Sexting, Porn and Consent in Young People w Dr Claire Meehan.

What are the realities of sexting and porn exposure among young people — what’s normal, what’s harmful, and how clinicians can respond with empathy and insight. To help unpack this, Dr Louise Kuegler is joined by Dr Claire Meehan, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Auckland. Through a real case, we discuss what happens when intimate images are shared without consent, and how to guide conversations that move beyond shame and fear toward trust, consent, and safety.

In this episode we cover:

• How common sexting is among teenagers, and why many view it as normal or positive

• What happens when images are shared without consent — and how to respond clinically

• The role of gender, double standards, and victim-blaming

• How pornography shapes expectations and behaviour

• What parents, teachers, and clinicians can do to help young people navigate digital consent

Practical Clinical Pearls:

• Normalise the conversation — sexting and porn exposure are common; avoid shame.

• Reframe risk, don’t moralise — talk about consent, trust, and relationships rather than “don’t do it.”

• Encourage rapid disclosure — reassure teens they won’t be punished for speaking up.

• Address gender and power — challenge double standards and affirm that harm lies in the breach of consent.

• Promote healthy alternatives — guide young people toward credible, age-appropriate sexual health education.

Dr Claire Meehan is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland. Her research focuses on how young people navigate digital technology, sexuality, and consent — including their understandings of pornography and the sharing of intimate images. She holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Ulster and postgraduate degrees from Queen’s University Belfast. Claire is the author of The Politics of Porn for Young People in New Zealand and the forthcoming Young People and Sexual Consent in the Digital Age.

Resources:

Meehan C. ‘They’re Much Too Young’: The Entanglement of Porn, Pleasure and Age in Sex Education. J Sex Res. 2025 Jul;62(6):1028-36.

Meehan C. Talking with Girls about Porn. In: Mazzarella SR, editor. The Routledge Companion to Girls’ Studies. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis; 2024. p. 375-86.

Meehan C, Wicks E. Consent Isn’t Just a Girl’s Thing: Gender, Consent and Image Based Sexual Abuse. In: James-Hawkins L, Ryan-Flood R, editors. Consent: Gender, Power and Subjectivity. Milton (or London) : Taylor & Francis; 2023 Nov. p. 197-209.

https://netsafe.org.nz/ Netsafe NZ, helping NZ to be safe online

https://stopncii.org/ Stop Non- consensual intimate image abuse. StopNCII.org introduces innovative technology that is used by tech and industry companies to protect people from the sharing of their intimate images online.

https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/ This service is one step you can take to help remove online nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit photos and videos taken before you were 18.