Shifts in societal development resulting from economic and technological advancements have had an impact upon the development of human sexuality and behaviour, and with the expansion of developments such as the Internet and associated technologies, it is likely that further societal shifts will ensue. This book recognises the importance of new digital spaces for discourses surrounding sexuality, examining issues such as pornography; sex education and health; LGBTQ sexualities; polysexuality or polyamory; abstention; sexual abuse and violence; erotic online literature; sex therapy; teledildonics; sex and gaming; online dating; celebrity porn; young people and sexual media; and sexting and sextainment, all of which are prominently affected by the use of digital media. With case studies drawn from the US, the UK and Europe, Sex in the Digital Age engages in discussion about the changing acceptance of sex in the 21st century and part played in that by digital media, and considers the future of sex and sexuality in an increasingly digital age. It will therefore appear to scholars across the social sciences with interests in gender and sexuality, new technologies and media and cultural studies.

Providing one of the first comprehensive, cross-cultural examinations of the dynamic market for sexual services, this book presents an evidence-based look at the multiple factors related to purchasing patterns and demand among clients who have used the internet. The data is drawn from two large surveys of sex workers’ clients in the US and UK. The book presents descriptive baseline data on client engagement with online platforms, demographics and patterns of frequency in different markets, information on smaller niche markets and client reactions to exploitation, safety and changes in the law. The book makes clear that a variety of situational as well as individual factors affect the willingness and ability to purchase sexual services. The view that emerges shatters the stereotypes and generalistions on which much policy is based and demonstrates the complexities surrounding who pays for sex and the contours of sexual consumption in consumer culture.

Technology is rapidly advancing, and each innovation provides opportunities for such technology to mesh with the human enactment of physical intimacy or to be used in the quest for information about sexuality. However, the availability of this technology has complicated sexual decision making for young adults as they continually navigate their sexual identity, orientation, behavior, and community. Young Adult Sexuality in the Digital Age is a pivotal reference source that improves the understanding of the combination of technology and sexual decision making for young adults, examining the role of technology in sexual identity formation, sexual communication, relationship formation and dissolution, and sexual learning and online sexual communities and activism. While highlighting topics such as privacy management, cyber intimacy, and digital communications, this book is ideally designed for therapists, social workers, sociologists, psychologists, counselors, healthcare professionals, scholars, researchers, and students.

Technology has significantly changed our world. Sexual imagery and encounters can now be accessed anywhere, anytime, using portable electronic devices. Users can generate a stream of graphic pornography, a wide variety of virtual sexual activities, and casual, anonymous, or paid-for sexual encounters with a click or a tap. We now have greater access to highly stimulating sexual content and potential sexual partners with much less built-in accountability. Porn addicts are especially vulnerable to the lure of digital technology and the seemingly endless array of stimulation it provides. Research suggests that cyber-porn addicts spend at least eleven or twelve hours per week online viewing porn. Today, all forms of sex addiction are technology driven—from porn websites to webcams to casual sex hook-up apps via smartphones. Sex addicts organize their lives around the pursuit of sexual activity with self or others, spending inordinate amounts of time viewing and masturbating to porn or planning, pursuing, and engaging in sex acts. At the same time, they neglect important relationships, work, and personal responsibilities. Overwhelming feelings of guilt, shame, and remorse invade when the acting out ends. While it's complicated, recovery is possible. Always Turned On shows readers how to turn those temptations off while providing practical long-term solutions for recovery.

