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Sextortion refers to making threats to share nude or sexual images to coerce the victim into complying with certain demands, such as paying a ransom, sharing intimate images, or engaging in unwanted acts. Sextortion occurs in a diverse range of contexts, including intimate partner abuse, cyberbullying, sexuality or sex worker "outing," online dating, "cybersex," sex trafficking, online sexual exploitation of children, computer hacking, and organized crime. Despite the heightened media focus, few studies have measured the prevalence, nature, and impacts of sextortion. We conducted a scoping review with the aim of providing a comprehensive overview of existing empirical research on sextortion victimization and perpetration among youth and adults. In total, 24 studies were identified based on predefined eligibility criteria. We found that studies focusing on youth reported prevalence ranging from 0.7% to 5.0%, while studies involving adults ranged from 4.0% to 18.7%. The review found that young people and sexual minorities are more likely to experience victimization, while men, young people, and sexual minorities are more likely to self-report engaging in sextortion offending. The review found that perpetrators are more likely to be intimate partners or other known persons as opposed to strangers and that there was an overlap between sextortion perpetration and victimization. Finally, we also found that sextortion can result in significant harms, and that reporting and help-seeking remain very low due to shame, fear, and negative perceptions of police and digital platforms. The findings highlight existing gaps and provide recommendations for future research, policy, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a form of technology-facilitated sexual violence in which intimate photos or videos are nonconsensually taken, shared, and/or threatened to be shared. The shift to fully virtual social interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated a spike in IBSA victimization during this time, and—with many organizations functioning at limited capacity—survivors had limited resources available to them to manage the distress associated with victimization. The purpose of this study was to understand the coping strategies used by diverse survivors of IBSA during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Method: We conducted structured interviews using a trauma-informed approach. Using codebook thematic analysis, we analyzed the data from 36 survivors of IBSA during the pandemic (Mage = 31.01; two participants did not disclose age). The sample was diverse in terms of genders, races, and sexual orientations represented. Results: We identified five groups of coping strategies employed by participants: avoiding distressing feelings, reputational damage control, retaliatory sextortion, seeking emotional support, and pursuing justice. Many participants used multiple strategies to manage the distress associated with their IBSA victimization. Conclusions: Survivors of IBSA cope with their victimization in diverse ways, some of which have not been previously reported in coping strategies literature and may be unique to the experience of IBSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research was conducted in partnership with the Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH) to examine the location and removal of non-consensual intimate image (NCII) abuse. By examining reports to the helpline, data were collected to uncover where intimate images were being non-consensually distributed, how they were proportionally distributed across platforms, and avenues for image removal. The data confirm that social media plays a key role in NCII distribution and provides further insight into where images are being distributed outside of social media platforms. Data on image removal indicate that knowledge of how to navigate different types of platforms is important for image removal success, making contributions from organisations such as the RPH vital, and highlighting the need to make reporting processes more accessible. The findings also indicate significant gaps within the Online Safety Act which will need to be addressed if the Act is to effectively protect victim-survivors. In particular, the need to move beyond focusing on services with the largest user numbers and broadening the scope to include smaller high-risk and problematic platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) refers to the nonconsensual creating, taking, or sharing of intimate images, including threatening to share images. It can also include coercing someone into sharing intimate images, or sending unwanted intimate images. In recent years, there has been growing attention to the nature, scope, and impacts of IBSA, but comparatively little attention has been paid to the perpetration of these harms. This scoping review consolidates and synthesizes the existing knowledge on the perpetration of IBSA against adults. The review involved a systematic search of scholarly and gray literature across select databases. In total, 26 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were included if they were published in English between 2013 and 2023 and reported on findings of a sample of adults over the age of 16 who admitted IBSA perpetration behaviors. The review found that prevalence of subtypes of IBSA varied significantly across the studies. There was consensus that adults who engage in IBSA perpetration are more likely to be men, younger adults, and LGBTIQ+. Motivations were multifaceted, but tended to relate to social rewards, power dynamics, sexual gratification, and retaliatory impulses. Dark Tetrad traits were found to be positively associated with IBSA perpetration. The research also indicates on overlap between victimization and perpetration, as well as an association with other offending behaviors, such as intimate partner violence. Prevention interventions should be focused on changing the opportunities, affordances, and infrastructures for offending, as well as addressing problematic societal attitudes and norms, with early interventions focused on building resilience and self-esteem, and promoting healthy behaviors and respectful relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abrupt closure of a popular website which hosted image-based abuse in April 2012 triggered a robust social media response. Most posts on Twitter expressed a positive opinion about Is Anyone Up? (IAU) and its "revenge porn" business model. These tweets were not just posted by men, with around one-third of the 2,967 tweets about the website on the day of its closure linked to the profiles of women. This article assesses the 1,030 tweets posted about IAU by identifiably female accounts in the 12 hours after the website shutdown. It assesses the levels of support for image-based abuse among women and compares the nature of this support with responses of Twitter users who are identifiably male, or those whose gender could not be determined. It considers factors such as the impact of online disinhibition on the prevalence of online mockery, especially