PROTECTING VICTIMS OF REVENGE PORN
Researchers urge tougher laws as 1 in 5 people falls victim to abusive behaviour
SYDNEY the subject ever in Australia — said legislation needed to be strengthened, adding that “revenge porn” had emerged at such a rapid pace that laws were “struggling to catch up”.
“Our survey only captured those victims who had become aware their images had been distributed, whereas some victims may never discover that their images have been taken and distributed,” Monash senior criminology lecturer Asher Flynn said.
The most common type of abuse was taking intimate images without consent.
Some 11 per cent of victims saw their images distributed without their consent, with some 40 per cent of those being shared across social media platforms like
NYT PIC Snapchat and Facebook.
A vast majority of those who experienced “sextortion”, or threats to share their images, said they suffered from anxiety as a result, with many fearing for their safety.
About half of the victims said their perpetrators were male, about a third said that the violator was female while 13 per cent said the offender was unknown.
The study recommended a range of reforms, including improved support services for victims such as a dedicated helpline similar to one established in Britain in 2015.
It also proposed making imagebased abuse a crime under federal telecommunications law. AFP