Not cool, dude: Perceptions of solicited vs. unsolicited sext messages from men and women

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 88; pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Matthews, Sarah J., Giuliano, Traci A., Thomas, Kayleigh H., Straup, Maddie L., Martinez, Martin A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Between-subjects design; Gender; Gender differences; Hegemony; Masculinity; Men; Messages; Perceptions; Sext messages; Sexting; Sexual behavior; Solicited; Text messaging; Unsolicited; United States > US; Texas; Solicited; Sext messages; Gender; Unsolicited; Sexting
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.06.014

We examined the extent to which gender of sext message sender and type of sext message affects people's perceptions of sext messages. As part of a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, 122 undergraduates (61 women, 61 men) at a predominantly White liberal arts university in Texas read a vignette in which either a female or a male target sent a solicited or unsolicited sext message to an opposite-sex acquaintance; participants then reported their perceptions of the situation and the sender of the sext message. As predicted, women who sent unsolicited sext messages were rated as more appropriate than were men who sent unsolicited sext messages; by contrast, women and men who sent solicited sext messages were perceived as equally appropriate. These findings suggest that hypermasculinity in the form of a man sending an unsolicited sext message to a woman may be more likely to be judged as a form of sexual harassment that makes the female receiver feel uncomfortable or threatened. By contrast, cultural ideals of hegemonic masculinity seem to dictate that men should react positively to sexual advances from women, regardless of whether such advances are solicited or not.
•This experimental study investigated perceptions of sext messaging situations.•Men and women were judged differently for the sext messages they sent.•When sending solicited messages, men and women were judged equally.•For unsolicited messages, women were judged as more appropriate than were men.•Our results provide evidence for the importance of consent in sext messaging.