The law versus image-based abuse
How does the law respond to image-based abuse or ‘revenge porn’ as it is commonly known? As part of their Legal Studies class, Ms Campbell’s Year 11 students were tasked with critically evaluating this highly topical issue.
As Ms Campbell highlighted to the class, an image posted to social media or a website can be viewed instantly by people worldwide, and that the misuse of this technology can cause significant harm and distress.
Image-based abuse refers to the non-consensual distribution of nude or sexually explicit images or video footage on social media platforms and pornographic websites, including dedicated revenge pornography sites. Cases involving high profile people, such as Mischa Barton or Lara Bingle, have helped to raise awareness about the extent of the problem and its impact.
As Ms Campbell explained, the term ‘revenge porn’ is somewhat misleading as the motivation for distributing nude or sexually explicit images is not always about revenge. Offenders may share images for various reasons, including blackmail, coercing a victim as a means of exerting domestic violence, using the images for sexual gratification, for commercial gain or simply seeking to impress friends.
A recent Australian study found that 1 in 5 people aged between 16 and 49 had been victims of revenge porn, that 1 in 20 had shared intimate images they had received, and that 1 in 10 had taken photographs or footage without consent. The report highlights just how widespread the issue is in Australia alone.
Whatever the motivation, it is clear that image-based abuse causes significant emotional distress to its victims. To illustrate her point, Ms Campbell showed the class a video with a woman whose former partner had recorded Webcam footage without her knowledge or consent and distributed it online. She also highlighted how widely this sort of material can be disseminated, with some offenders deliberately sending images to their victim’s families, friends, teachers and employers, adding to their distress and humiliation. Others set up fake social media profiles or websites to amplify the embarrassment of their victims, which can then result in abuse and sexualised contact from strangers. It was evident to the students that the intimate, personal and intrusive nature of these offences, can have a devastating and long-term impact on the victims and their families, leading to emotional trauma, the breakdown of relationships, damaged reputation and the destruction of people’s careers.
The students were then tasked with examining how the law has responded to image-based abuse by looking at the following questions: How effective have recent legislative reforms been in achieving justice for the victim? What are the practical issues associated with enforcing punishment on offenders of image-based abuse? Are the consequences serious enough to deter potential offenders?
This inquiry-based learning sequence led to rich and deep discussions as the students explored the problem and researched current legislation, as well as the ground-breaking work undertaken by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. As they discovered, keeping up with the rapid changes in technology is one of the biggest challenges for the law. It is now an offence in New South Wales to intentionally record or distribute an intimate image of a person without their consent. Offenders who do so not only face a maximum penalty of three years in jail, but also risk an $11,000 fine. It is also an offence to threaten to distribute intimate images so as to protect victims against controlling behaviour in abusive relationships. Notwithstanding the new legislation, anonymous offenders avoid prosecution. It is hard to enforce take-down orders on websites hosted overseas. Even where court orders are made and complied with, the images have remained online in the meantime. Under-reporting also remains an issue due to victims being embarrassed and daunted by the law enforcement process.
The students acknowledged that the law isn’t the only mechanism to address this problem. To a certain extent, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner helps to fill this gap, providing counselling support for victims and an image removal service, which respects the privacy of the victim. Additionally and importantly, raising awareness about the importance of dignity, respect and the right to privacy, as well as educating people about the harmful effects of this type of behaviour are proactive strategies which focus on crime prevention and can be the most effective way of dealing with image-based abuse.
It was a fascinating class, which prompted wide debate about the effectiveness of law reform in dealing with image-based abuse and alternative crime prevention strategies, as well as lots of discussion!
Bravo Ms Campbell!