Research Proposal

Technology and human life are very much related. Society of today’s era is very much dependent on the technology. It has been analysed that technology has positive and negative impact of the society. As more and more people are engaging with social media of communication becomes so easy because of the technical advancement. It has been analysed that world has become a small place for the people as they can communicate with each other without the restrictions of the distance (Hinduja and Patchin, 2010). As the society is gaining many benefits from using the technology, it has been observed hat cybercrimes are also increasing day by day. The identity of everyone is very open these days. People can reach up to the person and know about the person just by tying the name on the internet. Some of the people are using these facilities to harass and bully the other person especially women (Mitchell, et al. 2012). Women are becoming continuous victims of these types of activities now and then. It is required to study that what are social ramification of these practices and what the women are facing because of these activities like sexting.

Internet technology is the advancement that has provided many benefits to the society but at the same time the society is bearing high costs of using the same. Women are becoming the victims of the wrong and immoral practices performed by some of the people on internet. Sexting is the word that has been evolved these days (Spencer, et al. 2015). It is the word that is described as the transmission and transferring of sexually related texts and images. The medium of transfer can be mobile phones and other devices. A magazine called the Girlfriend in Australia has conducted the survey in 2007 and this survey concluded that 40% of the total girls surveyed were engaged in sexting (Albury and Crawford, 2012). As far as various studies are considered, it has been analyse that there is no proper definition of sexting has been given. It is defined in many different ways by different authors in different literatures. Some of the authors suggested that there are four different roles that are involved in the process for sexting (Sacco, et al. 2010). The first is the subject of the photo, the other one is the person who click the photo, next is the one who distributes the same and the last one is who receives the picture. Therefore, these roles are called as victim, receiver, forwarder and the saver (D’Antona, Kevorkian and Russom, 2010).

Various researches have been done on the topic and the experts and given their opinions on the same. It has been discussed that there are four themes that are related to sexting. The first theme is about pressure that can also be conceptualised as sexual violence. The next theme is related to the culture (Livingstone and Görzig, 2012). The culture today is very much influenced by the hyper sexual nature. The third theme is related to the technological space that is available with the young people these days and the last theme is related to the developmental stage or adolescence behaviour of the youth (Ybarra and Mitchell, 2014). 3 tier models have been developed in the response of sexting amongst the young people. Tier 1 includes the people who are engaged in sexting one picture to one person or have one picture and do not disseminate the same (Ferguson, 2011). Tier 2 involves mass sexters. Mass sexters are the one who are engaged in activities like sending a picture to ten or more people or it involves the repeat sexters who send some pictures to many people once in a month. The last section is tier 3 which involves people who sends pictures or mass texts to more than 11 people many times in a month (Lounsbury, Mitchell and Finkelhor, 2011). As far as the legal aspect is concerned, it has been analysed that young people face many risks of being criminally charged for production and distribution of the pornography and sexted images of a minor. Much debate has been conducted on sexting and related laws regarding child offenses and pornography offenses. There are many systems that regulate the offense in Australia such as federal, civil, criminal along with defamation, privacy, nuisance law etc.

It has been analysed from the survey and the information gathered that most of the women and girls are facing the issues of sexting because of pressure while very few of the males are doing the same because of pressure (Judge, 2012). It has been analyse that most of the people who are need in sexting call it fun and also agrees that they have done it initially because of pressure. Some of the authors argues that clicking of sexual images of young women, distributing the same without their concern and sexting them is just another mean of having a controlling  power over them so that men can shame the or black mail them in front of the whole world through media (Albury, et al.  2013). This statement or argument can be supported by the fact that the technology and ICT is used by many users for wrong means and for abusing the women on social media. Several discussion papers have suggested that the subject of the pictures or sexts are the one who act as the victim and the one who are forwarding or receiving the images are not (Houck, et al.  2014). Social ramifications associated with sexting can include:

Damage to a person’s reputation

Damage to a person’s self-esteem

Sexually explicit photographs being spread to unintended audiences

People involved in issues of sexting becoming depressed and/or embarrassed

Victims losing valuable friendships or relationships with family members and partners

The research objectives of the study suggests that it is very important to analyse the various aspects of technology and social ramification of sexting.it has been analysed that advancement in technology is providing various benefits to the people but also resulting in development of some wrong and immoral practices which involves sexting. It is required to analyse the ill effects of sexting on women thus some of the objectives of this research are:

Primary question:

1. What are the impacts of sexting on women?

Secondary questions:

1. What are the social ramifications of sexting?
2. What are the reasons of sexting?
3. How the women are exploited through sexting?

