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Young people's digitally-mediated interactions entail negotiating co-existing risks and opportunities. This paper discusses youth perspectives on these risks and opportunities, based on data from focus groups conducted with 12–21-year-olds in England. Analysis of examples of digitally-mediated interactions shared by participants suggests that pursuing opportunities involved or created risk for oneself and/or others, while motivations to pursue opportunities were shaped by risks resulting from the actions of others. Flows of risk and opportunity were, therefore, reciprocal across a dynamic continuum of 'digital' – 'non-digital' contexts and relational both for and between young people. It is argued that a reciprocal and relational conceptualisation of 'post-digital' negotiations of risk and opportunity among youth facilitates critical engagement with their accounts of their online lives as well as identification of the interconnections between individual, interpersonal and community-ethical spheres of meaning and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore UK healthcare professionals' practice and attitudes towards asking women with diabetes about sexual health problems, including symptoms of female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Methods: An online questionnaire to address the study aims was developed, piloted by ten healthcare professionals (HCPs) and completed by 111 eligible HCPs, recruited via professional networks and social media. Free text data were analysed and reported thematically. Two questions were analysed to test the hypothesis of differences between men's and women's responses. Results: The majority of respondents did not ask women with diabetes about sexual problems. Multiple barriers to inquiry were reported, including inadequate training, time constraints, competing priorities, the perceived likelihood that questions will cause surprise or distress (especially for certain groups of women), the belief that sexual problems are to be expected as women age, and the belief that FSD is complex or untreatable, with unclear management pathways. Exploratory findings indicated significant differences in men and women's responses (men disagreed more strongly with prioritisation, and fewer reported routine inquiry about sexual problems in their usual practice). Conclusions: HCPs reported not asking women with diabetes about sexual problems during routine care. They described multiple factors reinforcing the silence about sexual health, including inadequate education and perceived social risk for individual HCPs who deviate from the patterns of topics usually discussed in diabetes consultations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in schools in England is a pressing concern, especially since the 'Everyone's Invited' movement laid bare the extent of the problem across the country. This article analyses the national policy context, asserting that SGBV is a systemic problem rooted in young people's school and online peer cultures that requires transformative solutions, involving active youth participation. We introduce and explore the utility of the concept of postdigital sexual citizenship. We contrast this approach with the prevailing behavioural science 'nudge' philosophy of government policy making and societal discussions on youth sexuality and rights currently shaping Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) discourse and policy in England. Challenging adult-centric, top-down methods and instead empowering young people as post-digital sexual citizens entitled to comprehensive RSE is vital. While our focus is on England, the arguments apply globally to jurisdictions tackling SGBV in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people's perspectives on the potentialities of and problems with Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in England are well documented. This article shares insights from a co-design project conducted with young people and third-sector experts during 2020/21 which sought to identify and develop recommendations for schools regarding the design and delivery of critically informed RSE that engages with the realities and complexities of youth sociosexual life and development. The article discusses findings from workshops pertaining to how RSE can address the 'ecosystem' of young people's sociosexual lives and development; judgment and shame within and beyond the classroom; safe, constructive, and inclusive teaching and learning; and inclusivity and cultural sensitivity. The challenges of designing and delivering safe, inclusive, and meaningful RSE for learners, that upholds and supports their development as sexual citizens, are acknowledged and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There were limited opportunities for in-person social, intimate, and sexual interactions in England during 2020–2021, due to restrictions imposed by the UK government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. While previous studies examined the effects of lockdown on intimate relationships, there is less qualitative research regarding young people's perspectives on and experiences of digitally mediated intimacy (sexting) during the period. This paper discusses findings from focus groups with 80 adolescents and interviews with 38 young adults that explored the topic. Analysis identified a normalization of non-consensual distribution of intimate images within adolescent peer culture and a reluctance to report or intervene in response to incidents of non-consensual distribution that are witnessed or experienced. The adolescent girls and young adult women also described other forms of unwanted and invasive image-sharing and requests for images. Young adults held various perspectives on sexting during lockdown, with some describing sexting as unfulfilling and/or "risky" and others sharing experiences of using sexting to generate intimacy and, among some, engaging in unwanted sexting with partners. By considering both adolescent and young adult perspectives obtained through focus groups and interviews, the study highlighted how group-level norms and meanings surrounding the risks and rewards of sexting may be reproduced or reworked as individuals transition from adolescence