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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.
As The Irish Examiner reports, the protest hopes to introduce laws that protect victims of such attacks, 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.
We have an unprecedented situation where we have become aware of a massive problem around image-based crime. We have seen massive folders with thousands of images that have been taken and shared without the consent of the person in the image. The scale of the problem is in the tens of thousands
– The Victims Alliance (@Vicsalliance) November 17, 2020
“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 know 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. “
So we know that if you have leaked images, it is very worrying, that you feel that your life is over and you are going to have to tell people that you don’t want to tell about it. Trust us, some of us have been through it, and it’s terrible and traumatic, but it will get better
– The Victims Alliance (@Vicsalliance) November 18, 2020
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 we are talking about are mostly owned by Irish women, with some men, but until we can contact all the victims we will not know for sure.
“Their consent and bodily autonomy have been taken away from them, they have been degraded, and they are afraid of 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.
She added “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. “
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