From Selfies to Sexting: Tween Girls, Intimacy, and Subjectivities.

In this article I attempt to contribute to the debates on sexualization, and on tween's sexual agency and choice by reporting on a qualitative study of how 53 tween girls self-presented in discourse in the context of sexting (sending sexually explicit text messages and pictures to others). More specifically, the study aims to interrogate tween's sexual agency and the complexity of girl's choices by analyzing their evaluative beliefs about and motivations for, sexting. I argue that the contradictory discursive constructions of multiple femininities not only illustrate issues of regulation and resistance, but also highlight the blurred boundaries between dominant culture and agency. My findings suggest that the sexual agency implied in sexting shows the tension between the reproduction of dominant culture and hegemony and the presence of a feminine discourse of empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]