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Sexting in the public domain: competing discourses in online news article comments in the USA and the UK involving teenage sexting

Abstract The current study examined the phenomenon of teenage sexting through an analysis of 1030 comments from 15 online stories in the US and the UK. Four competing messages emerged: (1) Innocuity: Is sexting a harmless or harmful activity?; (2) Comparability: Were teenagers in the past the same or different than current teenagers?; (3) Criminality: Is teenage sexting a criminal offense or a legal activity?; and (4) Sexuality: Is teenage sexting sexual exploration or sexual exploitation? The online comments indicated an overall struggle between two different discursive constructions of sexting: A discourse of normal connection and a discourse of aberrant exposure. Implications of these findings are discussed.