Quando gli adulti negano agency sessuale e partecipazione alle ragazze e ai ragazzi. Adolescenti, sexting e intimate citizenship

Abstract

The concept of intimate citizenship explores the spaces of people’s sexual lives, spaces that in the past were considered exclusively private but which today have become a subject of public discussion and social concern. Reflections on intimate citizenship have focused above all on the debate regarding sexual policies and the reconfiguration of citizenship, focusing more recently on participatory practices that take place thanks to digital platforms, which are now also very important in relation to issues related to intimacy, gender and sexuality. The intent of this article is to understand, through the use of specialist literature and specific cases, how intimate citizenship is built and negotiated in adult speech and returned to girls and boys. To this end, a highly debated practice will be considered, namely that of sexting: the exchange of sexually explicit content through messaging apps. The thesis behind this article is that, as adults, we are responding to concerns regarding the well-being of the youngest based on deterministic assumptions concerning adolescent sexuality and digital technologies. This leads to labelling some practices, such as sexting, as simply dangerous or wrong and to denying the active role of girls and boys by negating their intimate citizenship and consequently the possibility of their participation and recognition.