Online sex pics common among Swedish teens
A fifth of Swedish youths have posted pictures of themselves posing sexually on the internet and out of these, 11 percent of girls did it because they felt forced to, a new survey shows.
22 percent of these teens had uploaded sexual pictures or videos of themselves because they were looking for comments on their looks.
“Acknowledgment and praise aren’t bad in themselves, but it’s not good to become addicted to it, doing anything to get attention,” Ingrid Gråberg, psychologist with extensive experience from child and youth psychiatry, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN).
According to Gråberg, this addiction to acknowledgment of one’s looks explains why the survey showed girls were more likely than boys to pose sexually.
“Boys generally receive more attention for other things. Girls and boys are treated differently from the day they’re born, several studies have shown that,” Gråberg said.
A wavering self-confidence may be an explanation for why so many Swedish youths have chosen to pose sexually online.
“Self-esteem plays a part. Obviously, no one answer will apply to all, but most have a desire to be popular, and that isn’t a new phenomenon,” Gråberg said.
The survey was conducted by research institute Ungdomsbarometern, and consisted of online interviews with 1009 Swedish youths between the ages of 15 and 24.
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22 percent of these teens had uploaded sexual pictures or videos of themselves because they were looking for comments on their looks.
“Acknowledgment and praise aren’t bad in themselves, but it’s not good to become addicted to it, doing anything to get attention,” Ingrid Gråberg, psychologist with extensive experience from child and youth psychiatry, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN).
According to Gråberg, this addiction to acknowledgment of one’s looks explains why the survey showed girls were more likely than boys to pose sexually.
“Boys generally receive more attention for other things. Girls and boys are treated differently from the day they’re born, several studies have shown that,” Gråberg said.
A wavering self-confidence may be an explanation for why so many Swedish youths have chosen to pose sexually online.
“Self-esteem plays a part. Obviously, no one answer will apply to all, but most have a desire to be popular, and that isn’t a new phenomenon,” Gråberg said.
The survey was conducted by research institute Ungdomsbarometern, and consisted of online interviews with 1009 Swedish youths between the ages of 15 and 24.
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