to young adulthood. The study underscores the need to support adolescents and young adults in cultivating healthy digital sexual cultures and interpersonal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people's socio-sexual lives and development have become increasingly digitally mediated over recent years. There are implications for classroom-based Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE), which has recently been made mandatory in most state-maintained schools in England. The evidence base pertaining to good practice in RSHE is extensive and identifies a need for RSHE to be relatable and relevant to learners, and to position learners as active participants in the pedagogic process. Typically, young people's use of digital media is considered a risk or problem to address in RSHE and this includes their use of digital media for formal and informal learning about sex and relationships. This paper explores the potential value of digital media to classroom based RSHE. It considers how using digital media in the classroom could help to convey material in a relatable and relevant way, including how the 'influencer model' may represent a new opportunity for or form of peer delivered education. It also discusses the value of strengthening young people's skills in identifying reliable and trustworthy content and in applying the content to their own lives, which may necessitate opportunities for independent and self-directed learning away from the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the participation of children and young people within government consultation processes. It considers the recent Department for Education consultation on its statutory guidance for schools for Relationships and Sex Education in England. The paper is based on a Freedom of Information request for the consultation responses categorised as from 'young people'. We identify two issues in our interrogation of the data. First, there is evidence that a substantial proportion of responses were not submitted by young people. Second, the consultation approach did not include all the features necessary for meaningful consultation. We consider the implications for the youth consultation on policy matters that affect them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In England, the Children and Social Work Act (HMSO, 2017) bestowed compulsory status on relationships and sex education (RSE), which means that young people's right to receive RSE has been codified in law. This paper analyzes how this right is upheld and enacted within the Department for Education (DfE) (2019) statutory guidance on RSE for schools in England. The analysis suggests that the guidance features contradictory discourses in which young people's rights are ostensibly advanced, but remain structured by adult-centric, heteronormative understandings of sex and relationships. It upholds a decontextualized and legalistic approach to rights, responsibilities, informed choice, and decision making. A narrow conception of rights is particularly evident regarding young people's digital sexual cultures, which are predominantly framed in terms of risk and harm. We argue that scholars should investigate how educators are designing and delivering RSE in light of the guidance, and the opportunities for and obstacles to a genuinely "rights-based" approach to RSE. While the policy discussed in this article is specific to England, the discussion has wider relevance for practitioners and policymakers across cultural and geographic contexts as it draws upon a model for analyzing how young people's sexuality is presented and addressed in legislative and curricular documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educating boys about consent in schools in England is required as part of the now-statutory Relationships, Sex, and Health Education curriculum and, moreover, is considered important for addressing sexual violence, abuse, and harassment among young people. The present paper draws on qualitative data collected in three schools in southeast England to explore how boys are being taught about consent and how they relate to and interpret educational messages about consent in terms of their sociosexual subjectivities and peer sexual cultures. Data was collected during May–June 2022 through classroom observations, focus groups with boys, and discussions with teachers in a co-educational academy, a boys' academy, and a boys' independent school, all in southeast England. The data suggests that while typical consent education messages may rationalise or provide a 'road map' for consent, the boys felt uncertain and anxious about navigating the perceived, often anticipated, realities of youth sexual culture. The framing of sexual activity as only consensual, and thus legitimate, if there is a clear and direct yes, conflicted with these realities. As supposed initiators of sex, as masculine heterosexual subjects, the boys felt a responsibility for obtaining consent yet seemed to lack confidence regarding the socio-affective skills required for doing so. The paper calls for an integrated model of consent education that addresses knowledge, skills (including emotional literacy), and the normative contextual contingencies that constrain the operation of free choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an examination of 'frexting' ('friend' + 'sexting'), which is defined as the exchange of personally-produced intimate images among friends. It draws upon accounts of frexting shared by teenage girls during a 2016 study investigating sexting conducted in Surrey, England. Frexting is theorised as a form of homosociality among girls and explores the extent to which and how it reflects, reproduces and subverts the dominant gendered social order within youth digital intimacies. The analysis suggests that while frexting involves intimate self-representation away from the male gaze, it reflects and reinforces a post-feminist cultural landscape characterised by (self-)scrutiny and regulation of girls' bodies and bodily self-representations. Frexting worked to demonstrate an authentic, relaxed, carefree and confident but, importantly, non-sexual sensibility, with implications for who and what constitutes legible participation. While subverting normative interpretations of