Resource and Risk: Youth Sexuality and New Media Use

Some contemporary moral panics orbit around youth sexuality and new media use. This article addresses those moral panics by investigating teenagers’ practices regarding new media and sexuality. New media technologies are central parts of young people’s social, romantic, and sexual lives. These communication technologies are important in their practices of meeting, dating, and breaking up. New media technologies also provide important resources about sexual health and identities. However, these informational and relational resources are not equally available to all young people. Indeed use and access to new media technologies often mirrors the contemporary ordering of economic, racialized, and gendered power. Additionally, while youth are aware of online safety practices, some youth are more vulnerable to online risks than others.