within pre-existing misogynistic frames observable on social media. It also discusses the perception among women that image-based abuse served as an informal control on sending "nudes" and, on that point, how women were divided as to whether the closure of the site should be treated as a positive or negative development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging corpus exists pertaining to societal judgements of image-based sexual harassment and abuse (IBSHA). This type of research centres on the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII; sometimes called 'revenge pornography'), but recent legislative developments seeking to convict those who engage in the unsolicited sending of intimate images (USII; sometimes called 'dick pics') evoke a need to broaden this literature. Moreover, in the context of recent and highly publicised accounts featuring both celebrity perpetrators and victims of IBSHA, it is important to understand whether celebrity status impacts said judgements. We present three studies outlining judgement differences between vignettes featuring NCSII and USII as a function of perpetrator/victim celebrity status and as predicted by previously implicated personality traits and beliefs. In Studies 1 (N = 261) and 2 (N = 237), though vignettes involving NCSII were perceived more criminal in nature and anticipated to evoke more harm than USII, said victims also received more blame. Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no further impact of celebrity status on either the perpetrator (Study 2) or victim (Study 3; N = 207). Finally, although dark personality traits (associated with callousness and low empathy) predicted variation in judgements of IBSHA across all studies, in Study 2, psychopathic personality traits specifically predicted proclivity to engage in NCSII but not USII. The results are discussed in reference to the importance of IBSHA-related education on an international level and the pursuit of further legislation in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critical analysis of the complex nature of non-consensual image-based harassment of women in cyberspace, challenging the prevailing view that this form of harassment is synonymous with revenge pornography. It explores the intricate patterns and methods through which images are used to target women online, with a specific focus on the Indian context. The article has three primary objectives: firstly, to delineate and comprehend the diverse patterns of this digital abuse and its repercussions on the victimisation of Indian women; secondly, to investigate the root causes and consequences of such victimisation within India; and thirdly, to propose policy measures, especially through civil and criminal remedies, aimed at curbing the production and dissemination of this detrimental content. Providing critical insight into the problematic relationship between content creators and websites, which is intensified by jurisdictional boundaries imposed by foreign laws that govern these platforms, the article argues that this legal incongruity may inadvertently allow content creators to persist in their harmful practices despite the legal protections currently available in India. Consequently, it calls for a reassessment of existing legal frameworks and argues for the development of stronger, more cohesive global policies to address this issue effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENTThis study sought to describe the characteristics of people who non-consensually forward sexts, to examine the overlap between the non-consensual forwarding of sexts and in-person sexual coercion, and to investigate what correlates were associated with each perpetration type (i.e. the non-consensual forwarding of sexts and in-person sexual coercion). In our online community sample of 2,780 emerging adults (i.e. aged 18–30), mostly from North America (97.9%), we found a prevalence of 9.2% for the non-consensual forwarding of sexts and a 13.7% prevalence for in-person sexual coercion. The two types of sexual coercion overlapped; however, more perpetrators of the non-consensual forwarding of sexts had also committed in-person perpetration than in-person perpetrators who also committed the non-consensual forwarding of sexts. Higher sex drive, being a man, greater susceptibility to peer pressure, and self-reporting the other type of sexual coercion were independently related with in-person sexual coercion and the non-consensual forwarding of sexts. Our findings suggest a possible overlapping etiology between in-person sexual coercion and the non-consensual forwarding of sexts and that programmes aimed at reducing in-person sexual coercion could be effective for reducing the non-consensual forwarding of sexts.Results from our online survey of 2,780 adults aged 18-30 suggest that using “revenge pornography” to refer to the non-consensual forwarding of sexual materials is unnecessarily restrictive and does not represent the nature of this phenomenon. Further, we found that positive beliefs about the non-consensual forwarding of sexts was a common motivation for non-consensually forwarding sexts, suggesting that social media campaigns educating emerging adults on the risks of the non-consensual forwarding of sexts may be effective in reducing this behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore polarization in the discourse of social media commentators over crimes of Revenge Porn. Revenge porn refers to “the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images” (Bond and Tyrrell 2021, 2166), videos, or other intimate material, which are weaponized against its victims. As with other crimes, revenge porn cases are highly discussed on social media, where users might (a) reproduce prejudice and stigma against victims or, contrarily, (b) resist victim-blaming and shaming ideologies as a form of activism and call for empathy (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich and Bou-Franch 2019; Palomino-Manjón 2022). In light of this, this paper examines the discursive construction of the phenomenon of revenge porn and the evaluations proposed of victims and perpetrators on the social network YouTube with the aim of unveiling conflicting ideologies online. To this end, the present study analyzes a corpus of 14,000 comments (ca. 411,000 words) from four different YouTube videos tackling revenge porn cases. The paper adopts a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) approach (Partington et al. 2013) and uses Sketch Engine to analyze the corpus. Additionally, a more detailed analysis of evaluative resources and linguistic patterns is carried out. Results show that polarized understandings of revenge porn abound in the corpus. Specifically, victim-blaming ideologies are discursively concealed, whereas traditional ideologies regarding sex are overtly encoded. Moreover, male users affiliate with newer constructions of masculinity and dissociate from the illegal actions attributed to perpetrators. Women/victims are generally derogated for not conforming to societal views of common-sensical sexual behavior or praised for their strength in standing social judgment.

