{"id":5285,"date":"2024-02-27T16:24:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T21:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/?p=5285"},"modified":"2024-03-08T12:52:25","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:52:25","slug":"interview-exploring-sexting-in-the-digital-age-with-dr-coduto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/2024\/02\/27\/interview-exploring-sexting-in-the-digital-age-with-dr-coduto\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Exploring Sexting in the Digital Age with Dr. Coduto"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Violet Li<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dr. Kathryn D. Coduto’s “Technology, Privacy, and Sexting: Mediated Sex”<\/em>, published in September 2023, offers a critical look at sexting’s role in modern communication. Her research delves into the motives, technologies, and privacy concerns surrounding sexting, alongside its evolution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Intrigued by the themes of the book, the Communication Research Center’s Research Assistant, Alyssa Hance, sits down with Dr. Kathryn D. Coduto for an enlightening interview on the book’s findings and its exploration of sexting in our digital lives.<\/p>\n

Alyssa: \u201cWhat has been your experience since the book\u2019s release?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Coduto:<\/strong> It\u2019s been interesting, because I feel like people have been trying to figure out what parts are interesting, what to focus on, or what to talk about. So, for me, it\u2019s been kinda fun to have [the book] actually out and being able to talk about it, getting to share more of the key insights because for a lot of people trying to read through the whole thing can feel like a lot because it\u2019s got some stats and there\u2019s a lot of existing research in there. But, it\u2019s been really fun to be able to share what I found and then obviously continuing to build research from that, which was a key goal, which was thinking through what comes after.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alyssa: \u201cWhat findings from your research on sexting and technology usage did you find most interesting?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Coduto:<\/strong> I think the thing I think about the most is the fact that so many people were like I know I should do this better, or I know I should behave better with technology than I do. So, I think a lot about the fact that people were like I know that technology is not really trustworthy, but I\u2019m still going to use it to send highly personal, highly sexual content. And not just knowing that technology\u2019s not necessarily trustworthy but that there are options that are better. I just think about the group of participants that are like I know I should use WhatsApp; it\u2019s encrypted, and there\u2019s a lot to suggest that it\u2019s safer than these other options. But for so many [participants] it was like I know I should do that, but it\u2019s too much work. I\u2019d rather just sext. And I\u2019m so intrigued by this idea that people know better, but there\u2019s a sense that just switching to a different app is too much.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alyssa: \u201cIn your research, have you observed any specific behavior patterns when people use technology for sexual communication?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Coduto:<\/strong> Yes, so, there\u2019s also not a designated time [for sexting] right? So, a lot of people tend to think that people are sexting in the evening, and that they\u2019re at home. But, so many people that responded to my different surveys, a lot of them try and sext when they\u2019re at work. And like quite a few of them would talk about that. \u201cYeah, well, it\u2019s fun because maybe I catch my partner off guard or maybe they surprise me.\u201d And so it\u2019s almost like this tantalizing act, which in some cases did backfire. There was one guy in particular who was like \u201cI really didn\u2019t want that\u201d. But, so, again, I think this connects to the fact that you have your phone on you all the time and have the ability to send this content anytime, and quite a few people actually take advantage of that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alyssa: \u201cI love how people were so forthcoming with this information. In your research on sexting, sexuality, and technology, have you encountered situations where people find it challenging to discuss such sensitive topics?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Coduto:<\/strong> So, that actually came up when this book project started, when I was an assistant professor at South Dakota State; it\u2019s been a journey. I started the project there, and the original intent was to do in-depth interviews only. But, there were multilayered challenges to that, because I wrote and finalized the proposal at the end of 2020. So, you see where this is going. I tried to arrange interviews in the spring and summer of 2021 and it was so hard.<\/p>\n

It was hard for a couple different reasons – so, first of all, obviously, people did not want to meet in person and definitely not for a research study. They were being paid, but not a lot of money, right? Especially to offer up that sensitive information. I think in other circumstances Zoom would have been a great option, but I feel like I was reaching out at the peak of Zoom fatigue, so, trying to say \u2018talk to me about your sexting habits for an hour for like 20 bucks\u2019 was a really hard sell. I tried that for a while, tried recruiting, and it was really difficult and understandably so. It was just very hard to recruit.<\/p>\n

