“I Don’t Feel Safe at All”: Examining Shattered Assumptions Among Male Victims of Sextortion

Abstract

Online sexual extortion, or “sextortion,” describes a crime in which a victim is threatened with the public distribution of private, sexually explicit images unless they comply with the offender’s demands. Current research and law enforcement data highlight the rapid growth of male victims of sextortion crimes, especially financial sextortion offenses, a variant in which the primary demand is financial payment in exchange for keeping material private. However, there is limited research on the psychological impacts of financial sextortion victimization on men. Using a theory-guided thematic analysis of open-ended survey responses from 169 male victims, this study examines how male victims experience, interpret, and manage their victimization using Shattered Assumptions Theory (SAT) as a framework. Results find that victims experience symptoms in a way that can be understood with SAT, such as a “shattering” of the core assumptions around their invulnerability, the predictability of the world, and their own positive self-regard, leading to intense anxiety, fear, shame, hopelessness, and concern for future victimization. In addition, participants illustrate evidence of active and cognitive coping strategies that resemble SAT’s notion of “rebuilding assumptions” to reduce emotional distress, such as minimizing the impact, reducing online activity, and identifying as a victim. Considerations for future research on male victims of sextortion and implications for practice are discussed.