Opinion spares no one
‘Revenge porn’ law protects women in court but not against public, experts say
Why would she take those photos? Why would she date him in the first place?
While non-consensual pornography laws are common in most states, the victims, typically women, are still blamed when an intimate photo of them is shared online with adverse affects, experts said.
The most recent example that women’s activists and law experts point to is former congresswoman Katie Hill, D-Calif., who recently resigned after her estranged husband shared intimate photos of her with the conservative website RedState.
In her farewell speech, Hill said she was leaving her position because of the threatening calls, emails and messages she’s received and that the photos were taken without her consent.
Blaming the victim is a big issue when intimate photos of a woman are shared online, known as revenge porn, said Alysa Villelli, communications and community coordinator for Women4Change Indiana. Public opinion is quick to rule that the photos shouldn’t have been taken in the first place, she said.
“But what people don’t know is a lot of these women are victims in domestic violence situations. Their partners will take these pictures without their consent and threaten them with these pictures,” Villelli said. “Women are really being held in these dangerous relationships because of these pictures.”
Research has found that roughly 90% of revenge porn case victims are women, of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, Villelli said, which makes it an issue that “disproportionately” affects women without previous consequence.
“There was no recourse. Even if they were to come forward, and if they were to contact authorities or legal help, it was like there was nothing that could be done,” Villelli said.
Now, Indiana women can do something about it, Villelli said. As of July, Indiana is one of 46 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have a revenge porn law, said State Rep. Lisa Beck, DCrown Point.
Effective July 1, Indiana has two non-consensual pornography laws: a criminal and civil law that allows victims to seek legal action against someone who shares an intimate image without their consent, Beck said.
Under the criminal law, nonconsensual pornography is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a sentence of up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine, Beck said. Repeat offenders will be charged with a felony, she said.
Beck voted in favor of the laws after two Indiana women spoke in favor of them, she said.
One woman said photos of her daughter, a teenager, were shared by a boy she rejected, Beck said. Another woman, a teacher, said her ex-husband sent photos of her to her co-workers, Beck said.
“Based on both of those circumstances, I think it’s a good law. We definitely needed to protect people. I think the majority of people that will be affected by this would
be women,” Beck said.
But, there is no federal nonconsensual pornography law, which Beck said “would make it more fair across all 50 states.” In some states, the non-consensual pornography laws focus on “malicious intent,” she said.
“It’s almost like the victims has to prove the case,” Beck said. “What we don’t want to see is women who are being victimized being further victimized by having to prove that the person did it maliciously.”
Since the law went into effect, Porter County is currently trying its first non-consensual pornography case. Kathy Browne of Richmond, Virginia, was charged in late September with a misdemeanor count of distribution of an intimate image in the criminal case.
Her case involves Chicago Fox 32 news anchor Rafer Weigel and a Valparaiso woman. Lake County has not yet tried a non-consensual pornography case, officials said.
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said the case is “a little unusual” because it involves adults. Navigating the terminology related to this law has been a first-time experience, he said.
“It’s a whole new language. We’re learning as we go,” Germann said.
Though he declined to comment on an active case, Germann said he hopes the public learns not to share or post the photos.
“I hope people use a little discretion and not post (photos) if there is a breakup,” Germann said. “If there is a breakup — for crying out loud — just delete them.”
Julie Storbeck, chapter president of Northwest Indiana National Organization for Women, said revenge porn is a form of sexual harassment against women, and the new Indiana law gives women “one more tool in order to fight back against relationship violence and domestic abuse.”
“(The law) sends a message to society at large, and what it says is: We are no longer, as a society, going to accept this treatment of women,” Storbeck said.
When public opinion blames the woman in the situation, people should consider that the photos could’ve been taken without her consent or that the photos could’ve been altered to show her face on someone else’s body, Storbeck said.
Even if a woman took the photos herself, she did not give permission for the photos to be shared online, Storbeck said.
“If a woman wants to take photos of herself, or she wants her partner to take photos of her as part of their relationship, there is an explicit expectation of privacy that ought not to be messed with,” Storbeck said.
Storbeck pointed to the Hill case of how revenge porn can negatively impact a woman’s career.
“Katie Hill was forced to resign because of all the … chaos that came around the photographs made it impossible for her to do her job,” Storbeck said. “What is happening to her is the criminal act. Once again, a woman is being judged for celebrating her sexuality in what she thought was going to be a private circumstance.”
Jennifer Drobac, a professor at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington, specializes in sexual harassment law and pointed to the Hill case as an example of the negative impact sharing the photos has on women.
“Katie Hill had to give up her job because she was getting threats of physical violence and other heinous hate mail and she felt she would not be able to do her job given what her ex-husband and the media did to her,” Drobac said.
Drobac said she prefers “consensual pornography” over the term revenge porn because the intimate images are shared without the woman’s consent and could’ve been taken without her consent.
“That’s part of blame the victim mentality,” Drobac said. “We’re still talking about this as if it’s the target’s fault.”
While consensual pornography laws are “good,” Drobac said there needs to be a shift in social and cultural understanding of why the photos are shared.
“You could call it anger porn. You could call it attack porn. But these are angry people who are trying to shame and embarrass their former partners, typically,” Drobac said. “That’s an unfortunate circumstance that we as a society are enabling that kind of attack by then consuming the publication.”
Society has to “condemn this action in a much more grassroots manner” by boycotting the media outlets that publish the photos and support victims not shame them, Drobac said.
“If we had all rushed to Katie Hill’s defense the way we rush to the defense of a war hero, she might still be in Congress,” Drobac said. “Law is a good start, but we need a grassroots social response to this type of anger attack using pornography.”