Do feminists send nudes? How young women navigate sexting and feminism

To gain insights into how young women negotiate the gendered context in which they live their digital sexual lives, the research reported here sought to explore young people’s understandings of feminism with regards to sexting. Drawing on small friendship group interviews with young people in Aotearoa, New Zealand, I reflect on 12–16 year old young people’s negotiation of sexting and subjectivity in a post-feminist landscape. The young women in this study had to navigate traditional gender roles, such as being considered a slut or a prude, alongside a feminist/not-feminist binary. They were apprehensive about whether sexting was considered a failure in being a feminist, or whether it was more reputationally damaging to be deemed to be a feminist rather than someone who might sext. I argue that young women are in a triple bind—they want equality, they don’t want to alienate young men, nor are they sure what legitimate sexuality looks like within the context of feminism.