‘It’s Torture for the Soul’: The Harms of Image-Based Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Beyond ‘scandals’ and the public testimonies of victim-survivors, surprisingly little is known about the nature and extent of the harms of ‘image-based sexual abuse’, a term that includes all non-consensual taking and/or sharing of nude or sexual images. Accordingly, this article examines the findings from the first cross-national qualitative study on this issue, drawing on interviews with 75 victim-survivors of image-based sexual abuse in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We adopt a feminist phenomenological approach that permits more nuanced and holistic understandings of victim-survivors’ experiences, moving beyond medicalised, trauma-based accounts of harm. Our analysis develops five interconnected accounts of the harms experienced, that we have termed social rupture, constancy, existential threat, isolation and constrained liberty. Our findings shed new light on the nature and significance of the harms of image-based sexual abuse that emphasises the need for more comprehensive and effective responses to these abuses.

The Psychology of Nonconsensual Porn: Understanding and Addressing a Growing Form of Sexual Violence

“…Although not causal proof, NCP victims have worse mental and physical health than nonvictims (Ruvalcaba & Eaton, 2019) and report post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology (Bates, 2017). In 75 interviews with victims, they report social rupture, constancy (i.e., “a level of permanence which affects everything”), existential threat, isolation, and constrained liberty; threats to share images without consent are particularly identified as paralyzing and potentially life-threatening (McGlynn et al, in press). In another study with 64 (mostly women) participants who experienced “online revenge porn,” half used self-harm to alleviate negative feelings or thoughts related to their victimization (Short et al, 2017).…”

“…The threat of the abuse reemerging also causes victims to report constant apprehension across time and space (McGlynn et al, in press). As one victim noted “[It’s] having this continuing threat that the images could be re-shared, or re-emerge online, that new people could see these intimate images .…”

“…. And I think it’s the unknowing; that not knowing aspect that you have to deal with every day” (McGlynn et al, in press). Victims describe that this leads them to be hyper-vigilant in online and offline interactions, overanalyzing social interactions, checking the internet and their social media obsessively, and so on.…”

“…Without this caveat of connecting information, such an identification requirement considerably limits the scope of such measures and fails to recognize that being unidentifiable to a stranger does not reduce the harm. Where images are distributed across the internet, for example, the harm is amplified, as victims in psychology research say, each viewing can be experienced as abuse (Bates, 2017; McGlynn et al, in press); it matters little that the strangers viewing these images are unaware of the particular identity of the victim. Conversely, some state laws fail to understand that the harms are not only perpetrated online, with Maryland, for example, only including material posted on the internet, thus excluding distribution via emails or texts (Citron, 2019).…”

Pornografía no consentida: alternativas en el ordenamiento jurídico de la propiedad intelectual de Estados Unidos

“…Lamentablemente, en los portales de internet existe una demanda de imágenes de pornografía no consentida, habiendo muchos factores que la promueven (McGlynn et al, 2020).…”