Revenge Porn

“You can’t leave me and If you do I’ll make your life a living hell with the pictures I have of you …”

One form of digital abuse you might have heard of is non-consensual pornography, often called “revenge porn.”

Revenge porn intersects with sexual abuse, as it involves the digital distribution of naked or sexually explicit pictures and/or videos of a person without their consent.

It’s called “revenge” porn because the images or videos are often used as retaliation or as blackmail material by a current or former partner.

At Rehouse to Rehome, we often hear from many people who have been the victim of revenge porn.

Some victims have willingly shared images privately with their partners, only to have their partners break their trust and later threaten to distribute images of them publicly.
Others have had partners coerce or force them into creating sexually explicit materials in order to shame, control and manipulate them. Alternatively, an abusive partner may take photographs or videos without the victim’s knowledge and use them making threats to share those materials online, to maintain control over the victim.

If you are a victim of revenge porn:

• Keep any evidence: take screenshots of posts or messages as evidence is essential in bringing an offender to justice.

• Don’t retaliate or engage with the offender.

• Report incidents and crimes to the police by calling 101 or report it online.

• Don’t be embarrassed to report and talk to the police, they will not judge you, the police will handle your case sensitively.

• Report to the website which pictures have been uploaded to.

Like all forms of abuse revenge porn can happen to anyone and it is extremely traumatising.
It’s important that we remember, it’s everyone’s right to say “no”.

If you are not comfortable sending your partner sexually explicit images, don’t!
No one is ever obligated to engage in sexual activity of any kind with anyone.

If your partner continues making requests or demanding images or videos that you are not comfortable taking or sending we encourage you to speak openly with your partner about your feelings and the things that make you feel uncomfortable.