Purpose: Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA) is a recently studied form of violence and abuse perpetrated using technology. This systematic review aims to examine and systematize studies exploring factors associated with IBSA (e.g., victimization, perpetration, and propensity to perpetrate). Method: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement, 17 articles were included. Results: The results of this study highlighted conceptual and methodological limitations in the literature on IBSA. Aside from these limitations, this systematic review identified factors associated with IBSA, focusing on four macro-areas: victimization, perpetration, propensity to perpetrate IBSA, and IBSA implications. The results demonstrated the role of psychological, relational, and social variables, although the effect sizes observed in the quantitative studies were small or in few cases moderate. Conclusions: These results suggest further research should be carried out to explore the multidimensionality of IBSA and its associated factors, which may assist in guiding interventions to promote preventive and rehabilitative methods to lower the prevalence of this crime and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/purpose: Artificial intelligence can be used for both positive and negative purposes. In recent years, the use of deepfake technology has attracted significant attention. Deepfake technology replaces a person's face and creates events that never happened. While the use of deepfake was more noticeable in the past, the technology has advanced so rapidly that today it is impossible to determine if the content is fake or not. As a result, there is erosion of trust in the media and political institutions, manipulation of public discourse, as well as the spread of disinformation and fake news. The aim of this work is to examine the methods of creating deepfake content and explore the possibilities for detecting such content. A special focus is placed on investigating the dark side of deepfake technology, i.e., the negative purposes for which deepfake technology can be used. Methods: Through the use of literature review methods and content analysis, this work has provided a systematization of knowledge about deepfake technology, as well as an analysis of relevant data in this field regarding the potential misuse of deepfake technology. Deepfake technology and its use are viewed from a security perspective, i.e., how the use of these technologies can pose a social hazard. Future research should be designed to be multidisciplinary, integrating knowledge from social sciences (security, sociology, psychology) and technical sciences (information technology). Results: The results of this research show that in a positive context, the use of deepfake is associated with medicine, the film industry, entertainment, and creative endeavors. However, deepfake is often used to create pornographic content, revenge porn, fake news, and various types of fraud. Conclusion: Deepfake technology is neutral in the sense that the purpose of its use depends on the individual creating the content. The use of both artificial intelligence and deepfake technology raises complex legal and ethical questions. Although there is noticeable potential for societal improvement offered by these technologies, deepfake technology simultaneously poses a serious risk to human rights, democracy, and national security. Therefore, the misuse of deepfake technologies represents a social hazard for the entire population of any country. Women are particularly vulnerable due to the possibility of creating pornographic content and revenge porn using deepfake technology, although victims of this act can also be men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I argue that the consumption of illegally shared pornography is often morally problematic. My argument is not based on any general condemnation of pornography or even illegal content sharing as such. Instead, my argument emphasizes that commercial pornography that is illegally shared risks violating the consent and thus the dignity of its performers. In this way, illegally shared pornography is akin to 'revenge porn', involving the non‐consensual distribution and consumption of sexually intimate images or videos. The idea is that if viewing sexually explicit content shared without the permission of the people featured within it is unethical, then the same is often true of the consumption of commercial pornographic content that has been shared illegally. My primary focus is on the commercial pornography produced and distributed by the performers themselves, but I also consider the moral status of more traditional forms of pornographic content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore polarization in the discourse of social media commentators over crimes of Revenge Porn. Revenge porn refers to "the nonconsensual sharing of intimate images" (Bond and Tyrrell 2021, 2166), videos, or other intimate material, which are weaponized against its victims. As with other crimes, revenge porn cases are highly discussed on social media, where users might (a) reproduce prejudice and stigma against victims or, contrarily, (b) resist victimblaming and shaming ideologies as a form of activism and call for empathy (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich and Bou-Franch 2019; Palomino-Manjón 2022). In light of this, this paper examines the discursive construction of the phenomenon of revenge porn and the evaluations proposed of victims and perpetrators on the social network YouTube with the aim of unveiling conflicting ideologies online. To this end, the present study analyzes a corpus of 14,000 comments (ca. 411,000 words) from four different YouTube videos tackling revenge porn cases. The paper adopts a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) approach (Partington et al. 2013) and uses Sketch Engine to analyze the corpus. Additionally, a more detailed analysis of evaluative resources and linguistic patterns is carried out. Results show that polarized understandings of revenge porn abound in the corpus. Specifically, victim-blaming ideologies are discursively concealed, whereas traditional ideologies regarding sex are overtly encoded. Moreover, male users affiliate with newer constructions of masculinity and dissociate from the illegal actions attributed to perpetrators. Women/victims are generally derogated for not conforming to societal views of common-sensical sexual behavior or praised for their strength in standing social judgment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined how individual differences in masculine honor beliefs (MHBs) related to third-person perceptions of revenge pornography (i.e., a man distributing nude photos of his ex-girlfriend) in response to a break-up. Consistent with our hypotheses, higher levels of MHBs were associated with higher ratings of the woman as negative, higher levels of victim-blaming the woman, and higher ratings of revenge pornography as justified. Furthermore, participants perceived the woman as more at fault, and the man's behavior as more justified, when she cheated on him prior to his revenge (compared to when she did not cheat). Overall, our results suggest that both higher