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Revenge Porn Helpline‘s Kate Worthington on the nature of Image-Based Abuse.
Abuse happens. A recent UN study has found that the most dangerous place for a woman is in her own home, with over half of women who were murdered last year being killed by their partners or family. The 16 days of activism is challenging the world to start a conversation about why this extent of violence against women is happening, and more importantly, what we can do about it.
Abuse isn’t always violent. Whilst technology has given us a range of new benefits and opportunities, it’s also developed a platform for abuse to go digital. It has never been so easy to communicate, share and connect with people all over the world. Nor is it ever been so easy to threaten to share someone’s intimate images, stalk someone on social media or send abusive and harassing messages from the comfort of your keyboard. Just because the abuse is behind a screen; it’s still abuse.
Digital Abuse Is Thriving
Abuse is complicated. It’s rarely as simple as JUST intimate image abuse from a partner. The abuse is often part of a wider pattern of behaviours occurring over a period of time. When a victim comes forward to our service, we do our best to unpick the issues. By working with other incredible organisations in the UK, we do our best to give as much support for victims as we can.
We are very proudly supporting the advocacy and awareness work of UK SAYS NO MORE and their dedication to ending domestic abuse and sexual violence. The #WhatICanDo campaign has inspired us to spend the 16 days of activism raising awareness of intimate image abuse. We’ll be covering daily topics to discuss the wider issues of this form of abuse, raise some questions and invite everyone into the conversation and start challenging why this conversation needs to be had.
Find out more about the Revenge Porn Helpline, including their 16 Days of Activism campaign here.
Follow them on Twitter and Facebook here.