There are various key concepts that need to be understood in order to conduct this research on sexting and its impact on the women. Some of the key concepts that are very much important are:

Definitions:

Sexting: Sexting is the demonstration of sending sexually express messages, fundamentally between cell phones. The term was first promoted in the early 21st century, and is a portmanteau of sex and messaging, where the last mentioned is implied in the wide feeling of sending content potentially with pictures (Martinez-Prather and Vandiver, 2014). It has been analysed that sexting is about sharing the sexual text and images that can arouse the person who is receiving the text or image.

Social ramifications: social ramifications are advanced ill effects of any particular subject or issue.in this case, the social ramifications of sexting has been discussed. it has been analysed that if someone is distributing the sexual image of a women which was sent to a single person out of any pressure or because of an intimate relationships then that women is said to be a victim of sexting and the social ramifications of these can be ruined image of that women.

Sexters: Sexters are the one who are engaged in the activity of sexting but it does not involve the subject of the picture or sext.it involves the one who distributes or receives the image or the sext (Temple, et al.  2014).

Cybercrimes: cybercrimes is a general term that holds onto such violations as phishing, Visa cheats, bank theft, illicit downloading, mechanical undercover work, and erotic entertainment, grabbing kids by means of talk rooms, tricks, cyber terrorism, creation and additionally dissemination of infections, Spam etc. Every single such wrongdoing are PC related and encouraged violations.

Cyber bullying: cyber bullying is a practice that is causing clamour in the entire legitimate framework. It is another marvel which has emerged in this web age (Strassberg, et al.  2013). Cyber bullying can be characterized as “The utilization of electronic correspondence to spook a man, commonly by sending messages of a scary or debilitating nature.

As far as the ethical concerns are considered, it has been analysed that sexting is the issue that can face the number of ethical challenges as it is a very sensitive topic in the society. The participant needs to be involved in the research should be carefully handles and it is the duty of the researcher to make them understand the importance of the research and the meaning of the topic. This is because it can be subjected to some people as the issue of interference in personal life. Ethical risks need to be resolved by asking the respondents to take it as a research and not to their egos. It is required to maintain the dignity in asking the questions and discussing the issues and many young people are involved in the research. It is the topic that can have wrong impact on the people who are not very much aware of the issue and thus it is required to make them educated regarding the issue and the problem that are developing due to the subject.

This is the study that requires the qualitative method. It is required to do because of the aim of the study and the theoretical framework that are associated with the subject. A qualitative method of study is used when very little knowledge is explored about the subject and reasons and theoretical aspects of the subjects needs to be known (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). Quantitative research is basically used the measure the social phenomenon while the qualitative study used to understand those social process. It is the issue that requires the thinking of the people regarding the topic and it does not aim to find out the numbers.

Data collection methods:

There are several options available to collect the data. The data collection methods are the methods or the techniques that helps in collecting the relevant data from the sample that has been selected for the research (Neuman, 2013). Some of the methods that have been used in the research are:

Focus groups: it has been analysed that at the initial level, focus groups has been used to collect the data. This is because group discussion is very useful for the research project as it provides the different insights of the topic (Noor, 2008). Many authors have suggested that focus groups provide a great advantage of group interactions to generate the data. The interaction becomes the source of data on the focus groups.

Individual semi structured interviews:

It has been analysed that interviews are one of the most popular methods to gather the data specifically with the individuals. The interviews help the researchers to know about the views of the people and their assumptions regarding the topic. It is assumed in the interviews that each of the people who are being interviews is aware of the topic. Interview is the very interactive process and thus provides the in depth insights and knowledge about the subject or the research area (Noor, 2008). As focus group was the group activity, interview is the privet activity and many questions that cannot be discussed in group can be asked in private interviews. Interviews also allow the people to share their personal opinions about the topic freely.