It got to a point where I had to rethink this, and so that\u2019s when I decided to do closed ended data collection. Then I did the open ended survey based on the interview and then did another round of closed ended questions. So, actually, I probably ended up with better data, in the long term. I found that the open-ended survey was actually really useful; I had never done a fully open-ended one before. I think that is the other issue with a topic like this – it\u2019s really hard to sit and say to someone\u2019s face \u2018here are the things i\u2019ve sent or done and this is how i do it\u2019. Whereas in that closed-ended survey, I ended up with pretty robust responses, including what people were doing and I think like some of it is seriously difficult [to talk about]. A lot of people would say things about being horny and I think it’s really difficult to say that to someone\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

I think there were two other tradeoffs that ended up happening that were useful, which is that I also think I was able to get more male participants. I think trying to do interviews with people that were most receptive to even thinking about talking were women. Like, I am a woman, I identify as a woman, and I present pretty feminine. You know it makes sense that that\u2019s who would feel comfortable sharing that information. And I think that would have been much more difficult for a man to take seriously. And I think kind of the complimentary part of that is that I was able to actually collect data from more gender minorities, sexual minorities, and for similar reasons, right? I think particularly, for those individuals, they\u2019re sexting a different kind of person, particularly when you think about LGBTQI+, like, different challenges and different considerations. There\u2019s a lot of concern about being outed, which I run into a lot in the online dating world. And, so, I think feeling truly anonymous made a huge difference in that also being able to kind of talk about their experiences and what they were thinking about. Another interesting thing is that, queer individuals, gender minorities, everyone kind of acts similarly in their approach to technology. There’s a consistent thread like \u2018I should probably use these other channels, but I do it here\u2019. And so I think the survey actually ended up helping; I have way more LGBTQ respondants than I think I would have had in person.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alyssa: \u201cDo you have advice for other academic researchers looking to publish their work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Coduto:<\/strong> I think, whether it\u2019s a book or even just a research trajectory \u2013 and I tell my students this \u2013 I always say research what you\u2019re interested in, because that just makes it so much easier. You can learn every theory and that\u2019s great and fine, but if you don\u2019t care about how it\u2019s being applied, or what the contribution actually is, or how you\u2019re extending it, like, you\u2019re never gonna get that work done. Because, I\u2019ve been on projects and I\u2019m like, why am I doing this? It\u2019s never gonna get done. Or it\u2019s not going to get done in a way that you want to progress with and so that\u2019s part of why I went to grad school, because I was doing research professionally, but was really interested in doing my own stuff. I really thought online dating was interesting and I haven\u2019t lost interest, yet. It makes a huge difference. And then especially when writing a book when you have to meet a minimum word count, like a chapter has to be minimum 25-ish pages. Basically, each chapter should be as long as a journal article. And so, that\u2019s a lot to have to say about something. So, you better enjoy it. Or at least have some interest in it, especially, too, because the other part of the process is also reading the existing literature. It\u2019s not like you go in and say whatever you want. So, there\u2019s also a level of engagement with what else is out there, what else has been done? And so there was a lot of time spent just reading articles, which, again if you\u2019re interested, it\u2019s great. But, if that\u2019s something you\u2019re not interested in, it\u2019s going to be painful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those eager to delve deeper into the intricate relationship between technology, privacy, and sexting, we invite you to explore Dr. Kathryn D. Coduto’s insightful work.<\/p>\n

Discover more by purchasing the book “Technology, Privacy, and Sexting” here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Violet Li Dr. Kathryn D. Coduto’s “Technology, Privacy, and Sexting: Mediated Sex”, published in September 2023, offers a critical look at sexting’s role in modern communication. Her research delves into the motives, technologies, and privacy concerns surrounding sexting, alongside its evolution amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Intrigued by the themes of the book, the Communication […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5285"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5314,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5285\/revisions\/5314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/crc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}