An investigation of how social media is involved in intoxicated sexual relations of adolescents below the age of 18. The study has a specific focus on the implications that alcohol and social media have for how sexual consent is balanced.

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to explore the role that social media plays in adolescents’ sexual practices in the context of alcohol and intoxication. The project revolves around two knowledge interests. On the one hand, the project will examine how content on social media shapes the sexual scripts that are present in intoxicated sexual encounters among youth. On the other hand, the project examines how social media applications afford ways to interact sexually in situations that involve alcohol.

Background

Alcohol, social media and sexual relations are central in the lives of most Danish adolescents. Much research has investigated how sexually oriented messages or images are exchanged through social media applications among young people. Nonetheless, the role of alcohol is largely absent in these studies. As research on alcohol and sexuality has shown that alcohol can “blur the line” between what is experienced as consensual and non-consensual in sexual encounters, the absence of alcohol and intoxication in studies on young people’s digital sexuality is conspicuous. As young people’s communication has become increasingly digital, studies that investigate the how alcohol, social media and sexual relations intertwine in the lives of young people are warranted. The merit of such studies is to generate knowledge about how social media and alcohol impact sexual conduct and sexual victimization among young people.

The study

The Ph.D. project focuses specifically on adolescent between 15-17 years old. Two methods are used for generating data:

1. Focus groups with a total of 30 adolescents. The purpose of the focus groups is to generate knowledge of the norms surrounding the exchange of sexual messages and pictures on social media, as well as how content on social media influences sexual scripts.
2. 10 young people are invited to keep a 1-month diary of their sexual interactions on social media platforms, which happened while they were intoxicated. The purpose is to obtain knowledge of the sexual practices, which unfolds in intimate social media spaces that are not easily accessible for researchers.

The project runs from September 2023 to September 2026.

Collaborators

The Ph.D. project is a part of a research project, Intoxicated Adolescent Relations, that has a general focus on intoxicated sexual relations of adolescents below the age of 18. The research project is executed by a research team consisting of PI and Associate Professor Margit A. Petersen, Postdoc Jonas S. Bach, Ph.D. student Kristian H. Jensen, Administrative Office Sidsel Schrøder and student assistant Sofie H. Borup. Additionally, the project collaborates with an international advisory board consisting of Professor Geoffrey Hunt (Aarhus University/USA), Associate Professor Alexandra Bogren (Sweden), Dr. Marianne Cense (The Netherlands) og Professor Angus Bancroft (England).

Funding

The project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.