Sampling:

Sampling is the method that deals with selecting the sample from the population on which the research needs to be conducted. It has been analysed that there are various methods of sampling(Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). The major division of sampling are probability sampling and non probability sampling. It has been analysed that in this research random non probability sampling has been used as the method.

Sample size: as far as the sample size is considered, it has been analysed that 40 young people are recruited from different educational institutes in order to conduct the study of focus groups and interviews. This has helped in analysing the behaviour and thinking of different people. 20 were males and 20 were females out of those 40 sample.

Timetable is used to divide the work activities and allocation of time is also done. This act as the guideline to support the research:

It has been conclude from the research that sexting is the very important and the crucial issue in the society. It has been analysed that many females are facing harassment and issues because of the activities that includes sexting. The research has been conducted in order to analyse the impact of sexting on the females and the criminal offense that the young people are engaging these days. The data has been collected from the methods such as focus groups and interviews. The interview is semi structure in nature and thus the question are made at the time of interview as per the answers given by the interviewees.

Albury, K. and Crawford, K., 2012. Sexting, consent and young people’s ethics: Beyond Megan’s Story. Continuum, 26(3), pp.463-473.

Albury, K., Crawford, K., Byron, P. and Mathews, B.P., 2013. Young people and sexting in Australia: Ethics, representation and the law. ARC Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation/Journalism and Media Research Centre, UNSW.

D’Antona, R., Kevorkian, M. and Russom, A., 2010. Sexting, texting, cyberbullying and keeping youth safe online. Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4), pp.523-528.

Ferguson, C.J., 2011. Sexting behaviors among young Hispanic women: Incidence and association with other high-risk sexual behaviors. Psychiatric Quarterly, 82(3), pp.239-243.

Hinduja, S. and Patchin, J.W., 2010. Sexting: A brief guide for educators and parents. Cyberbullying Research Center.

Houck, C.D., Barker, D., Rizzo, C., Hancock, E., Norton, A. and Brown, L.K., 2014. Sexting and sexual behavior in at-risk adolescents. Pediatrics, 133(2), pp.e276-e282.

Judge, A.M., 2012. “Sexting” among US adolescents: Psychological and legal perspectives. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 20(2), pp.86-96.

Livingstone, S. and Görzig, A., 2012. Sexting’: the exchange of sexual messages online among European youth. Children, risk and safety on the internet. Kids online in comparative perspective, pp.151-164.

Lounsbury, K., Mitchell, K.J. and Finkelhor, D., 2011. The True Prevalence of “Sexting”.

Martinez-Prather, K. and Vandiver, D.M., 2014. Sexting among teenagers in the United States: A retrospective analysis of identifying motivating factors, potential targets, and the role of a capable guardian. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 8(1), p.21.

Mitchell, K.J., Finkelhor, D., Jones, L.M. and Wolak, J., 2012. Prevalence and characteristics of youth sexting: A national study. Pediatrics, 129(1), pp.13-20.

Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.

Noor, K.B.M., 2008. Case study: A strategic research methodology. American journal of applied sciences, 5(11), pp.1602-1604.

Sacco, D., Argudin, R., Maguire, J. and Tallon, K., 2010. Sexting: Youth practices and legal implications.

Spencer, J., Olson, J., Schrager, S., Tanaka, D. and Belzer, M., 2015. 40. Sexting and Adolescents: A descriptive study of sexting and youth in an urban population. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(2), p.S22.

Strassberg, D.S., McKinnon, R.K., Sustaíta, M.A. and Rullo, J., 2013. Sexting by high school students: An exploratory and descriptive study. Archives of Sexual behavior, 42(1), pp.15-21.

Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

Temple, J.R., Le, V.D., van den Berg, P., Ling, Y., Paul, J.A. and Temple, B.W., 2014. Brief report: Teen sexting and psychosocial health. Journal of adolescence, 37(1), pp.33-36.

Willard, N., 2010. Sexting and youth: Achieving a rational response. Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4), pp.542-562.

Ybarra, M.L. and Mitchell, K.J., 2014. “Sexting” and its relation to sexual activity and sexual risk behavior in a national survey of adolescents. Journal of adolescent health, 55(6), pp.757-764.

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