An exploration into the experiences, perspectives, and responses of Image - Based Sexual Abuse victims.

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This project explores Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA), an online form of gender-based abuse known as 'revenge porn'. In 2010, Hunter Moore launched the 'revenge porn' website 'IsAnyoneUp.com', profiting from uploads of non-consensual sexual images of women by ex-partners aiming to humiliate them (Lageson et al, 2019). Despite the high-profile removal of 'IsAnyoneUp.com' in 2012, revenge porn sites grew in popularity - with 3000 created since (Lageson et al, 2019). The media sensationalism of 'IsAnyoneUp.com' prompted the scholarly exploration of revenge porn through survey studies on its online pervasiveness and how it should be responded to (Maddocks, 2021). Namely, much of revenge porn's academic landscape concerns its criminalisation efforts (i.e the UK Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 s.33); typically critiquing their legal effectiveness, harm recognition and inclusion of 'intent' clauses influenced by the specificity of 'revenge' (Pegg, 2018). 'Revenge porn' legislative responses are therefore critiqued for adopting the 'revenge porn' paradigm, with little consideration for those victimised beyond its remits (McGlynn et 3 al, 2017). Thus, the conceptual, legal and policy understanding of this harm is constrained to the malicious actions of a vengeful ex (McGlynn et al, 2021; Maddocks, 2021). Resultantly, most 'revenge porn' studies omit victims from their investigations - making our understanding of victim identities, their experiences and responses limited (McGlynn et al, 2021). Therefore, this project aims to address the lack of victim-focused research by exploring victims' lived experiences of 'revenge porn', contribute original knowledge and recommendations for how responses to this form of sexual abuse can be improved.