doing something like that to you, so you send the message.

This can go one of two ways: your significant other will either keep the picture for themselves or be untrue to you and show it to someone else.

Information travels very quickly, especially if it is something interesting.

Not many people can keep a secret; they usually tell at least one other person.

Now think about it, if that one person tells another person, isn’t it logical that whoever just found out is going to tell someone else?

This may cause you to think twice before you heed to the ever popular consolation, “Your secret is safe with me.”

Between all the networking sites like Facebook, Youtube, Myspace and Twitter, information about you is added by other people daily.

Photos you’re tagged in, videos you’ve made and even quotes of things that you have said.

Sometimes these things were intended just for fun and were not meant to appear on the Internet.

What would you do if one of your sexts ended up on the Internet or was shown to more people than you intended?

The news could spread faster than the amount of time it took to send the text or picture. Sexting isn’t something that can just ruin your reputation, but it is also a crime.

It can be considered child pornography for people that are underage and since it is most common with teenagers, there is more of a possibility of legal charges.

Many get pressured into sexting by the person they are talking to.

They feel the need to be accepted and  feel that if they do not send the picture (or whatever it is) they will not like them anymore … if they ever liked them to begin with.

Don’t feel pressured to send explicit texts to anyone. The excuse “They made me do it” is not going to work.

No one can make you take your clothes off, take a picture of yourself and send it to anyone. It’s a better idea to think about your actions before you do something.

There is always a little voice in the back of your head that is telling you to do or not do something. It’s up to you whether or not you choose to listen to it.

Next time you decide to send a sext, think twice. Once you press the “send” button there is no turning back.

Good luck loving!

Domnique C. Barchus can be reached at dominique.barchus@spartans.ut.edu