What can you do if people send you unwanted explicit photos online? It's complicated

Before Charlotte MorrittJacobs moved to Yel‐ lowknife to work as a re‐ porter for a Canadian me‐ dia company, she was warned about the explicit photos she would receive when making new con‐ tacts on Facebook.

"It came fairly swift. I re‐ member receiving messages almost immediately when I moved here, followed with some photos," Morritt-Jacobs said.

The phenomenon, some‐ times referred to as cyber‐ flashing, involves accepting a new friend request on social media and shortly after re‐ ceiving an unsolicited picture of their penis.

Sharing her experience with other reporters in the Northwest Territories, Mor‐ ritt-Jacobs said it was com‐ monly discussed between women in the North, but nev‐ er labelled as harassment.

"I don't think ever within conversation that I've had with others [people], whether they're journalists or other women, we've used the term harassment," Morritt-Jacobs said.

"Unfortunately, the lan‐ guage kind of betrays the severity and with that, I've never necessarily felt like a victim or a survivor, and I don't think many [other] women have necessarily felt that way either because it's not chalked up to harassment — it's just you know, some‐ thing that women experi‐ ence."

"I had almost become desensitized"

Great Slave MLA Katrina Nokleby is also no stranger to receiving unwanted explicit photos since joining politics in the Northwest Territories.

"Two years ago, my Face‐ book Messenger pops up on my computer screen and I can see that it's a video, and I can see it's a video of a man's erect penis," Nokleby said, noting the video was sent on her birthday.

In February, the MLA gave a member's statement in the Legislative Assembly about the issue.

"It wasn't until I started speaking about it, and almost joking it off, that people com‐ ing back to me were saying, 'You know that's an assault,'"

Nokleby said, comparing re‐ ceiving the unsolicited photos to a stranger flashing their genitals in public.

"I had definitely become almost, like, desensitized to it or feeling like it was just part of my job that I was going to get this kind of attention."

There is a belief that be‐ cause the photos are shared through social media, and it is an online interaction that it is not as violating, the Great Slave MLA said, but that is wrong.

"It is actually, in some way, more violating. because when I leave my home, I leave with my armour up and my politi‐ cian face on and I know that I'm going to be subjected to these things," Nokleby said.

"But when I'm sitting in my home and it's Saturday night and I'm relaxing with my cats, the last thing I expect is to get something like that."

Nokleby said she was in‐ spired to speak out about the issue because she wants peo‐ ple to know, this type of be‐ haviour is not OK.

But what is the law?

The Canadian Criminal Code has many laws for nude photographs.

For example, laws against indecent exposure protect people under the age of 16 from being exposed to anoth‐ er person's genitals in person or online; laws against voyeurism protect people who have a reasonable expec‐ tation of privacy from being recorded without their knowl‐ edge; laws against child pornography — including its making, distribution or pos‐ session — protect children; and there are laws against publishing or sharing an ex‐ plicit image of someone else who has not given their con‐ sent.

But sending unsolicited ex‐ plicit photos has yet to be codified in the Criminal Code.

Yellowknife lawyer Peter Adourian said it could fall un‐ der harassment in the Canadi‐ an Criminal Code, but noted it is an issue he doesn't com‐ monly see.

"I think it's probably some‐ thing that goes underreport‐ ed," Adourian said.

"Because most people don't necessarily think of it as a crime. They feel that it's a nuisance and they're dis‐ turbed by it but it doesn't sort of scream out criminal matter."

Laws exist around the world

While the issue has yet to be specified in the Canadian Criminal Code Law, it is not untrodden ground. Other places across the world have had laws in place for years.

In 2009, Scotland criminal‐ ized sending unsolicited ex‐ plicit photos in the Sexual Of‐ fences Act.

In September 2019, Texas passed House Bill 27-80, creat‐ ing a criminal offence of un‐ lawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual ma‐ terial. The law states that any‐ one who sends an image that is "not sent at the request of or with the express consent

of the recipient" can be fined with a Class C misdemeanor.

The UK is also working on an Online Safety Bill to make "cyberflashing" a criminal of‐ fence, for which perpetrators can face up to two years be‐ hind bars.

The CBC asked the RCMP for comment, but got none by deadline.

"It's not often or common, I suppose, for us to see a criminal charge laid for some‐ body who just sends the im‐ age and there isn't much more than that," Adourian said.

But if a person receiving the explicit photos wanted to pursue charges the lawyer says — take screenshots.

"Make sure it's well docu‐ mented and saved some‐ where where you're not going to lose those images … so that you can show the police and they have access as well," Adourian said.

'Blocking and deleting' Morritt-Jacobs has always remained professional when contacting people through social media, she said, but now has boundaries.

"No, I won't have a drink with you. No, I am not going to call you at one in the morn‐ ing … I have no problem blocking and deleting," she said.

While the reporter has not pursued legal action, MorrittJacobs said the narrative sur‐ rounding online harassment needs to change.

"You know, just ignore it, just delete the message, you don't have to respond," she said, repeating advice she has been given about the issue.

"That's putting the onus on the recipient of the harass‐ ing message and not the per‐ petrator."