levels of MHBs and instances of infidelity inspire beliefs that disempower women victims. Our research extends our understanding of how MHBs and situational factors relate to perceptions of revenge pornography, including its justification and the stigmatization of its victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many educational presentations continue to straightforwardly frame both consensual and nonconsensual intimate image distribution among youth as child pornography. This continues despite the availability of a purpose-built offence for nonconsensual intimate image distribution (NCIID) that was designed, in part, to avoid the use of child pornography offences in NCIID cases and the existence of a "private use exception" that limits the applicability of child pornography offences in cases of consensual "sexting" among youth. This sometimes inaccurate and, I argue, inappropriate focus on child pornography offences is especially common in presentations by police and public safety personnel. Through a discursive analysis of Canadian case law and a case study of educational approaches provided by the CyberScan unit, I find that the continued dominance of a child pornography framing is based on both genuine misconceptions of how these offences apply to intimate image distribution and intentional misrepresentations of the legal context. Résumé: De nombreuses présentations éducatives continuent d'assimiler à la fois la distribution consensuelle et non consensuelle d'images intimes chez les jeunes à de la pornographie juvénile. Une qualification qui continue malgré l'existence d'une infraction spécialement désignée pour la distribution non consensuelle d'images intimes (DNCII) ayant été conçue, en partie, pour éviter le recours à des infractions de pornographie juvénile dans les affaires de DNCII, et malgré également une « exception d'usage privé » limitant l'applicabilité des infractions de pornographie juvénile dans les cas de « sexting » consensuel entre jeunes. Ce recours aux infractions de pornographie juvénile est parfois inexact, et même inapproprié selon moi, mais s'avère pourtant particulièrement courant dans les présentations des policiers et des acteurs de la sécurité publique. Grâce à une analyse discursive de la jurisprudence canadienne et à une étude de cas sur les approches pédagogiques fournies par l'unité CyberScan, je conclus que cette tendance à appréhender de telles actions à travers la lunette de la pornographie juvénile est fondée à la fois sur des incompréhensions quant à la façon dont ces infractions s'appliquent à la distribution d'images intimes et sur des représentations erronées intentionnelles du contexte juridique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present action comes as a result of some recent legislative changes, at the level of Romania, more precisely the criminalization of "revenge pornography", but not as a distinct act, according to the provisions of the Criminal Code, but as a variant of committing the crime of violation of private life. Taking into account the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to private life, we want to analyse to what extent and how the national legislator of other Member States of the European Union understood to criminalize the behaviour mentioned above. Moreover, considering the criminalization of child pornography, from the European Council Convention on Computer Crime, as well as from the Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of December 13, 2011, we want to analyse the opportunity of the existence in Romanian legislation of a distinct criminalization, with the name of "revenge pornography", in the same title of the special part of the Criminal Code as the crime of child pornography, taking into account the protected social value, while observing whether such an orientation is found in the criminal legislation of other Member States. Another aspect that will be considered from the perspective of applying the law to different cases brought to justice is that related to international judicial cooperation when the object of criminal protection is private life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Revenge porn, means the unauthorized dissemination of private photographs or videos of a victim in cyberspace, is a newly judicially recognized crime and has an increasing trend in society with the increasing prevalence of technological advancement. This type of non-consensual pornography which is virtual rape, takes place for several reasons, i.e., taking revenge on his ex-partner, sextortion, blackmailing, getting custody of children from a divorced spouse, etc., which causes sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and more. Recent data shows that about 27% of total internet users in between 13-45 age groups were subjected to revenge porn in India. Though cases are being dealt with, with the help of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Information Technology Act, 2000 but till now, there are no explicit provisions dealing with this crime where victims can avail themselves of the relief effectively and without any hesitation. Today, no one can think of a life without the use of the Internet, but protecting women's rights is also a significant concern. Using a comparative analysis, the authors of this research paper will attempt to understand the rising concerns of revenge porn and its development and will try to present a solution to the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-consensual pornography has become a growing concern, with potentially negative consequences for the victims. Victims of revenge porn are more likely to be blamed, and understanding why and how blame is attributed toward victims of non-consensual pornography is crucial to support them and reduce the negative consequences. This study aimed to explore and synthesize the existing evidence on victim blaming in non-consensual pornography and the underlying psychosocial factors within the context of attribution framework. A comprehensive systematic review was conducted across four databases namely PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Scopus for English-language studies published from April 2012 to June 2022. Data from the selected studies were extracted and collated into the review matrix. Among the 22 full-text reviews, 10 records that met the eligibility criteria were included in the final review. Two themes namely “Culture and morality” and “gendered differences in attributions of blame” were derived from a thematic synthesis of 10 studies and reflected the psychosocial underpinnings of victim blaming. The review highlighted how cultural narratives and perceived immorality play a major role in how attributions are placed on self or others for victim blaming in “non-consensual pornography.” Blame attributions emerging from gender stereotyping and gendered responsibilization within cultural and societal contexts were found to impact self-blame and compound victimization in non-consensual pornography. The study findings implicated that recognizing psychosocial underpinnings of victim blame attribution in revenge porn would allow for evolving suitable legislative and policy responses for designing effective educative and preventative strategies.