girls' bodies as inherently, and problematically, sexual, frexting did not fundamentally trouble the post-feminist cultural landscape within which the girls were operating. The paper concludes by arguing that for frexting to become a truly emancipatory endeavour, it is necessary to dismantle the socio-cultural context that restricts and regulates girls' abilities to relate to and represent their bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people encounter and experience both risks and opportunities when participating as actors and interactors in online spaces. Digital skills and resilience are considered important parts of a "rights-based" approach to keeping young people "safe" online in ways that enable them to avoid harm while benefiting from the opportunities. The present paper discusses findings from focus group research conducted in England with 60 young people aged 13 to 21. The research explored their perspectives on responding to different online harms, including online hate, unwanted sexual content, and unrealistic body- and appearance-related content. The findings are discussed in terms of scholarship on digital citizenship, specifically regarding the social, affective, and technical dimensions of online life and the skills required for resilience. The analysis suggests that there was a tension between young people's individualistic responsibilisation of themselves and one another for responding to risk online and the socio-emotional aspects of online life as perceived and recounted by them in the focus groups. It is concluded that a youth-centred approach to resilience is required that encapsulates the multidimensional nature of encountering, experiencing, and responding to risk online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual consent has increasingly become a central component of Relationships and Sex Education. This paper draws upon findings from qualitative research conducted with teenagers in England, which explored their perspectives on consent within their contemporary youth sexual cultures, including in digital (sexting) contexts. The findings suggest that young people's definitions of consent often did not correspond to the socially- and contextually contingent realities of negotiating and establishing consensual sex(ting). While young people's contemporary sexual cultures may look somewhat different, longstanding gender norms and sexual scripts shaped their attitudes towards consent. The implications of the findings for RSE are discussed, including the need for more collaborative dialogue and exchange between educators and learners that engages with the situated realities of contemporary youth sexual culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young men tend to be constructed as being at low risk of harm and able to extract value from sexting, compared to young women. Drawing upon findings from a qualitative study exploring practices and perceptions of sexting among 14–18 year-old participants in southeast England, I discuss the meanings and norms surrounding young men's sexting practices. I outline how these meanings and norms underpinned perceptions regarding the value available to young men through sexting. Young men were not, however, equally able to extract value and social capital through sexting, and participants discussed examples of the social shaming of young men who sext. I discuss how young men took up diverse positions with regard to masculine heterosexuality within youth sexting culture, in which they reworked and challenged the ideals and assumptions inherent to 'hegemonic masculinity'. I draw two conclusions: firstly, it should not be assumed that young men are inherently able to gain value through sexting; secondly, narratives of risk and shame may mean that while young men distance themselves from sexting, gendered assumptions and inequalities regarding bodily and sexual expression remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores how young people construct gendered social meanings and cultural norms surrounding sexual and bodily expression in youth sexting culture. Previous research suggests youth sexting is a gendered phenomenon in which young men are able to seek social capital through sexting, whereas young women are subject to social shaming and harassment. Drawing upon findings from group and one-to-one interviews with 41 young people aged 14–18, I show how constructs of risk, shame, and responsibility operated along gendered lines. Young people attributed agency and legitimacy to young men's sexual practices, whereas young women were disempowered, denied legitimacy, and tasked with managing gendered risks of harm in youth sexting culture. I discuss how young women negotiated and navigated risk and shame and, in some instances, made space for safe, pleasurable sexting experiences despite and within these narratives. The accounts of two young women, who shared experiences sexting and social shaming, are presented to show some of the ways young women make sense of social meanings and cultural norms on individual and interpersonal levels. I conclude that challenging gendered harm requires a (re)legitimisation of feminine sexuality and bodily expression away from narratives of risk and shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth sexters are considered vulnerable to privacy violations in the form of unauthorized distribution, in which sexts are distributed beyond the intended recipient without the consent of the subject. This article draws on group and one-to-one interviews with young people 14 to 18 years of age living in southeastern England to show how they constructed privacy rights and obligations in sexting. The analysis suggests that their constructions were shaped by individualistic orientations to risk management, social meanings of privacy in the "digital world," and broader norms and values regarding gender, trust, and approved conduct of behavior in intimate relationships. The article concludes that educational and community interventions on sexting with young people should deconstruct and challenge narrow ethical frameworks regarding privacy rights and obligations, and young people's tendency to blame and responsibilize victims of privacy violations in sexting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]