Universitas Indonesia Conferences, The 8th International Symposium of Journal Antropologi Indonesia

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“Are you Interested?”: Sexting Through Instagram in Time of Covid-19 Pandemic
Dyan Paramitha Darmayanti

Last modified: 2022-06-06

Abstract


Covid -19 pandemic has made multi-faceted changes in human life. To prevent and reduce the spread of the Corona virus, the government issued a number of policies to limit mobility and human interaction. One of them is the work from home policy, which makes many activities change from face-to-face to online activities, including the use of social media. Along with the increasing use of social media, online based violence has also increased significantly, one of which is sexting. While a number of existing literatures deal with sexting between those in a relationship, this article focuses on sexting between those without relationship which can be between completely strangers and between those who know each other.

 

Using qualitative approach, this study was conducted in social media Instagram. We use in-depth interview and online observation as our combined data collection method. There are  ten women involved in this study who experienced sexting. They vary on the basis of age and job.

The study indicates that sexting may affect both men and women, but generally women are victims of sexting, including women in hijab. Sexting may include showing genitals, asking for sex online, inviting to enjoy online masturbation, asking to exchange sex photos through direct messages or video calls. The more ignore the sexting recipient, the more challenge the perpetrator will be. Often victims of sexting  experience mixed feelings of fear, shame, confused, and shocked. Thus, the most common response is just being silent and ignoring as they have no idea what to do. Accordingly, they are afraid to activate their  social media, feeling insecure, and/or even feeling traumatized to meet new people on Instagram.

 

Key Words: Sexting, online, Covid-19, social media, and Instagram.


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