2020 has been a year for the Digital Revolution. With the world already nearly totally online, other sectors have made the jump with work, education and healthcare entering the virtual sphere. However, despite the many positive changes, the internet is not without its dark side. Revenge porn, sharing unsolicited sexual content of exes (usually female) online, has surged dramatically.
Revenge Porn
Revenge Porn is not only a form of domestic abuse, it is also illegal. Research carried about by Refuge, a domestic violence charity, found that one in seven young women has received threats that intimate photos of them will be shared without their consent. Although this is not strictly female-only, two-thirds of the cases reported to the helpline have involved women. Lucy Hadley, campaign and policy manager at Women’s Aid, says that “disclosing private sexual images – or threatening to do so – is a common form of abuse.” Unfortunately, this abuse is becoming increasingly common and is harming, above all, young women.
2020 Surge
The Revenge Porn Helpline, set up in 2015, has experienced an exponential surge in reports with a 98% increase in cases in April 2020 (year-on-year). The trend has continued with a month-on-month increase, despite lockdown restrictions being eased. In August 2020, there were 285 reported cases (a 63% increase since August 2019). Figures are thought to be as high as 2,7000 reports before the end of 2020.
Lockdown Exacerbates Domestic Violence
It is no surprise that domestic violence worsened during the pandemic with many forced to live with their abuser without hope of refuge of escape. Women’s Aid, another domestic violence charity, found that over 60% of survivors living with their abuser said that their domestic violence experience worsened during the pandemic. There was a 22% rise from last year on reports to a government-funded helpline, with a total of around 2,050 reports.
Risk of Virtual Interaction
The lockdown has also triggered revenge porn as a form of abuse, or at least led to greater awareness. As more people interact intimately over virtual and online platforms, the rise in revenge porn has reflected this. August showed the biggest surge in 2020. Already this year, the South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL), part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, has removed 22,515 images. Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, David Wright, commented that “the lockdown produced an extreme set of circumstances which are bringing a lot of problems”. He suggests that revenge porn may be the “new normal” as cases have continued to stay high even after lockdown restrictions have eased. Sharing pornography without consent is illegal in England, Scotland and Wales and should be treated as a serious crime.
