Capturing and Sending Nudes: the moral twists, pleasures and dangers of producing and exchanging erotic images online

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on the polysemy involved in the registration, sending and circulation (authorised or not) of nude digital photographs. I propose that this practice the discourses it entails should be thought both in terms of “a new twist in visuality regimes, a transition towards new ways of seeing, living and symbolising one’s own and others’ bodily nudity” (Sibilia, 2015, p. 42) and as an articulator of the “limits of sexuality” (Gregori, 2016). This involves flexions in the social classifications that organise sexual norms as acceptable or reprehensible and a complex dispute about the expansion of, and restrictions to, the boundaries between consent and abuse, norm and transgression, legitimate and immoral, healthy and violent.

Keywords

• leaked nudes
• internet
• sexual rights
• sexting
• nudes