Victims of revenge pornography (RP) suffer long-term psychological, personal, and social consequences, given that the spread of explicit content may continue to disturb them throughout their lives. However, there is a scarcity of studies on this phenomenon in Portugal. The present study aims to identify the prevalence of RP and analyze its impact on self-esteem, humiliation, depression, and anxiety, and compare victims and non-victims of RP on these same variables. The sample comprises 274 Portuguese women aged between 18 and 82. The data was collected through an online protocol consisting of a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Humiliation Inventory, and the Brief Symptoms Inventory. From the total sample, 45 (16.4%) participants reported at least one experience of RP. RP victims reported higher levels of humiliation, anxiety, and depression and lower levels of self-esteem than non-victims. However, only humiliation distinguished RP victims and non-victims. RP is a growing phenomenon enhanced by the intensified use of technology. Along with this phenomenon comes the impact on victims, which has long-term consequences. This study contributes to the scientific community since the scientific study of RP and its impact on victims is still incipient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of images of persons in a pornographic context (without the prior consent of the person concerned) on the internet is an increasingly widespread infringement. Unlawful activities carried out with the use of generated images and artificial intelligence are a variant of this phenomenon. "Revenge porn" and "deepfake porn" illustrate the inadequacy of legal systems vis a vis the fast-changing reality. Using the comparative law method, a comparison was made between the current laws of nine EU Member States to create a map of protection for victims of revenge porn. As the results showed, in three of the studied countries there is a separate incrimination of revenge porn; however, the conceptual scope of its definition is significantly different and it is these differences that determine the legal way for the victims to assert their rights. This article is a comparison of the current legal regulations of selected European Union countries and the means of legal protection used by the victims. The text presents the differences occurring in the legal systems adopted in the countries subject to analysis, as well as an assessment of possible solutions at the legal and technological level to face the existing problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-consensual pornography has become a growing concern, with potentially negative consequences for the victims. Victims of revenge porn are more likely to be blamed, and understanding why and how blame is attributed toward victims of non-consensual pornography is crucial to support them and reduce the negative consequences. This study aimed to explore and synthesize the existing evidence on victim blaming in non-consensual pornography and the underlying psychosocial factors within the context of attribution framework. A comprehensive systematic review was conducted across four databases namely PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Scopus for English-language studies published from April 2012 to June 2022. Data from the selected studies were extracted and collated into the review matrix. Among the 22 full-text reviews, 10 records that met the eligibility criteria were included in the final review. Two themes namely "Culture and morality" and "gendered differences in attributions of blame" were derived from a thematic synthesis of 10 studies and reflected the psychosocial underpinnings of victim blaming. The review highlighted how cultural narratives and perceived immorality play a major role in how attributions are placed on self or others for victim blaming in "non-consensual pornography." Blame attributions emerging from gender stereotyping and gendered responsibilization within cultural and societal contexts were found to impact self-blame and compound victimization in non-consensual pornography. The study findings implicated that recognizing psychosocial underpinnings of victim blame attribution in revenge porn would allow for evolving suitable legislative and policy responses for designing effective educative and preventative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the sexual behaviors of young people, sexting is increasingly being scientifically researched. Contemporary analyses clearly reveal young people are habitually using the Internet and social networks in the context of sexuality. These analyses are usually presented within a psychological aspect, and almost never with the context of criminal law. The aim of this paper is first to review the characteristics of sexting, focusing on its definitions, frequency, features, and determinants. We tackle a developmental perspective and potential negative consequences exploring the phenomena within the context of criminal law. Considering that the possibilities of criminal law development leading to sexting sanctioning have not yet been problematized, the second part of the paper pioneers the relationship between sexting and existing incriminations within the Croatian criminal law system, to answer the question of the sanctioning needs and possibilities. The insights provide the first criminal law perspective on sexting sanctioning in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Using video recounts from revenge porn victims, this study explores whether levels of victim blaming differs for the sharing of self- and stealth-taken sexually explicit images and videos. Building on previous work which has demonstrated victim blame for both self- and stealth generated images in occurrences of revenge porn (Zvi & Schechory-Bitton, 2020), the reported study presents an original and ecologically valid methodological approach whereby 342 (76 male, 266 female) participants (Mage = 39.27, SD = 11.70) from the UK watched videoed accounts of real experiences of falling victim to revenge porn, rather than using text based, often fictional, vignettes to attribute blame which dominate studies in this area. All data was collected in 2019. The results demonstrated that significantly more blame was assigned to victims when participants were indirectly rather than directly asked who was to blame for the occurrence of revenge porn, supporting the notion of an unconscious processing bias in attributing blame. More blame was also assigned to those victims who themselves generated the material compared to when it had been acquired without their awareness by a perpetrator, suggesting the cognitive bias to be in line with a just world hypothesis. Male participants were more likely to blame a victim than were female participants, although sex of victim and mode of shared sexually-explicit material (video or image) did not appear to affect levels of victim-blame. Findings are considered in terms of extant research and the need for future work in the area of victim blame and revenge pornography.

