Teens Nude investigates the real-life harms caused by sexting, nude images and image-based sexual abuse. It combines expert commentary with new research findings on this subject matter to show what we can do to combat it.

While initially frowned upon, sexting is now widely recognized to create real-life problems for kids; from embarrassing and inappropriate content shared among friends to potentially harmful material sent via co-conspirators. Even more troublingly, some of the most racy photos can even be distributed without consent and have devastating repercussions – known as revenge porn. We have heard stories of teens being driven to suicide after sextortion scammers shared them publicly; it is also not unusual for such private images to resurface later as part of a digital footprint that compromises future employment or relationship prospects.

Twenty to 28% of cell-owning kids aged 12-17 will send or receive sexually suggestive messages (including nude and nearly nude ) via text, pictures and videos; girls are more likely than boys to do this. Some of these images and videos can even be put onto so-called slut pages where they’re sold for sexual exploitation.

As it appears, some parents and schools take the dangers of sexting seriously; one way this can happen is through restricting text messaging by their children. Furthermore, media exposure poses greater risk; thus we need to invest more in gender-based prevention programmes as well as digital tools like nudges.