Beyond 'Revenge Porn': The Continuum of Image-Based Sexual Abuse

McGlynn, Clare; Rackley, Erika; Houghton, Ruth

Abstract

In the last few years, many countries have introduced laws combating the phenomenon colloquially known as ‘revenge porn’. While new laws criminalising this practice represent a positive step forwards, the legislative response has been piecemeal and typically focuses only on the practices of vengeful ex-partners. Drawing on Liz Kelly’s (Surviving sexual violence. Polity Press, Cambridge, 1988) pioneering work, we suggest that ‘revenge porn’ should be understood as just one form of a range of gendered, sexualised forms of abuse which have common characteristics, forming what we are conceptualising as the ‘continuum of image-based sexual abuse’. Further, we argue that image-based sexual abuse is on a continuum with other forms of sexual violence. We suggest that this twin approach may enable a more comprehensive legislative and policy response that, in turn, will better reflect the harms to victim-survivors and lead to more appropriate and effective educative and preventative strategies.

Citation

McGlynn, C., Rackley, E., & Houghton, R. (2017). Beyond 'Revenge Porn': The Continuum of Image-Based Sexual Abuse. Feminist Legal Studies, 25(1), 25-46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-017-9343-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 8, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 16, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 16, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 21, 2017
• Journal: Feminist Legal Studies
• Print ISSN: 0966-3622
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8455
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 25-46
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-017-9343-2
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1390643