The non-consensual taking or sharing of intimate images, also known as 'image-based sexual abuse', has become a widespread problem. While there has been growing attention to this phenomenon, little empirical research has investigated victim-survivor experiences. Drawing on interviews with 25 victim-survivors, this article focusses on the different responses to image-based sexual abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand. We found that victim-survivors had diverse and often multiple experiences of image-based sexual abuse, perpetrated for a variety of reasons, which extended beyond the paradigm of malicious ex-partners seeking revenge. Some participants described the harms experienced as 'devastating': a form of 'social rupture'. Few had formally reported to police or pursued other justice options. While participants held different justice ideals, all sought recognition of the harms perpetrated against them. Yet they faced multiple obstacles when navigating justice, redress and support options. The authors conclude that far-reaching change is needed to improve legislative, policy and prevention responses to image-based sexual abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital age and the rise of social media have exacerbated both the occurrence and harm of nonconsensual pornography, i.e., the distribution of nude or sexually graphic images of individuals without their consent. Unsurprisingly, states only began legislating nonconsensual pornography, also known as revenge porn, a decade ago and there is no federally applicable law on the books. The statutes vary significantly in their approach from state-to-state, and many contain clear loopholes. The largest hoop to jump through in criminalizing nonconsensual pornography and upholding these laws are First Amendment challenges. Opponents of anti-revenge porn legislation argue that these laws are in tension with the free speech and press guarantees of the First Amendment. While many states have succeeded in defending their anti-revenge porn laws against such challenges, the state courts have struggled to find a place for the laws in First Amendment doctrine and have emerged with differing theories. This Note reflects on the tension between criminalizing nonconsensual pornography and current First Amendment doctrine and argues that the present legal protections and remedies against nonconsensual pornography are inadequate. Ultimately, this Note argues that a national, uniform solution to nonconsensual pornography is needed and explores how federal anti-revenge porn legislation could fit into First Amendment doctrine--or rather, how the Supreme Court could rethink its free speech doctrine, while honoring and furthering the First Amendment's values and goals, to categorically exclude nonconsensual pornography from free speech protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Romance fraud involves the guise of a perceived genuine relationship to gain a financial reward. While those who commit these crimes employ a variety of techniques, emerging evidence suggests the use of sextortion to financially gain from victims. To date, sextortion has been explored generally in the image-based sexual abuse and sexual violence literature but not in the context of romance fraud. This article explores reports of 258 individuals who made a complaint to Scamwatch (Australian online fraud reporting portal) about romance fraud, captured between July 2018 and July 2019 (inclusive). Each of these complaints directly references the use of sextortion, through a threat to expose an intimate image or recording in response to a monetary request. Using an established cyber sextortion typology, this article applies these categories in the context of romance fraud to determine if there is consistency in the use of this technique, or whether its use in the context of romance fraud is unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the issue of deepfake pornography and the legal complexities surrounding it. Deepfakes are digitally manipulated videos or images that can deceive or harm individuals. The article suggests that a federal right of publicity statute could protect individuals from the unauthorized use of their likeness and allow them to seek legal remedies from internet service providers. However, there are concerns about potential infringements on free speech rights, and the article proposes a narrowly defined statute that would regulate deepfake pornography without violating the First Amendment. [Extracted from the article]

Cyberethics is defined as an appropriate code of online conduct. Non-Cyberethical behaviors are those behaviors engaged in by individuals while online, including, but not limited to, online gambling, revenge pornography, and sexting. Literature documents females as generally being victims of these unethical cyber behaviors, caused by several reasons, but majorly by a lack of awareness. This study seeks to investigate the sources, and awareness of cyberethical behavior among female postgraduate students in universities in North Central Nigeria. The study employed quantitative methodology. All female postgraduate students in North Central Nigeria constituted the target population. Using multistage sampling technique, 989 respondents were selected from 15 universities. A survey instrument was administered, and findings revealed that female postgraduate students were generally lacking in awareness of appropriate cyberbehavior, probably due to the inadequacy of sources through which they could acquire correct knowledge. We recommend that University Administrators put in place policies to allow for correct engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The present study sought to analyze the relationships between different forms of technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) perpetration and victimization, including gender- and sexuality-based harassment, digital sexual harassment, and image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), which includes both sextortion and non-consensual pornography. Methods: The sample was composed of 1682 adolescents (865 girls; Mage = 13.90, SDage = 1.26) who completed self-report measures from November 2019 to March 2020. We conducted network analyses to analyze the relationships among different forms of TFSV perpetration and victimization. Results: Overall, girls had higher victimization scores, whereas boys had higher scores in the perpetration of several forms of TFSV. Gender- and sexuality-based victimization formed a cluster with digital sexual harassment victimization, while