WHAT is wrong with people?
I am lucky my job allows me to access some brilliant, well-delivered, educational and thought-provoking training.
Often though it is a double-edged sword as I am left asking myself: “What is wrong with people?”
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Most recently I attended a training course on the Revenge Porn Helpline.
It is a UK support service for adults (aged 18-plus) who are experiencing non-consensual intimate image abuse also, incorrectly, known as revenge porn.
Why incorrectly?
Because revenge implies the victim has done something to cause or deserve the abuse and porn because it suggests the images were generated for sharing and/or entertainment purposes which is clearly not the case.
The 2024 legal definition of an intimate image is an image that ‘shows or appears to show a person who is nude or partially nude or which depicts sexual or toileting behaviour’.
This also includes manufactured or altered images, sometimes described as synthetic sexual content, more commonly known as ‘deepfakes’ as well as AI-generated images created through nudification or face-swap apps.
The rise in demand for the helpline is staggering — an increase of nearly 700 per cent over 10 years.
The service has worked to remove more than 415,000 pieces of intimate content.
While many online platforms cooperate, many do not, particularly those designed to share, swap, trade and sell intimate images and personal information.
Overwhelmingly, the victims of these crimes are women — 95 per cent of the helplines cases reported are images of women and 73 per cent of all threats to share intimate images are made against women.
These threats and acts of sharing are often part of a wider pattern of abusive behaviour, including stalking, domestic abuse, trolling and sexual assault.
The impact can be long-lasting and devastating.
It can include poor mental health, suicidal ideation, disruption to employment, financial harm, relationship breakdown, paranoia and wider cultural consequences.
For example, if an image of a woman without her hijab is shared this may bring significant cultural shame and distress.
The helpline has a freely accessible tool, StopNCII.org, on its website which allows victims to create a ‘digital fingerprint’ of an image.
The image itself is not shared, instead the fingerprint is provided to participating companies so they can help detect and prevent the image being shared online.
If you have experienced threats to share or actual sharing of intimate images it is worth getting in touch at help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk or 0345 6000 459.
Whilst the numbers are significantly lower for sharing of intimate images of men, the vast majority of those who contact the helpline identify as victims of sextortion.
This is where intimate images and videos are used for financial exploitation and coercion.
Many of the men have been targeted by professional gangs who have created fake profiles and accounts across gaming, dating and social media apps.
Once communication is established it quickly becomes romantic or sexual in tone before threats, blackmail and high-pressure tactics are used to extort money.
It is a classic online grooming method and one that can have long-lasting impacts.
Be in no doubt there is a connection between online and offline behaviours and that perpetrators are seeking to cause harm, distress, fear and humiliation.
It is about blackmail, wanting to cause hurt and to have power and control — the cornerstones of abuse.
So, having sat though the training, learned the statistics and heard about the devastating effects on victims, I find myself once again asking: “What is wrong with people?”
Our columnist Jocelyn Anderson is CEO for West Mercia Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (WMRSASC).
