Teenage Perspectives on Sexting and Pleasure in Italy: Going Beyond the Concept of Moral Panics

Digital media play an important role in the process of identity construction, including sexual identity and its construction within a peer group. When it comes to teenagers, sexting discourses are impregnated with moral panics, rather than critical reasoning. As a result, adults are rarely interested in the significance of sexting in teenage lives. This chapter wishes to give voice to young boys and girls to better understand why sexting is in some instances a favoured practice and how they make sense of it. The objective is to critically reflect upon the context of moral panics within which sexting is predominantly understood and to suggest strategies that could help young people develop a critical approach to sexting.