sextortion and nonconsensual pornography victimization formed a differentiated cluster. Forms of IBSA victimization and digital sexual harassment victimization were strongly associated with their perpetration counterparts for boys, but this was not the case for girls. Conclusions: The results revealed that the different forms of victimization and perpetration appear to be related and suggest that TFSV is a gendered form of abuse. Policy Implications: Findings from the present study suggest that preventive programs in schools and communities should be holistic and address various forms of TFSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of the non-consensual distribution of intimate or sexually explicit digital images of adults, a.k.a. non-consensual pornography (NCP) or revenge pornography, is under the spotlight for the toll it is taking on society. Law enforcement statistics confirm a dramatic global rise in abuses. For this reason, the research community is investigating different strategies to fight and mitigate the abuses and their effects. Since the phenomenon involves different aspects of personal and social interaction among users of social media and content sharing platforms, in the literature it is addressed under different academic disciplines. However, while most of the literature reviews focus on non-consensual pornography either from a social science or psychological perspective, to the best of our knowledge a systematic review of the research on the technical aspects of the problem is still missing. In this work, we present a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) of the literature, looking at this interdisciplinary phenomenon through a technical lens. Therefore, we focus on the cyber side of the crime of non-consensual pornography with the aim of describing the state-of-the-art and the future lines of research from a technical and quantitative perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The non-consensual sharing of private sexual images (so-called 'revenge pornography') has become an increasingly prominent topic in social and legislative discussions about sexual crime but has received relatively little attention within psychological research. Here, we leveraged existing theorizing in the area of sexual offending proclivity to systematically develop and validate a measure of beliefs about this type of offending. There is currently a lack of validated assessment tools in this area, and these are important to better understand the role of offense-supportive cognition in predicting both proclivity of these offenses and judgements of both victims and perpetrators. Using an international community sample (N = 511) we found our 'Beliefs about Revenge Pornography Questionnaire (BRPQ)' to be comprised of four underpinning domains: 'Victims as Promiscuous', 'Victim Harm', 'Avoiding Vulnerable Behaviors' and 'Offense Minimization'. Concurrent validity is demonstrated through relationships with trait empathy, belief in a just world, dark personality traits and rape myth acceptance. Randomly dividing the sample, we also show that the BRPQ was associated with both proclivity (n = 227) and social judgements of this type of offending (n = 232). Implications and future directions are discussed. An open-access preprint is available at https://psyarxiv.com/6qr7t/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deepfakes have become a dual-use technology with applications in the domains of art, science, and industry. However, the technology can also be leveraged maliciously in areas such as disinformation, identity fraud, and harassment. In response to the technology’s dangerous potential, many deepfake creation communities have been deplatformed, including the technology’s originating community: r/deepfakes. Opening in February 2018, just eight days after the removal of r/deepfakes, MrDeepFakes (MDF)—see content warning below—went online as a privately owned platform fulfilling the role of community hub, claiming to be the largest deepfake creation and discussion platform currently online. This position of community hub is contrasted against the site’s main purpose of hosting nonconsensual deepfake pornography. In this paper we explore two primary deepfake communities via a mixed methods approach, applying quantitative and qualitative analysis. We identify how these platforms have been used by their members, what opinions these deepfakers hold about the technology and how it is seen by society at large, and we identify opinions regarding deepfakes-as-disinformation. We find that there is a mix of technical discussion and potentially malicious content, while the deplatforming of early deepfake communities impacted trust regarding alternative community platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state responded to the issue of violence against women by establishing an independent state agency, namely National Commission on Violence against Women. However, National Commission on Violence against Women faced numerous obstacles in its handling of cases, particularly regarding gender-based violence online, which had become the most discussed topic, and the largest case was revenge porn type in Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to analyze the authority of National Commission on Violence against Women in handling victims of revenge porn in Indonesia from 2020-2021. This study utilized theories of authority, state auxiliary organs, government administration, and revenge porn. The method used in this study was qualitative with a descriptive qualitative approach because the researcher wanted to describe the phenomenon found regarding National Commission on Violence against Women handling of the surge in revenge porn cases. Data collection techniques included observation, interviews, documentation, and a literature review conducted at National Commission on Violence against Women. The results of this study, viewed from the theory of authority, could be reviewed in terms of regulation, management, and supervision, it indicating that National Commission on Violence against Women had implemented its mandate in accordance with applicable Presidential Decrees. However, the process still faced many challenges, such as regulations, budget allocation, and access. National Commission on Violence against Women implemented various programs to address these challenges, including annual reports, publication and documentation, learning forums, monitoring, campaigns, and advocacy, and these programs were carried out by enhancing cooperation among government institutions, NGOs, and the public.

