Sending nudes has become common, also among adults

Sending nude photos is increasingly commonplace, and not just among teenagers, according to an online panel study with 9,000 participants from 12 countries. Almost half of the Dutch respondents, aged 16 to 34, said that they sometimes received nudes from someone they were dating or chatting with. About a third have sent nudes themselves, Trouw reports.

Most of the Dutch respondents who send nudes do so on WhatsApp, which has the option to send photos that disappear after being viewed for a few seconds. Snapchat has a similar function and is also a popular place to send nudes. Nearly 20 percent of Dutch respondents said they have nude photos of themselves.

More than half of respondents have received a nude photo from someone they never met in real life. About half of young people up to age 24 said that they trust the other person to delete nude photos if they ask them to.

About 500 Dutch people participated in the study, conducted by a British research agency on behalf of cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

“Nude photos have been very common for some time,” Yuri Ohlrichs, a sexologist at the sexuality expertise center Rutgers, told Trouw. “If you didn’t grow up with it, you discover it later. Technology changes the way we flirt or express ourselves sexually. It is possible, so it happens.”