If you don’t know what revenge porn is, let us fill you in. This is a phenomenon whereby ex-partners post explicit photos and videos of their former lovers, and it’s on the rise in the UK.
Three huge charities have all mentioned that the issue has become more common over the past year.
Some female victims have even found their personal information, such as their Facebook pages and phone numbers, posted together with the photos.
Laura Higgins, helpline manager at the UK Safer Internet Centre, said that her organisation has seen a huge hike in calls over the past year.
She said, “What we’re getting is just the tip of the iceberg. So many people are simply too embarrassed and humiliated to seek help or advice.”
Revenge porn first surfaced in 2010, through a website called IsAnyoneUp, but when that was taken down in 2012 by its owner, many others emerged.
The issue is so severe that a number of states in the US have introduced laws to attempt to tackle revenge porn.
In the UK, law student Heather Robertson launched an online petition to campaign for laws to recognise that revenge porn is a sexual crime.
As of now, it can only be challenged by civil claims such as a breach of copyright, or if the photos are of someone below the age of 18.
Robertson stated that she began the campaign after a fellow student at York University became a victim of revenge porn.
“I got irritated that for something that was affecting her life all I could use was copyright law,” says Robertson.
“The fact is that websites don’t care about civil claims so we want to make it criminal. They make themselves un-contactable and they don’t log the IP addresses of people who upload pictures.
“It should be encrypted into an act about privacy online, or in the sexual offenders act of sexual harassment act. The idea is that the effect it has on your life should be recognised.”
She is hoping that her petition, which uses the hashtag #banrevengeporn, will reach the 100,000 signatures required to spark a parliamentary debate.
Well, this is also an issue in Malaysia and if it gets as severe, it’s high time we do something about it too!
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