Shaping Sexual Behaviors & Sexual Scripts
Young people becoming intimate on social media: Digital desires and gender dynamics.
Open Access: No.
Abstract
Digital technologies are shaping young people’s intimate relationships in profound ways, yet we have little knowledge of these experiences from the Global South. Drawing from a qualitative study, this article examines how 16-19-year-old South Africans make meaning of gender and sexuality through digital intimate practices. The study finds that digital intimacies are facilitated through producing and sharing of sexual content through sexting, video calls, selfies, nudes and emojis. Together they serve as affective entities in enhancing intimate connections expanding what we know of young people’s online sexual activities. However, we also draw attention to enduring patterns of male dominance within digital practices where girls’ online activities are curtailed by heterosexual oppressive relations of power. We contribute to the emerging research in South Africa advocating for the need for greater emphasis on young people and digital sexual intimacies beyond the current framing of risk and danger in order to promote healthy young sexualities.
Relevance
This article attempts to present pornography in a favorable light as a novel means of creating “intimate connections” that are “pleasurable, adventurous and rewarding.” Despite this (unfounded) predisposition, the article still comments on the harm of pornography, especially to women: “as young people navigate the online landscape, gender norms are reinforced which limits potential to express sexual desires. We found the entrenchment of power dynamics in heterosexual relations as boys monitored and controlled their partners by placing their access to social media platforms under surveillance. Conversely, while the girls in this study contested these dynamics, they too were complicit in fostering these inequalities.”
Citation
Bhana, D., Reddy, V., & Moosa, S. (2025). Young people becoming intimate on social media: Digital desires and gender dynamics. Sexualities, 28(4), 1653-1670. https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607241281449
