Sexting as a Relationship Enhancement Tool

Technology has dramatically changed how couples relate, including bringing sexting from the fringe into the mainstream. While often stigmatized, recent research reveals sexting can nurture intimacy in relationships when practiced conscientiously.

Studies show that sexting is quite common among adults, especially those in committed partnerships. When shared mindfully, sexting provides couples an avenue to be sexually expressive within the safe harbor of monogamy.

The Advantages of Thoughtful Sexting

Sexting has advantages that go beyond just feeling naughty and revealing desire. When carefully integrated into a relationship, sexting can:

Deepen intimacy and trust – Partners privately disclose fantasies and request images just for them, reserved within the relationship. This shared vulnerability forges intense bonds.
Add novelty and excitement – The perceived taboo of sexts can create a thrilling frisson between couples, sparking passion and reinvigorating emotional chemistry.
Empower sexual confidence – Knowing your partner enjoys your sexts builds comfort with being sexually forward and uninhibited.
Enhance communication – Discussing specific desires openly, even through sexts, keeps partners sexually in tune and receptive to each other’s needs.
Bridge physical distance – For couples who travel or live apart, sexting sustains sexual and emotional connection when physically separated.
Allow sexual exploration – Partners can safely reveal fantasies or adopt alternate flirty personas through sexts to explore new dynamics, while still maintaining monogamy.

Research reveals that sexting’s ability to enrich intimacy is often stronger in committed relationships versus casual connections.

Implementing Safe Sexting Protocols

Sexting carries risks if partners do not establish privacy protections and emotional boundaries:

Agree on comfort levels – Openly discuss what sexting activities each partner enjoys before starting. This ensures mutual enthusiasm and willingness to engage.
Progress gradually – Do not dive right into explicit images or messages. Move slowly from flirty texts to test comfort levels first.
Use secure apps – Encrypted apps like Signal provide more privacy. Avoid platforms that store messages like SMS. Turn off backups.
Keep anonymous – Do not show faces or identifiable marks in nude photos to preserve anonymity and build excitement.
Create fantasy personas – Adopt alternate flirty identities when sexting to playfully explore dynamics outside your normal personalities.
Employ euphemisms – Get creative with innuendo, metaphors, emojis or coded phrases instead of overtly explicit language, which adds discreetness.
Promptly delete – Routinely purge old sext threads and images to avoid potential embarrassment if discovered.
Never feel pressured – Both parties should want to engage in sexting freely. Do not sext from obligation or fear of disappointing a partner.
**Maintain full confidentiality ** – Never show a partner’s sexts to others. Betraying this trust devastates intimacy and violates consent.
Practice digital security – Password protect devices. Disable photo syncing to clouds. Enable remote wipe if a device is lost or stolen. Store safely.

Following common sense protocols allows sexting to safely enhance relationships without undermining trust.

Integrating Sexting Into Foreplay

One way couples thoughtfully make sexting part of their relationship is using it as verbal foreplay to build eager anticipation for future intimacy.

Trading sexts throughout the day helps ignite a sexy mindset before partners reunite physically later. Hot tips include:

Exchange specific fantasies about desired sexual activities to stoke excitement. Vivid descriptions paint mental images that tease and turn partners on.
Sensually describe how your body responds when thinking about them – racing pulse, skin flushing, arousal building. This bonds partners in shared desire.
Share detailed accounts of what you want to do to their body during next intimate encounter to build hungry expectation. Focus on most thrilling parts.
Sext about favorite physical attributes and features of theirs that you find irresistible. Compliment body areas that arouse you most.
Discuss new sex positions, toys, role plays or techniques to try next intimate experience together. This spurs creativity and passion.
Send a suggestive selfie hinting at disrobing further later. A naughty striptease over sext primes pumped up passion.
Confess just how aroused thinking about their sensuality makes you. Vulnerable admission of sexual excitement for a partner fosters intimacy.
Whisper flirty “secret missions” for what you want them to do to you later. This coded Build-up ensures peak arousal when couples unite.

Leveraging sexting as anticipation-building foreplay helps couples fully satiate pent-up sexual energy later during in-person intimacy.

Overcoming Stigmas About Sexting

While sexting is very common in relationships, unjust stigma still persists. Recognizing facts helps overcome misperceptions:

Sexting is akin to cheating – Since it involves sexual interaction, some feel sexting borders on emotional or physical affairs. But within committed relationships, it directs desire towards your special monogamous partner.
It leads to risky behaviors – Critics believe sexting encourages dangerous real-world hookups with strangers. In truth, sexting is often the safer alternative to anonymous encounters.
Sexting is just for teens and cheaters – Research reveals committed adults in long-term relationships are actually the most avid sexting demographic.
It objectifies the sender – Some feel receiving sexts dehumanizes a partner into just their body. But couples can sext in emotionally meaningful ways that validate the whole person.
Sexting reflects relationship unhealthiness – In reality, consensual sexting can enrich strong relationships between mature couples who sext carefully and privately.

Understanding current research on sexting helps dismiss outdated assumptions. For committed partners, it can be an intimate manifestation of modern relationship enhancement.

When Sexting Becomes Unhealthy

The positives of sexting depend on couples avoiding common pitfalls:

Pressuring reluctant partners – One partner may sext more eagerly than the other. Avoid applying guilt or shame on less interested partners.
Sexting outside the relationship – Doing so secretly with others breaks trust and monogamy. Disclose any external sexting urges before acting on them.
Sharing sexts publicly or for revenge – Distributing private sexts without consent betrays intimacy. Never share sexts meant for you only, even after breakups.
Using sexts for manipulation – Threatening to release sexts during conflicts is unethical emotional blackmail.
Replacing in-person intimacy with sexting – Sexting should complement face-to-face intimacy, not become a substitute for human connection.
Ignoring broader relationship problems – Issues like poor communication, emotional detachment or boredom may underlie unhealthy obsession with sexting. Deal with root causes.
Compulsive sexting habits – If sexting ever starts significantly interfering with work, health, finances or life responsibilities, it may be an unhealthy addiction.

Staying attuned to boundaries prevents sexting from becoming damaging versus a rewarding shared intimacy enhancer.

Between consenting partners in caring relationships, sexting can provide many benefits beyond just feeling titillated. Shared mindfully, it offers couples a modern avenue to safely be more sexually expressive, emotionally vulnerable and passionately connected.

When integrated thoughtfully into foreplay, sexting can spark eager anticipation for future full intimacy. Recognizing current research helps destigmatize sexting as a common relationship enhancement tool, not just reckless behavior. With mutual consent and basic precautions, sexting allows for exploration of intimate needs and desires within ongoing adult relationships. You can find a partner for sexting here