Representative Anthony Weiner made sexual texting, or sexting, the top national news story for weeks. The embarrassment and pressure finally caused him to resign. Despite the obvious stupidity that a public official would take such risks that jeopardized his career, it baffles me that someone’s personal and sexual life gets scandalized and over publicized ― especially since sex happens! After all how did you get here? And sexual internet searches are frequently visited sites and keywords. NY Times said “One study found that more than a third of Americans had visited an online porn site at least once a month, according to a 2009 report in The Journal of Economic Perspectives. That study analyzed subscriptions to one major provider of adult entertainment, finding a relatively even distribution of subscriptions across the country.” So doesn’t it seem a bit hypocritical to lynch Rep. Weiner for his act of horny stupidity?
Despite what you think about Rep. Weiner, I found some interesting statistics about sexting from a Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project based on a representative sample of 2,252 adults surveyed by telephone in May 2010. Sexting is on the rise especially with younger adults:
- 6% of adults 18 and older have sent a sexually suggestive nude or nearly nude image to someone by text
- 15% of adults have received sexts
- 13% ages 18-29 have sent sexts
- 5% ages 30-49 have sent sexts
- 31% ages 18-29 have received sexts
- 17% ages 30-49 have received sexts
- 15% have received a sexually suggestive image or video of someone they know.
Sex, lust and technology ― as we saw with Rep. Weiner, it’s a wacky combination that obviously can blow up virally in detrimental ways ―giving a whole new perspective on privacy concerns with technology.
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