"There's Always Something, Some Type of Showing of Some Form of Sex": Exploring the Role of Social Media Content on Sexual Health Behaviors and Decision-Making Among Young Black Females

Background and Purpose:

When considering research that advances social justice and policy implications specifically related to the lived experiences of marginalized populations, the current study explores the impact of social media platforms on sexual health and decision-making among young Black females. With the vast amount of information available through social media platforms, many lack restrictions that protect young females from harmful messages and inaccurate information (Finely & Williamson, 2019). Specifically, without stricter regulations on sexually explicit content, social media companies place some young Black females at greater risk for exploitation, misinformation, and potentially negative peer interactions (Arbeit, 2018). Since social media platforms permit sexual content without consideration for how it impacts the safety and development of young females, social workers must deliberately develop advocacy efforts with young Black females’ social media engagement in mind. Therefore, it is necessary for social work researchers to explore how social media content impacts sexual decision-making to best understand how to intervene at the micro, meso and macro level of Black adolescent female experiences. As a primary study objective, we explore the impact of exposure to sexual content on the developmental experiences of young Black females, particularly those at greatest risks for sexual exploitation, and stereotypical social scripts of hypersexuality.

Methods:

A qualitative research design was used to engage young Black females regarding sexual health knowledge, and factors related to their decision-making processes. Building upon Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-step thematic analysis process, which has been widely utilized and tested by Maquire and Delahunt (2017), semi-structured interviews were used to explore the sexual health experiences of 27 young Black females ages of 15 and 24, who lived or grew up in urban communities in the Pacific Southwest and Mid-west regions of the United States. Snowball and convenience sampling techniques were used to recruit the respondents.

Results:

Participants described several ways in which social media activity is related or connected to sexual health decision-making and sexual activity. Four themes emerged as social media factors that contribute to sexual decision-making and behaviors: the broad landscape of sexual content on social media; motivation for contributing or not contributing to the sexual content online; the influence of social media on knowledge, behaviors, and sense of self; and mechanisms through which social media can influence sexual activity.

Conclusion and Implications:

As an act of recentering voices in social work research, it is essential to first understand the perspectives of young Black females regarding the impact of social media on their decision-making. Understanding how exposure to social media is expressed through behaviors, sexual knowledge and decision-making is particularly important for young Black females who contend with negative social scripts of being hypersexual while having to navigate pervasive, sexual content exposure on social media. Social workers must propose policy changes that challenge the ill effects of social media engagement, and promote optimal, sexual health and positive youth development for young Black females.