Learning More About: Internet Based Sexual Abuse

The threat of posting non-consensual sexually explicit photos and videos is often a tool that perpetrators utilize to exert power and control over their victims. Often, that threat becomes a reality. Current estimates show approximately 1 in 8 people over the age of 18 have had their sexually explicit images released without their consent. Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) includes many different items, including:

• “Revenge Porn” or sharing sexually explicit images of someone else without their consent.
• Recording sexual images/videos of a person without their consent.
• Pressuring someone to take or share sexual images of themselves.
• Using artificial intelligence to create synthetic sexual images of a person.

In California, Senate Bill 255 makes IBSA a misdemeanor if the sharing of the images is intended to cause emotional harm or distress to others. The legislation itself aims to reduce the effects of revenge porn, as the law explicitly states that the images must have been taken consensually. Different laws can also refer to recording sexually explicit images or videos without someone’s consent.

Likewise, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has a helpful article to assist in removing these non-consensual images from Google. The article lists many different ways to remove IBSA from the internet.

You can read more at: https://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/my-boyfriend-shared-my-nudes-how-do-i-get-them-taken-down/

References: https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2020/the-social-consequences-of-nonconsensual-pornography/

https://www.eezlaw.com/blog/2021/june/distribution-of-intimate-images-without-consent-/