Seven in 10 Dutch girls who send nude photographs of themselves to others don’t regret their actions, according to a poll of 3,000 girls for website Girlscene.nl, the AD said on Monday.

One in four of the girls who took part in the poll said they taken nude photos of themselves and 20% had sent such a photo to someone else via Whatsapp or other form of social media.

‘Taking nude photographs is something this generation just does,’ said Hanneke de Graaf, researcher at the Rutgers foundation for sexual health. ‘Most girls share the pictures with their boyfriend and look at it as a nice thing to do.’

Nevertheless, girls are unaware of or ignore the risk that their friend could share the photos with others. And among the girls who regretted sharing such photographs, most felt their reputations had been damaged.

‘It is the girls who are looked down on, even though it is their partners who have shared the photo – which is a criminal offence,’ De Graaf said.

Exaggeration

The Girlscene survey results are very different from other research published earlier this year, and the AD does not say what age the girls in the survey were.

Bureau Jeugd & Media said in February just one in 15 Dutch youngsters have sent piquant photographs of themselves to others. Sexting, or sharing sexually tinged photos, is particularly popular among 16 and 17-year-olds, the research group said.

Another survey about online safety and published by University of Amsterdam researchers shows just 3% of teens indulge in sexting.