Resultantly, how they seek to obtain images of girls in the peer group could be criticised. Boys constructed as ‘going too far’ when they sext were described as ‘desperate’ or ‘creepy’. Participants emphasised that boys, while they may legitimately be ‘pursuers’, need to balance this with just ‘letting things happen’, so to look like they have not had to try too hard. I: So, how would you go about it in a non-creepy way if you’re a guy? Dan (15-year-old boy): Like, you’d get to know someone first. Simon (15-year-old boy): Like, you wouldn’t really ask them – Adam (15-year-old boy): Yeah, it’s just happens. Dan: You’d slowly get to that stage, rather than like straight away being like, send me a pic. Boys who go ‘overboard’ and bombard numerous girls with images to get one back were criticised. Naomi, a 15-year-old girl, recalled a boy who did this who now “hasn’t really got any friends for it and he’s in a really bad place”. While boys did not have to manage the ‘virgin-whore’ dichotomy, they needed to embody and project successful masculinity (Holland et al., 1998; Lunceford, 2008). They may gain ‘lad points’ from sexting but status enhancement depended upon looking and acting ‘right’ (Crofts et al., 2015; Ringrose and Harvey, 2015). The precarious nature of sexting in terms of masculinity was what made them so valuable in the peer group as ‘jokes’. Lily, a 17-year-old girl, recounted how girls together at sleepovers would message boys and encourage them to send an image, while posing as an individual. Lily described this as a ‘game’ in which the image of the boy becomes a joke for people to laugh at. The boy is funny because, Andy and Chris (both 16-year-old boys)
Resultantly, how they seek to obtain images of girls in the peer group could be criticised. Boys constructed as ‘going too far’ when they sext were described as ‘desperate’ or ‘creepy’. Participants emphasised that boys, while they may legitimately be ‘pursuers’, need to balance this with just ‘letting things happen’, so to look like they have not had to try too hard. I: So, how would you go about it in a non-creepy way if you’re a guy? Dan (15-year-old boy): Like, you’d get to know someone first. Simon (15-year-old boy): Like, you wouldn’t really ask them – Adam (15-year-old boy): Yeah, it’s just happens. Dan: You’d slowly get to that stage, rather than like straight away being like, send me a pic. Boys who go ‘overboard’ and bombard numerous girls with images to get one back were criticised. Naomi, a 15-year-old girl, recalled a boy who did this who now “hasn’t really got any friends for it and he’s in a really bad place”. While boys did not have to manage the ‘virgin-whore’ dichotomy, they needed to embody and project successful masculinity (Holland et al., 1998; Lunceford, 2008). They may gain ‘lad points’ from sexting but status enhancement depended upon looking and acting ‘right’ (Crofts et al., 2015; Ringrose and Harvey, 2015). The precarious nature of sexting in terms of masculinity was what made them so valuable in the peer group as ‘jokes’. Lily, a 17-year-old girl, recounted how girls together at sleepovers would message boys and encourage them to send an image, while posing as an individual. Lily described this as a ‘game’ in which the image of the boy becomes a joke for people to laugh at. The boy is funny because, Andy and Chris (both 16-year-old boys)
eThesis%20Emily%20Setty.docx