National snapshot Revenge porn booming
REVENGE porn has more than doubled over the past two years and now affects more than one in every five Australians, with teens and people who share “sexual selfies” at greatest risk of becoming victims.
The most comprehensive research into the insidious trend, released by RMIT University today also found men and women were equally likely to become victims of imagebased abuse, although men were more likely to perpetrate the crime, and women were more likely to fear for their safety. The survey of more than 4200 Australians also found most people supported making it a criminal offence to share sexual images without consent.
Chief researcher Dr Nicola Henry said revenge porn had become a significant problem in Australia over a short period of time, and the number of victims had more than doubled since the group’s 2014 study.
Among those most at risk included disabled and indigenous people, as well as those who had willingly shared sexual selfies, and the youngest group surveyed. One in three Australians aged between 16 and 19 reported image- based abuse — more than any other age group — and the perpetrators were more often friends or family members than jilted exlovers. “This isn’t just about revenge porn,” Dr Henry said. “Images are being used to control, abuse, and humiliate people in ways that go well beyond the relationship- gone- sour scenario.”
People who had taken and shared nude or sexual selfies were most likely to become victims of revenge porn, the study found, but one in 10 peo- ple who had never shared a naked photo of themselves had also been targeted.
Dr Henry said image- based abuse also included instances where computer webcams had been hacked, in cases of sexual assault and rape, and as part of domestic violence.
Despite the high number of victims, researcher Dr Asher Flynn, from Monash University, said the study may have underestimated the spread of revenge porn in Australia.
“Our survey only captured those victims who had become aware their images had been distributed, whereas some vic- tims may never discover that their images have been taken and distributed, particularly if they are circulated on sites on the dark web,” she said.
“Social media providers and internet companies need to introduce strong measures that take seriously the harms of image- based abuse.”
The study also recommended public information campaigns to “shift some of the victim blaming,” greater support for victims, like the UK’s Revenge Porn Hotline, and law reform.
Most of the study’s participants called for sharing sexual images without permission to be criminalised, though currently only Victoria and South Australia have laws outlawing revenge porn.
Dr Henry said the researchers recently partnered with the federal Office of the eSafety Commissioner, which investigated image- based abuse in Australia, to look at ways to tackle the problem, remove revenge porn websites, and work with victims to determine what penalties “they feel would be adequate”.
The office received more than 350 complaints since October last year.