Commentary: Stop asking why she took the nude, start asking why he shared it
SINGAPORE: Information technology took unusual presence of mind from a National University of Singapore student for a new rash of Telegram chat groups circulating obscene images of women to come to public attention final month.
These groups were eerily similar to SG Nasi Lemak, which made headlines in 2022 for like criminal activities, despite its shockingly high membership count (around 44,000 in i group lonely), and the subsequent arrests of some admins.
Although most of united states expressed cloy over the new groups, we ultimately moved on with our lives, similar we have endless times before. These happen and then oft we are becoming inured to them.
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After all, in the year 2022 alone, AWARE'southward Sexual Assault Care Centre saw 140 cases of technology-facilitated sexual violence, or TFSV.
Unfortunately, victims of TFSV do not always have the option to movement on. In add-on to experiencing levels of trauma comparable with survivors of physical assault, isolation from loved ones and potential professional person repercussions, victims of TFSV as well face the abiding, inescapable threat of being violated repeatedly - whenever their photos or videos are shared non-consensually with new recipients.
When their images end up online, women are ofttimes blamed for having participated in their creation. Instead of asking "why would someone practise that to her?" we tend to instead direct our ire at the person in the photo, asking "why did you lot take that photo?"
We zero in on an private woman and condemn her, without paying heed to the context in which the photo was taken or the content of the photograph itself.
WHAT Type OF PICTURES GO ONLINE
Over the class of an viii-year relationship, Sara* exchanged intimate photos with her boyfriend.
But when she wanted to cease things, he threatened to release those photos and videos if she went through with the break upwardly. Scared and tired of the emotional abuse she was facing, she sought help from our centre.
Sara's case falls into a first category of photos that are non-consensually circulated online. These are photos and videos co-created by couples in the context of a romantic, oftentimes sexual relationship.
The voluntary sharing of intimate photos can be an expression of honey and intimacy. They form a role of the cultural phenomenon of "sexting", an increasingly mutual office of developed romantic relationships.
Just they transform into TFSV when they are shared non-consensually, either via hacking, or when the initial recipients or co-creators disseminate them without the victim's cognition and consent.
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A 2d category of photos are taken by someone known to the victim, but their cosmos and dissemination are non-consensual.
We frequently see such visuals emerge in the context of domestic violence, with their production and distribution means of control.
A client of ours, Ayesha* shared that her ex-boyfriend forced her to take nude photos and videos and sent these explicit materials to her family members after she filed a law report against him for harassment.
The 3rd category are photos obtained through voyeurism - including upskirting, and photos taken while a woman is sleeping or in the shower. These might exist non-consensually created and distributed, or used for private "consumption".
Finally, we have innocent images taken from women and girls' own social media accounts and shared on chat groups without their consent. While accounts might be set to public or private, the photos are field of study to a torrent of sexualised comments and framing after being shared on illicit groups.
Often these users are tweens who post everyday photos of themselves and their friends on Instagram – enjoying a meal, goofing around in the park and in many not-sexual everyday activities. Sometimes the photos are digitally contradistinct to exaggerate certain body parts.
In these Telegram chats, personal details of the victim, such as their name, accost and links to social media profiles, are shared alongside visuals, turning non-consensual online circulation into offline abuse, including stalking, sexual harassment and set on.
The effects tin be broad-reaching. Half of one,244 victims who had reached out to the United states Cyber Ceremonious Rights Initiatives had seen their full names and social media profiles published alongside their images. Over 20 per cent reported that their email addresses and phone numbers were published along with their images.
(How do videos and photos of innocent victims end up on disgusting illicit Telegram chats? CNA's Heart of the Matter dives into how one young adult female infiltrated those groups and reached out to victims:)
ASSIGN Arraign ON THOSE RESPONSIBLE
It should be plain to see that perpetrators are culpable for TFSV, non victims. Taking a photograph of yourself, or posing for a photograph, does not hurt anyone. Sharing those photographs without consent does.
So it does non help to focus on what women did that resulted in these Telegram chats, or chastise them for innocuous behaviour.
Focusing on a woman's behaviour (for case, the fact that she took an intimate photo) is at the very heart of victim-blaming.
We have seen a like pattern of comments online regarding cases of sexual assault that fixate on the women's decisions (for example, we question if they drank booze and what they wore) and their reactions in the aftermath of violence, which cleverly diminishes the responsibility of the perpetrator and transfers it to victims.
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Survivors who face up victim-blaming are less likely to make police reports and seek further support in their recovery journeys. But women should non exist held responsible for the behaviour of their boyfriends, husbands, exes, voyeurs, stalkers, underwear thieves or bosses who send unsolicited pictures of genitalia.
Until we clearly identify the point at which violence occurs, and assign blame where information technology belongs, we won't come across whatsoever real progress. Photos and videos of women volition continue to circulate without their consent, and without accountability on the part of perpetrators.
Pedagogy consent from a young age should not be a thing of choice. Information technology should be fabricated non-negotiable. For older children, the Quango of Europe recommends that parents use existent-life examples to explain the risks, dangers, and legal issues surrounding sexting.
If children find themselves exposed, they should have the tools to talk over how to study the offensive materials with a trusted adult and find affirming emotional support.
READ: Commentary: All this anger over voyeurism but what we need is respect
WHAT MORE CAN BE DONE
Contempo amendments updated Singapore'south Penal Code to be relevant to the "smartphone age" by criminalising voyeurism, non-consensual cosmos and distribution of intimate images, and cyber sexual exposure (i.e. vulgar images). However, despite this enormous progress, it'due south clear we haven't begun to solve the problem.
Clients of AWARE's Sexual Assault Care Middle share with us the endless hours they spend tracking down images, filing takedown requests with individual social media platforms, changing telephone numbers, deleting social media accounts - all to protect themselves from further harm and attain a modicum of relief afterward their privacy and autonomy is violated.
Huge amounts of labour goes into those efforts. Notwithstanding nosotros know that once a photograph or video is out there on the internet, there's no telling where it may finish up. And the longer photos and videos stay online, the harder they get to remove.
Nosotros hope the new Protection from Harassment Human action courts will be sensitive to these nuances, and allow the filing of cases and issuance of takedown requests to be processed within 48 to 72 hours.
Nosotros tin can model our system later other constructive ones. Commonwealth of australia's Office of eSafety Commissioner responds to complaints of image-based abuse within 48 hours of official reports being filed with them.
Social media platforms have a very important role to play hither too. They must proactively implement steps to deter non-consensual photos or videos from existence shared in the get-go identify.
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They should exist required to share data across platforms and so that a non-consensual image's digital footprint tin be used to prevent it from being uploaded on a platform subsequently information technology has been taken downwards by another, instead of requiring victims to file complaints with each individual social media platform.
Social media platforms demand to devote more human resources to tackling such cases and provide a clear time frame inside which victims tin can expect assistance.
There's much to be washed before the horrible exercise of TFSV tin can exist put to bed. But merely attacking women for sharing nudes is not one of them.
Shailey Hingorani is head of research and advocacy at AWARE.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/sg-nasi-lemak-telegram-chats-sexual-harassment-singapore-245421
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