EXPOSED: THE DIRTY PICTURES NO ONE WANTS
FOUR in every ten young women have been sent unsolicited sexual images, new figures have revealed.
The news comes at a time when MPs are petitioning for a crackdown on technological forms of sexual harassment.
In October The Women and Equalities Select Committee called for a new law to criminalise all nonconsensual creation and distribution of sexual images “on the basis of the victim’s lack of consent rather than perpetrator motivation”.
The Committee published a report that said: “Laws on imagebased sexual abuse are not based on an understanding of power and entitlement.
“They focus too narrowly on the perpetrator motivations and do not provide the protection of anonymity of complainants.”
YouGov figures reveal that 40 per cent of British women aged 18-34 have received an unsolicited picture of a sexual nature.
The same was true of 21 per cent of 35-49 year old women, 10 per cent of 5064 year old women, and three per cent of women aged 65 and older.
Some 59 per cent of women of all ages who have received an unrequested sexual photo were sent the picture via a text message or messaging app, such as WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, 41 per cent were sent unsolicited photos on social media, followed by email (eight per cent), and bluetooth (two per cent).
The figures add up to more than 100 because a woman may have been sent more than one photo through different mediums.
The data also reveals that unsolicited photographs are not entirely a problem for women alone.
Some 15 per cent of British men have also received such a photo, rising to a quarter (26 per cent) for those aged 18-34 specifically. Men and women have different attitudes to unsolicited sexual photos, however.
A previous YouGov study found that 44 per cent of millennial men who have ever sent an unsolicited sexual image said they are “sexy”, while just 14 per cent of millennial women who have received one felt the same.
The report also found that 44 per cent of men aged 18-24 had previously broken the law by sending someone an unsolicited sexual image when the recipient was under the age of 18, which is a crime.
Commenting on the figures, a Women’s Aid spokesperson said: “As our lives are increasingly played out online, so the use of social media, apps and smartphones to abuse and harass women and girls increases with it. “Online abuse is not happening in a digital vacuum, it is an extension of and part of other forms of violence against women and girls. “Women and girls should have the right to use technology and access online spaces free from harassment, abuse and threats. “Technology and internet companies have a responsibility to take action to prevent abuse from happening and to facilitate effective early intervention where it does occur.”