Sending Nudes: Is Anyone Worthy Of Having Digital Access To Your Body?

Our body is our partner for life. We should all develop a healthy relationship with our bodies which can be nurtured with respect and love for it. Accepting how you look and embracing your flaws is important. But what holds more significance is regarding it as yours and yours only. In the era of texting and fetching likes and comments, social media users are often swayed into exchanging nudes or sharing them individually with their partners or friends. But does it not mean handing over the key to your privacy to someone? Is virtual validation enough to let someone digital access to your body?

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Sexting is very common in modern-day relationships. And sending intimate pictures to your partner forms a big part of it. In fact, exchanging nudes is sometimes labelled as a milestone of trust. But is it a reflection of trust or does it imply power play? Someone persuading you to send nudes and you giving in shows how much control they have over you. Trust is not manifested in sending pictures if you are not comfortable. It's an individual decision and forcing it on someone in the name of this noble virtue called trust is absolutely wrong. In a 2017 research titled Young People and Sexting- Attitudes and Behaviour, 70 percent participants said that pressure was one of the key reasons why young people sent nudes.

As per a 2017 research, more than half of UK teens who took part in the study have witnessed their peers circulating nude or nearly nude images of someone they know, also referred to as ‘revenge porn'. Internet is a place where things remain forever, whether texts or media. Once you press the 'Send' button, there is no turning back from a domino of events that might be triggered. It might not harm you today or tomorrow, but on the web, things might return years later and make you question yourself for past deeds done in a moment of enthusiasm and immaturity.

Someone persuading you to send nudes and you giving in shows how much control they have over you. Trust is not manifested in sending pictures if you are not comfortable.

Picture this: You are texting with your partner and things eventually take a steamy turn and suppose that you end up exchanging nudes. They don't force you but you trust them enough to send a picture. Their intentions aren't wrong either. But then, their account is hacked and your picture sent and received on grounds of mutual trust is shared on an online group of creeps who leak it. Were you wrong in trusting them? No. Was it their fault? No. But one should have to take into account the risk that plagues all digital interactions, that of your private information falling into wrong hands.

When it comes to dating and relationships, most of us are highly unsure. What might seem like a long haul right now may end up in a messy break up a few months down the line. In these times of on and off relationships, is it really safe to exchange explicit pictures of yourself? People and scenarios are subject to change, over time. A mutual trust today may transform into mutual hatred over the years and in a moment of frenzy or just to avenge some misunderstanding, a person might take a dirty road from where there is no coming back. In such a case, you are ruined for something you did in a different situation with a different person altogether.

When it comes to dating and relationships, most of us are highly unsure. What might seem like a long haul right now may end up in a messy break up a few months down the line.

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To those who think times have changed and people are now sensible enough to not morph pictures or make them viral, look around you and give some consideration to the recent locker room conversations that spiked up a controversy. It's not a discussion about how progressive we are, it's all about how pragmatic one is. Instead of landing up in a quagmire of defamation and regret, why not give it a second thought? Essentially, weigh the situation properly and then only go ahead. I personally don't think anybody is worth having access to my body via a text message.

Saavriti is an intern at SheThePeople.TV. The views expressed are the author's own.