ABSTRACT
Many children do not know how to feel about sexual images. Seeing risk perceptions as subjective and culturally dependent illuminates the concept of sexual images as a risk for children. A representative sample of Norwegian children aged 9–16, and their parents, indicates that an image must be explicitly sexual for the majority of children to consider it sexual content. How children feel after seeing sexual content online shows a differentiated pattern, where younger children and girls feel more upset than (older) boys, who express more positive feelings. Findings pose both challenge and opportunity for parents to aid children’s coping.
