Snap Chat and Sexting

Have you ever thought about sending that someone special in your life a naughty picture in order to brighten up their day? However, what if someone else gets his phone and sees it? Or that he sends a picture of you in your naked glory onto his friends? Well, welcome to Snap Chat, a messaging service where the sender can choose how long the image is seen for. The image then deletes itself and can’t be viewed again. Now cynical people out there may ask ‘well what about taking a screen shot of the image?’ Firstly, this would require very speedy hands, but more importantly if this has happened the sender receives a notification informing them that a screen shot has been taken. So is snap chat the answer to all our Sexting needs? Her Campus have scoured campus asking both of the sexes what they think about Snap Chat and sexting as a whole in order to find out what the big deal of this new app is!

The boys we asked gave an altogether different view from the girls (now, who would have expected that!). One boy said:

 “I think sexting is fine if the two are both into it…It would be a bit creepy if the guy was sending Snap Chat photos and the girl wasn’t keen. It’s a good way for open minded people to get their thrill and who knows it may even lead to a relationship.”

He then also stated “If it’s not for you, you don’t have to use it.” HCX fully supports the idea that for some people Snap Chat and sexting will be fun and exciting, whilst for others it will do very little. Only send photos that you are comfortable with and never feel pressured to do anything that you don’t want to.

Another boy when discussing the pros of texting or sexting argued: “Texting always relieves stress…And as you don’t have to see their immediate reaction, you can push the boat out.” This is very true, and for boys who more often than not struggle to vocalize their feelings, texting is a great way forward.  However this boy went on to say that part of what he loves about sexting is “the fact that you can re-read the text or view the image as much as you want”, so for him Snap Chat was not the way forward. He did admit though that Snap Chat was good from the point of view that it doesn’t save the image and so his friends wouldn’t be able to get hold of it!

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Generally, the boys were unsure of their opinion on Snap Chat but readily admitted  enjoying the odd sext or image. What about the girls then? All the girls Her Campus spoke to struggled to see the point of sexting. None of them had a problem with it, but stated that it did little for them. One girl went as far to say that the whole thing ‘makes her cringe!’ and that Snap Chat held no appeal to her! A second girl went on to say that she felt ‘incapable, awkward and embarrassed over sext’ and that instead of turning her on, it had the opposite effect.

However, there was disparity within the ranks of girls, with one girl saying she deemed Snap Chat as ‘a little bit of harmless fun’. Finally one girl admitted she loved being able to turn a guy on through text, and had done so with a fair few guys whilst at university. Once again though, she was less keen on the picture side of things, due to the consequences and so Snap Chat for her was the perfect option in order to give that boy of hers thrills!

After chatting to both sexes, it became clear that Snap Chat would only benefit those who enjoyed the thrill of sexting and even then, many still said they would still not use it. Some saw the appeal of it, due to its temporary nature, but overall it doesn’t appear to be taking Exeter by storm.

Picture credits www.girlsminister.com, www.jasonbrooks.wordpress.com, www.info.uknowkids.com, www.snapchat.com

• boys
• hooking-up
• sex
• technology
• texting