Teenagers, Sexual Health Information and the Digital Age examines the online resources available on teenagers, including games and digital interventions. In addition, it highlights current issues such as sexting and pornography. Information needs and provisions are examined, and existing sexual health interventions and digital interventions are discussed, gathering both teenagers' and sexual health professionals' views on these services. In addition to a review of the current literature on sexual health and teenagers, the book examines groups of teenagers, particularly those vulnerable to risky sex and asks what are the predictors of these behaviors and what can be done to address the behaviors. Finally, the book will also provide reflections and practical advice on the ethical issues associated with research in this context. - Provides guidance on the ethical issues with research associated with this topic - Covers both teenagers' information needs as well as their existing levels of knowledge - Assesses how teenagers engage with, and evaluate, sexual health information - Addresses the challenges inherent in the online environment, such as unreliable and misleading information

This book explores the lives of male sex workers living in Dublin, Ireland. It focuses on the stories of young Brazilian and Venezuelan migrants who use their micro-celebrity on social media to construct a brand that can be converted into financial advantage within the sex industry. The book focuses on two sites: Grindr, which these men use to build a transient pop-up escort profile that is linked to Instagram, which in turn provides followers with access to a curated digital identity built around consumption. Ryan explores how the muscular body acts as a form of physical and erotic capital providing the raw material of these digital identities as they are broadcast on new online subscription platforms like OnlyFans. Male Sex Work in the Digital Age offers fascinating insights into the role social media plays in (re)creating a new and more flexible understanding of commercial sex. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, gender studies, sexuality studies, LGBTQ studies, media studies and law, will find this book of interest.

The nexus between the digital revolution and adolescent sexual behavior has posed significant challenges to mental health practitioners, attorneys, and educators. These digital technologies may facilitate dangerous behaviors and serious consequences for some youth. Adolescent Sexual Development in the Digital Age considers adolescent sexual behavior in both clinical and legal contexts and provides a basis for clinicians, legal professionals, educators, policy makers, parents and the general public to understand the impact that technology has on human growth and development. The book's contributing authors are leading authorities in adolescent development, law, and ethics, fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue within the text. New technology poses many opportunities for both normal and risky sexual behavior in youth; including "sexting," social networking, cyber-sexual harassment, commercial exploitation of children, and child pornography. Beyond just cataloging the various technologies impacting sexual behavior, this volume offers guidance and strategies for addressing the issues created by the digital age.

This book examines how digital communications technologies have transformed modern societies, with profound effects both for everyday life, and for everyday crimes. Sexual violence, which is recognized globally as a significant human rights problem, has likewise changed in the digital age. Through an investigation into our increasingly and ever-normalised digital lives, this study analyses the rise of technology-facilitated sexual assault, ‘revenge pornography’, online sexual harassment and gender-based hate speech. Drawing on ground-breaking research into the nature and extent of technology-facilitated forms of sexual violence and harassment, the authors explore the reach of these harms, the experiences of victims, the views of service providers and law enforcement bodies, as well as the implications for law, justice and resistance. Sexual Violence in a Digital Age is compelling reading for scholars, activists, and policymakers who seek to understand how technology is implicated in sexual violence, and what needs to be done to address sexual violence in a digital age.

This candid book reveals the enormity of the commercial sex-for-sale industry in the modern era. For those without direct experience with the seamy, real-life world of prostitution, it can be easy to accept the glamorized depictions of the sex-for-sale industry as it is often portrayed in fiction and Hollywood or sensationalized in the media. In reality, the business of sexual exploitation such as prostitution, sex trafficking, pornography, and sex tourism is far from attractive. This latest book from literary criminologist R. Barri Flowers updates the subject of prostitution for the 21st century, explaining why the commercial sex trade industry continues to flourish and exploring its proliferation in the digital world of the Internet, cell phones, and text messaging. The grim ramifications of prostitution—such as victimization, substance abuse, HIV, arrest, or even death—are addressed. Careful attention has also been paid to the various individuals involved: those who are prostituted (female and male), customers, pimps, traffickers, and other players in the sex trade.

This book provides a unique analysis of the intersection between gender, sexuality, race, and social media. While early scholarship identified the internet as being inherently egalitarian, this volume presents the internet as a “real” social place where inequalities matter and manifest in particular ways according to the architectures of particular platforms. This volume utilizes innovative methodologies to analyze how internet users both re-inscribe and resist inequalities of gender, sexuality, and race. It describes how the internet has ameliorated and bridged geographic and numerical limits on community formation, and this volume examines how the functioning of social inequalities differs on- and offline.