Adolescents’ communications and interactions often take place online, including when it comes to sexuality. The act of sending, receiving, and forwarding of sexual texts and pictures via technology is a phenomenon known as sexting. Such behavior is increasingly recognized by scholars as a normal part of adolescents’ sexual development. As such, sexting might allow inexperienced adolescents to experiment with sexuality in a way that they feel comfortable with. It could also be a way to flirt with a love interest or to maintain a romantic relationship. 

Furthermore, adolescents might produce sexual pictures to obtain peers’ validation about their body and thus increase their self-confidence. Therefore, sexting could be a way for adolescents to build intimacy and explore their sexuality. Such positive outcomes are related to consensual sexting, whereby all the parties involved agree to the exchange of sexual pictures. 

However, sexting may also occur without the consent of one of the parties involved. Nonconsensual sexting, also referred to as “aggravated,” is a form of sexting that involves criminal or abusive elements, such as pressuring someone to sext, threatening someone with negative consequences if they do not sext, sending sexual pictures to nonconsenting recipients, or sharing someone’s sexts without their knowledge and permission. This work will focus on the latter, that is the nonconsensual dissemination of sexual images, defined as the sharing of a sexual picture or video without the consent of the person depicted.