From Non-consensual Pornography to Image-based Sexual Abuse: Charting the Course of a Problem with Many Names

ABSTRACT

Every day, people’s most intimate moments are recorded, uploaded and circulated online without their consent. This gross invasion of privacy – commonly known as ‘revenge pornography’ – has become part of the scenery in cyberspace. But the name ‘revenge pornography’ fails to communicate the scope and severity of this harm. It is a victim blaming term that risks misdirecting government policy and misinforming the public. So, in order to mobilise against ‘revenge porn’, activists have begun renaming it. ‘Non-consensual pornography’, ‘image-based sexual abuse’, and ‘digital rape’ are just a few of their new coinages. This research seeks to understand how ‘revenge pornography’ is being renamed and reframed in different contexts. To do so, it draws on interviews with thirty activists, experts, and scholars from twelve countries and seven professions. The article begins by comparing their alternative terminologies, bringing to light points of similarity and difference. It then looks forward, identifying new developments in activists’ thought and action. Despite their different vocabularies, this research finds among respondents a shared understanding upon which they could build an enduring coalition.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-consensual pornography
• image-based sexual abuse
• feminist activism
• online harassment
• revenge pornography

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the activists, scholars and experts who so generously dedicated their time to this research. I am grateful to Kate Eichhorn, Peter Asaro, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful revisions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

The data that support these research findings are not publicly available because they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Notes on contributor

Sophie Maddocks is a graduate of the Media Studies Master’s Program at The New School for Public Engagement. Her emerging research interests span digital media activism, online gender based violence, and youth media literacy.

Notes

1 Examples of legislative lobbying include the work of CCRI in the United States. Examples of victim-support and advocacy organisations include: The Revenge Porn Helpline in the U.K.; Without My Consent, BADASS, CCRI, and Fifty Shades of Silence in the U.S.; The Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan; Osez le féminisme! In France; and The Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling in India. Several of these organisations provide resources and run workshops dedicated to educating internet users about online safety. Examples of research on intimate image abuse include Chisala-Tempelhoff and Kirya (2016); Lenhart, Ybarra, and Price-Feeney (2016); Henry and Powell (2017); Halder and Jaishankar (2013); Thakur et al. (2016); Pina, Holland, and James (2017).

2 This research was conducted as part of the author’s Master’s thesis in Media Studies at The New School for Public Engagement. Although the thesis did not undergo formal IRB review, the project was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Belmont Report, including confidentiality protections and the use of informed consent procedures.

3 Nude photos of Vanessa Williams were published without her consent in Penthouse Magazine in 1984 and she was forced to give up her Miss America title. A private sex tape made by Nicole Ballan was released in 1995 forcing her to go into hiding. Intimate images, video, and personal information about an abortion sought by Han Sung Joo were leaked in 2011. Emily Kachote was stripped of her title after nude photos of her were leaked in 2015. Anti-Revenge Porn organisation Osez le féminisme! reports that non-consensual intimate photo disclosure is a common blight on French beauty pageant contestants.

4 In this report, intimate image abuse was also situated within several other categories: ‘utilização não consentida de fotos’ (unauthorised use of photos), ‘exposição de intimidade’ (exposure of intimacy), and ‘exposição de dados pessoais’ (exposure of personal information).