‘A male dominance kind of vibe’: Approaching unsolicited dick pics as sexism

Abstract

This article explores women’s accounts of receiving unsolicited dick pics from men. Drawing on material derived from in-depth interviews with adult British women, its focus is on how these interviewees relied on a postfeminist discursive framework in order to make sense of such experiences, and on how this rendered them more likely to recognise unsolicited dick pic practices as acts of sexism. As such, these women also felt encouraged to respond to their receiving of unsolicited dick pics by engaging in humorous practices of anti-sexist resistance. Still, the article also shows how the interviewees’ drawing on a postfeminist discursive framework rendered them more prone to approach unsolicited dick pic practices and sexism in individualised and decontextualised manners, meaning that they failed to recognise and critically address the broader social structures that enable dick pics to circulate online as acts of sexism in the first place.

‘Wanna trade?’: Cisheteronormative homosocial masculinity and the normalization of abuse in youth digital sexual image exchange

“…Mandau's (2019) research likewise reports that men perceive the sending of dick pics as a way of getting nude pictures in return from girls. Amundsen (2020) found in her study of adult women's experiences of receiving dick pics that many did not define this practice as abusive, something we also found in our research where teen girls have internalized accepting homosocial masculinity practices as normal. Responding to this we define unasked for dick pics as cyberflashing (McGlynn & Johnson, 2020) and combined with pressuring girls for nudes argue it's a doubled form of online sexual harassment.…”

“…They also use the language of normalization to describe boys behaviour, which implies a level of awareness amongst the girls about sexism or sexual double standards. But like Amundsen (2020) there is a lack of awareness of these practices as abusive and little reporting. These girls went on to recount a typical story of a close friend of theirs whose nudes had been 'leaked': Lucy: Our friend kind of sent a nude and it went around the whole school.…”

Teen Girls’ Experiences Negotiating the Ubiquitous Dick Pic: Sexual Double Standards and the Normalization of Image Based Sexual Harassment

“…We consider possibilities of disrupting narratives of feminine passivity and vulnerability around receiving dick pics, particularly through our analysis of the girls' drawing sessions. Overall, there has been very little research that has looked in depth at adolescent girls' experiences of receiving dick pics; most research is with adults (Amundsen, 2020) or those aged 17 and above (Mandau, 2020) and/or there is limited discussion of girls' experiences as recipients of dick pics presented in the findings (Naezer & van Oosterhout, 2021;Ravn et al, 2019;Ricciardelli & Adorjan, 2018;Setty, 2019a). We, therefore, focus on this element in our analysis to fill a gap in understanding about how girls respond to and manage being sent dick pics.…”

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A range of important studies have recently explored adult women's experiences of receiving unwanted dick pics (Amundsen, 2020). However, to date there has been limited research that has explored teen girls' experiences of receiving unwanted penis images in depth.

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Technology and Sexual Offending

“…Although it is of value to better understand what motivates someone to send an unsolicited sexual image (USI), a motivation lacking nefarious intent does not negate that this is an act of TFSV; USIs are, by definition, nonconsensual. The nonconsensual element has been highlighted in interviews with adult women (i.e., 18–38 years), as they have noted feeling that unsolicited “dick pics” (DPs) illustrate the disproportionate level of power and control men have in sexual situations when compared to women and that these images eliminate a woman’s ability to consent to engage in a sexual experience [ 49 ]. These feelings were also expressed in interviews with younger women (i.e., 17–20 years), with participants voicing that they felt unsolicited DPs are invasive [ 50 ].…”