Safe sexting or digital abstinence?

In general if you don’t want nude photos of you floating around online, it is probably best to never take any. In an age where almost everyone has a smart phone, we are very good at sending, receiving and saving photos. And some people can ‘hack’ your iCloud, so you’re never going to be entirely safe if you plan on sending some saucy pics. However, we here at the Sexpress know that you’re probably going to do it anyway, so we put together a guide of how to attempt safe sexting.

Edit Your Photos

Firstly,  no we are not talking about applying the beauty filter on Snapchat. Crop, Block and edit out your face and any identifiable feature on your body. A list of things you should remove from photos of you in your birthday suit include:

• Face
• Tattoos
• Birthmarks/recognisable features
• Recognisable jewellery
• Any recognisable landmark/feature of the room

You generally want to remove any evidence that ties the photo back to you, the place or the time because people have ways of proving that you were somewhere at a given time.

Send Safely

Is your Facebook automatically logged in on that laptop that your roommates are using downstairs to watch Netflix, whilst you send a photo to your beloved upstairs through the messenger app? Did they accidentally switch tabs? Did they accidentally see you in the nip? Remember that apps like Facebook keep all your pictures stored, and though they are only visible to you and the person you send them too, you may not like this person forever which would be unfortunate because they will have access to your picture forever. You can use websites like Dropbox, where you can encrypt photos and rescind viewing privileges, or Snapchat, where can you hope that: a) they don’t open the snap in front of people and/or b) screenshot it.

Communicate With Your Partner

Communication is key, whether you are seeing the person or not. The chances are, if you tell them to not screenshot or save another copy of the picture because you don’t want any possibility of your reputation or future career being ruined, they won’t save the picture. It is also worth talking to them about their online security. For example, if they share a computer with their siblings, it is probably best not to send the photo through an application they could accidentally open, like a word file.

Consider Legal Implications

Firstly, if the person you’re sending the pictures to is under 18, don’t do it. Equally, if you’re under 18, don’t do it, as even if you like the person you’re sending the pictures to, they could face legal implications if things go wrong - even though the age of consent in Ireland is 17, this doesn’t carry over to nudes.Be mindful when receiving photos, don’t be that asshole who sends the pictures on to other people or posts them online. Your online identity can be easily found out and you could face serious legal charges if you abuse someone’s identity like that.

Be Prepared to Own Up to it

Please take a flattering photo, just in case.