photography by Natalia MantiniProfessor of Psychology Traci Giuliano’s new article “Not Cool, Dude: Perceptions of Solicited vs. Unsolicited Sext Messages from Men and Women” was recently published in Computers in Human Behavior.  

As students, Sarah Matthews ’17, Kayleigh Thomas ’18, Maddie Straup ’18, and Martin Martinez ’18, conducted research with Giuliano that examined the extent to which gender of a sext message sender and type of sext message affects people’s perceptions of sext messages. They concluded people are more likely to judge an unsolicited sext from a man as inappropriate than if the same message was sent by a woman. However, they found that solicited sext messages sent by men and women were perceived equally appropriate.

Learn more about this research below.

Newsweek: “SEXTS FROM WOMEN ARE ‘FLATTERING,’ BUT FROM MEN, THEY’RE HARASSMENT, STUDY SAYS”

Refinery29: “Sexting: What Happens When A Man & A Woman Send The Same Message”