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The Revenge Porn Helpline Joins Forces With UK SAYS NO MORE
UK SAYS NO MORE is committed to confronting and tackling domestic abuse and sexual violence in all its forms. In age where technology continues to dominate our day-to-day life, digital abuse is becoming more and more common yet despite its prominence, awareness of the issue is still lacking.
A form of digital abuse includes revenge porn or image-based abuse, where someone shares intimate photos of you without your consent, be this on social media or pornographic sites, or with people they or you know.
Like all forms of sexual assault, revenge porn is based on a desire for power and control and can be used to intimidate, threaten, coerce or blackmail someone into doing something they don’t want to do. Digital abuse is a crime which has a devastating, long lasting impact and we’re fighting to end it.
In their own words…
Who are we?
We are the Revenge Porn Helpline, the UK’s only free, confidential advice service supporting victims of image based abuse, over the age of 18.
In this era of technology becoming more available and advanced by the second, it has never been so easy to share and receive images and videos. We have to notice that our smartphone society can utilise this to very different effects. On the one hand, we have the internet that brought us the viral sensation of the Sneezing Baby Panda video. But, on the other, it has created a virtual platform for violence and abuse to exist.
Inevitably, the internet is being used for expressing opinions of hate, new dimensions of stalking and harassment and exposing and violating people’s trust at their most vulnerable times.
Imaged based abuse, commonly known as revenge porn, is the act of sharing intimate images and videos without the consent of the individual who appears in them to cause distress. In April 2015, the Criminal Justice and Courts Act made it ‘an offence for a person to disclose a private sexual photograph or film if the disclosure is made without the consent of an individual who appears in the photograph or film and with the intention of causing that individual distress’. For example, sharing a nude or sexual image of an individual, that was sent in confidence, on a social media platform, to a porn website or to someone via text, message or email, even just showing it to someone else. For more information, please see the FAQ page on our website.
Many #revengeporn victims don't come forward for fear of being named. Help change the law around naming #imagebasedabuse victims #NoMoreNaming https://t.co/syOHVoQcnX https://t.co/fcdxcivBog
— rphelpline (@RPhelpline) August 2, 2018
The helpline is available by phone or email from 10.00am – 4.00pm, Monday to Friday.
You can leave us a message or email outside of these hours and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Phone: 0345 6000 459*
Email or to request a call back: [email protected]
*Calls cost the same as a standard landline numbers that start with ‘01’ or ‘02’. If your phone tariff offers inclusive calls to landlines, calls to 0345 numbers will also be included in the same way.
Our helpline is open from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday to provide advice and support for anyone who has had their intimate images shared, or someone is threatening to share them. Get in touch today: https://t.co/Wmrqn6LVkQ pic.twitter.com/7VmWruoKQM
— rphelpline (@RPhelpline) October 31, 2018
What do we do?
– We offer free, confidential and non-judgemental advice and support to victims, over the age of 18, of image base abuse.
– We support victims with the reporting and removal of content online: the removal of all content is never guaranteed. However we have a very high take-down rate and we have built exceptional relationships with industry partner, but we have a pretty good take down rate. We always try our best to minimise the trauma caused to victims of revenge porn.
– We offer advice on the community guidelines and policies of social media platforms and how to report content. Any problems, we can help!
– We provide guidance on how victims can report the crime to the police.
– We help victims to find the courage to reach out for more long-term psychological support and how to move on from an experience that often they thought would never happen to them.
Since the Revenge Porn Helpline was established in 2015, we have helped over 3,000 victims of #imagebasedabuse. Our team are available Monday – Friday, 10am to 4pm to provide non-judgmental advice and support to all victims 18+. https://t.co/wkufEzuCNp #ThursdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/zGJVMmBPNK
— rphelpline (@RPhelpline) September 20, 2018
Examples of our client feedback
Case Study #1: Hanen
Hanen contacted us after her ex-husband had uploaded intimate videos of her online. She was a victim of domestic violence during their relationship, and since then an injunction had been placed on him. Hanen was from a Muslim background and feared for her life should anyone in her family discover the video. Hanen expressed feeling “in shock and scared”, and “worried about my daughters future”. We supported Hanen in getting the content removed from 12 websites, and provided her with the support to reach out for further psychological support. After the content had been removed, Hanen expressed “I really don’t know how to thank you and what to do to show you how relieved I am”.
Case Study #2 James
James was the victim of extortion. Once he had engaged in a sexual act via webcam, it was demanded that he pay money or his video would be released on YouTube. We supported James to report this crime to the police and to stop all communication with the perpetrator. James was very worried about his employer finding out about the situation so we helped him to understand that he had been the victim of a crime and to seek additional support; “Thank you very much for your support”
Why are we joining the UK SAYS NO MORE campaign?
We are joining the campaign to do our part towards ending domestic violence and sexual assault in the UK. Image Based Abuse is often overlooked by many people and victim blaming is still a huge issue we are constantly trying to stamp out. A common response to cases of Revenge Porn are often met with comments such as “well, they shouldn’t have sent the photo in the first place!” and we want this to change. The campaign is already spreading positive awareness to the public and we are proud to be a partner in this change.
For more information on the Revenge Porn Helpline, click here. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
Interested in becoming a partner?
Are you or your organisation interested in becoming a partner of the UK SAYS NO MORE campaign? We want to hear from you! Email Partnerships Manager Sarah Winterflood at [email protected] for more information.
