Discussions about on-line intercourse usually make it sound just like the “darkish facet” of the web.

We hear a lot about dangers and risks resembling “revenge porn”, relationship scams, porn dependancy and early publicity to intercourse.

However this isn’t the entire story. Our new research appears at how Australians use expertise of their intercourse lives and the various advantages of this.

A daily a part of life

We not too long ago performed a survey of Australian adults (ages 18 years or older). The research concerned 445 folks, with a median age of 42. Greater than half had been girls (58.5%), and 61% recognized as heterosexual.

We discovered digital media was a typical a part of folks’s intercourse lives.

• 60% had watched porn on-line
• 35% had used relationship apps
• 34% had despatched sexual texts or bare selfies to a different particular person.

Higher connections

Individuals additionally reported how digital expertise benefited their intercourse lives and relationships.

• 38% felt extra emotionally related to their companions
• 27% felt extra sexually related with their companions
• 31% stated they discovered it sexually gratifying to share or obtain sexual textual content messages with somebody they met on-line.

Others reported utilizing the web to search out details about relationships or sexual well being.

• 54% stated info they discovered on-line had helped them really feel extra snug about intercourse
• 49% stated the web had enabled them to discover new or completely different sexual cultures.

Sure, there are dangers

That being stated, whereas reporting many advantages, contributors had been additionally conscious of dangers of sexual exercise or communication on-line.

• 59% agreed sharing bare or express photographs or movies might trigger them embarrassment
• 51% agreed on-line sexual engagement might trigger them issues within the office
• 51% had been fearful their search historical past might be seen by others in the event that they looked for pornography
• 24% had been fearful about offering private contact particulars when looking for intercourse merchandise on-line.

What is occurring in Australia?

In 2021, federal parliament handed the On-line Security Act, increasing the eSafety Commissioner’s powers to fight cyberbullying and image-based abuse.

The commissioner can now demand that social media companies, internet hosting companies suppliers and people take away on-line materials deemed to be dangerous, harmful or abusive inside as little as 24 hours.

This is a vital step in bettering digital security given the worldwide, unregulated nature of the web.

Nonetheless, there are critical issues these expanded powers will result in restrictive acts, prohibiting consensual on-line sexual exercise or info.

Learn extra:
A brand new on-line security invoice might enable censorship of anybody who engages with sexual content material on the web

LGBTQIA+ and different sexual or kink communities face a censorship threat, whereas intercourse employees’ livelihoods are additionally at higher threat, notably as a lot intercourse work shifted on-line throughout COVID.

It might additionally make secure intercourse schooling materials harder to entry.

Present eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says she is going to use the brand new powers to focus on baby exploitation materials and isn’t eager about policing the sexual pursuits of consenting adults. Nonetheless, the potential exists for such assurances to shift over time, or as a brand new appointee fills the place.

Why does this matter?

A long time of analysis present sexual well being schooling is best if it teaches intercourse ought to be pleasurable.

Messages that target abstinence or illness and issues can undermine folks’s confidence about pursuing wholesome, consensual sexual relationships.

The identical could be stated for digital sexual literacy. Schooling about on-line security will probably be best if discussions about threat happen within the context of intercourse within the digital world being a broadly constructive factor.

How can we stability threat and pleasure?

Our findings add to the rising physique of analysis that reveals how the web and digital applied sciences can profit relationships and intercourse lives.

Learn extra:
On-line intercourse events and digital actuality porn: can intercourse in isolation be as fulfilling as actual life?

These are locations the place folks discover their sexuality, find out about intercourse, and have interaction with various communities. It may also be an area to facilitate conversations about consent, security and sexual well being.

Managing digital threat shouldn’t be about sanitising the web however supporting folks’s decisions.