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An online protest is being organized to campaign for a change in the laws after tens of thousands of cases of image-based sexual abuse were shared in various online forums.
The protest, which is provisionally organized for November 28, hopes to introduce laws that protect victims of this type of attack, in which nude or sexually explicit images or videos are shared without the consent of the party involved.
It comes after a massive ‘leak’ that saw thousands of images and videos, mostly of Irish women, shared on forums.
The Victims Alliance learned about the mega-files in the last few days.
“At the Victims Alliance, through our head of image-based abuse, Megan Sims, we became aware of an issue where people use Internet forums to share images, some intimate, some not, in mega archives. The only common theme is that victims do not realize that their images are being used in this way, ”said Linda Hayden, founder of the Victims Alliance.
“We even have examples of people who have sent these images to relatives of the victims. To give context to the size of the problem, some of these files have 11,000 images, most are between 5,000 and 6,000. We have seen dozens of these files. ”
According to Ms Hayden, images have been taken from various platforms, including Only Fans, Tinder, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Large numbers are also captured without knowledge or consent in locker rooms or while women sleep.
“The files that we are talking about are mostly owned by Irish women, with some men, but until we can contact all the victims, we won’t know for sure.”
“Their consent and bodily autonomy have been taken away, they have been degraded and they fear who has seen these images, what they are using them for and if this will affect their work, personal and family life.
Hayden said a large proportion of victim blaming has been seen around the crime of image-based abuse.
“An attitude of ‘well, if you didn’t want this to happen, you shouldn’t have taken the photos’ and in response to that we say ‘police’. It is our body, our choice, but equally, we maintain control over the consent around these images. “
the understands that the bill on harassment, harmful communications and related crimes will be presented to the Justice Committee on December 1.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: “Harassment and abuse in any form, whether online or otherwise, is absolutely unacceptable and has no place in Irish society. The progression of the Harassment Bill, Harmful communications and related crimes is a priority action for me as Minister for Justice and I am committed to having it enacted as soon as possible. “
Anyone who has been adversely affected by this can contact Women’s-Aid Ireland. Their 24-hour helpline is 1800 341900.
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