This article analyses police cases to argue that image-based sexual abuse should not be understood as only happening to women who have shared risqué image of themselves. Anyone could have sexual images shared without consent, because all digital images can be pornified by the addition of sexually explicit iconography. Pornography is important to research visually because porn is a sexual script that can be used to alter any image from everyday and/or intimate to abusive. The research field on nonconsensual sharing of intimate images has abolished the term 'revenge porn' as contributing to victim blaming: Image-based sexual abuse is not caused by any acts justifying 'revenge'. However, the relevance of the concept of 'porn' may have been too hastily dismissed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to recent legislative initiatives, non-consensual pornography is a crime in several countries and social media providers have a duty to provide their users easy to use mechanisms to report abuses. In this paper, we analyse the state of the art of the interfaces for reporting non-consensual pornography from the victim's perspective. Firstly, we analysed 45 content sharing platforms where aggressors might post non-consensual pornography. The analysis identified three distinct interaction styles for reporting the crime: Scriptum (a text-field where the user verbally describes the abuse), Bonam (a multilayered menu that includes a correct option), and Malam (a multilayered menu that does not include a correct option). Secondly, we conducted a within-subject study to evaluate the experience elicited by these interaction styles. Participants (N = 39) were given a scenario and asked to report six blurred images as non-consensual pornography using a medium-fidelity prototype. The results exposed complex trade-offs between clarity, efficiency, and distress among the different interaction styles. These trade-offs open foundational research directions transcending boundaries between human-computer interaction and multimedia studies and interfacing computer science research with the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definition: Image-based sexual abuse describes the offline or online non-consensual sharing of real or fake images or videos with (un)known others of a person that are either sexually explicit or sexually suggestive. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide many open-ended and undefined possibilities for image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), such as 'revenge pornography', 'upskirting', deepfake pornography, sexual spycamming, and cyberflashing, to name just a few. These forms of abuse refer to the online, and also at times offline, non-consensual distribution or sharing of explicit images or videos of someone else by ex-partners, partners, others, or hackers seeking revenge, entertainment, or peer group status. The vast majority of these are committed by men against women. Given the many adverse impacts on physical and psychological health and well-being it has on its victim-survivors, exploring this form of online gender-sexual abuse and violation becomes an important endeavor. Situating the discussion within debates on gender and sexuality, the entry discusses the increasing use of new technologies for online gender-sexual abuse and violation, highlighting the motivations of those perpetrating IBSA, the negative physical and psychological impacts of IBSA on victim-survivors, and what has been, and could be, done to combat image-based sexual abuses and other misuses of new technologies, notably through legal, policy, and practice interventions within and between nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a new type of interpersonal crime has emerged where victimization happens through the use of technology and/or cyber space. The legal, law enforcement, as well as social scientific research fields have yet to fully grasp the scope of this modern crime type. In this paper, we review what is currently known on the issue with 5 Ws and 1 H approach, in terms of their current understanding, prevalence, victimization patterns, motivations, and relationship between violence in the cyberspace and offline. We end with a proposal for future directions and argue that a useful framework for researching this type of crime may be the interpersonal model first developed within the investigative psychology field for the classification and profiling of sexually violent offenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Easy access to audio-visual content on social media, combined with the availability of modern tools such as Tensorflow or Keras, and open-source trained models, along with economical computing infrastructure, and the rapid evolution of deep-learning (DL) methods have heralded a new and frightening trend. Particularly, the advent of easily available and ready to use Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), have made it possible to generate deepfakes media partially or completely fabricated with the intent to deceive to disseminate disinformation and revenge porn, to perpetrate financial frauds and other hoaxes, and to disrupt government functioning. Existing surveys have mainly focused on the detection of deepfake images and videos; this paper provides a comprehensive review and detailed analysis of existing tools and machine learning (ML) based approaches for deepfake generation, and the methodologies used to detect such manipulations in both audio and video. For each category of deepfake, we discuss information related to manipulation approaches, current public datasets, and key standards for the evaluation of the performance of deepfake detection techniques, along with their results. Additionally, we also discuss open challenges and enumerate future directions to guide researchers on issues which need to be considered in order to improve the domains of both deepfake generation and detection. This work is expected to assist readers in understanding how deepfakes are created and detected, along with their current limitations and where future research may lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following contribution examines the phenomenon of male violence against women in Italy from a sociological perspective. The aim is to present the latest changes in how gender-based violence (GBV), perpetrated online and online, is represented in news media and awareness-raising campaigns. Building on the most relevant qualitative and quantitative research studies conducted on the representation of GBV and femicide in Italy over the past ten years, the paper will reflect on the role that the Italian women’s movement and some communities of journalists have played in eliciting a narration of GBV and violence against women and girls (VAWG) more attentive toward power dynamics and freed from gender stereotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]