Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This article investigates the nature and scope of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) material on 77 high-volume online websites. On the majority of these sites, users appeared to be motivated by sexual gratification and proving masculinity to a sexually deviant peer network, rather than revenge against the person depicted in the image. We argue that nonconsensual image exchanges are contextualized within ever-expanding digital environments, characterized by dislocation of time and space, overvisualization, and hypersexuality. We argue that IBSA is a vehicle for the construction, performativity, and negotiation of hypermasculinity and heteronormativity, within the bounds and structures of existing gendered power relations.

Keywords

image-based sexual abuse revenge pornography online deviant communities

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Albury

(2003). The ethics of porn on the Net. In Lumby

Probyn

(Eds.), Remote control: New media, new ethics (pp. 196-215). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Barratt

M. J.

Maddox

(2016). Active engagement with stigmatized communities through digital ethnography. Qualitative Research, 16, 701-719. doi:10.1177/1468794116648766

Blevins

K. R.

Holt

T. J.

(2009). Examining the virtual subculture of johns. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 38, 619-648.

Boellstorff

(2008). Coming of age in second life: An anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Bond

Tyrrell

(2018). Understanding revenge pornography: A national survey of police officers and staff in England and Wales. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0866260518760011

Braidotti

(2011). Nomadic subjects: Embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary theory. New York: Columbia University Press.

Butler

(1988). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. Theatre Journal, 40, 519-531.

Calvert

(2000). Voyeur nation: Media, privacy, and peering in modern culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

10.

Citron

D. K.

Franks

M. A.

(2014). Criminalizing revenge porn. Wake Forest Law Review, 49, 345-391.

11.

Connell

R. W.

Messerschmidt

J. W.

(2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19, 829-859.

12.

Cooper

Putnam

D. A.

Planchon

L. A.

Boies

S. C.

(1999). Online sexual compulsivity: Getting tangled in the net. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 6, 79-204.

13.

Coulson

N. S.

(2005). Receiving social support online: An analysis of a computer-mediated support group for individuals living with irritable bowel syndrome. Cyber Pscyhological Behavior, 8, 580-584.

14.

DeKeseredy

W. S.

(1988). Woman abuse in dating relationships: The relevance of social support theory. Journal of Family Violence, 3, 1-13.

15.

DeKeseredy

W. S.

Schwartz

M. D.

(2016). Thinking sociologically about image-based sexual abuse: The contribution of male support theory. Sexualization, Media, and Society, 1-8. doi:10.1177/2374623816684692

16.

Durkin

K. F.

Bryant

C. D.

(1995). “Log on to sex”: Some notes on the carnal computer and erotic cyberspace as an emerging research frontier. Deviant Behavior, 16, 179-200.

17.

Eaton

A. A.

Jacobs

Ruvalcaba

(2018). 2017 Nationwide online study of non-consensual porn victimization and perpetration: A summary report. Retrieved from https://www.cybercivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CCRI-2017-Research-Report.pdf

18.

Flood

(2008). Men, sex, and homosociality: How bonds between men shape their sexual relations with women. Men and Masculinities, 10, 339-359.

19.

Flynn

Henry

(2019). Image-based sexual abuse, Oxford research encyclopaedia of criminology and criminal justice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/978019264079.013.534

20.

Forrester

(2016, September 26). Making sense of modern pornography. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/26/making-sense-of-modern-pornography

21.

Foucault

(1990). The history of sexuality: An introduction, volume 1 (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Vintage.

22.

Franks

M. A.

(2015, June 22). How to defeat “revenge porn”: First, recognize it’s about privacy, not revenge. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-anne-franks/how-to-defeat-revenge-porn_b_7624900.html

23.

Gámez-Guadix

Almendros

Borrajo

Calvete

(2015). Prevalence and association of sexting and online sexual victimization among Spanish adults. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 12, 145-154.

24.

Garcia

J. R.

Gesselman

A. N.

Siliman

S. A.

Perry

B. L.

Coe

Fisher

H. E.

(2016). Sexting among singles in the USA: Prevalence of sending, receiving, and sharing sexual messages and images. Sexual Health, 13, 428-435. doi:10.1071/SH15240

25.

Gehl

R. W.

(2016). Power/freedom on the dark web: A digital ethnography of the dark web social network. New Media & Society, 18, 1219-1235. doi:10.1177/1461444814554900

26.

Goffman

(1977). The arrangement between the sexes. Theory and Society, 4, 301-331.

27.

Gossett

J. L.

Byrne

(2002). “Click here”: A content analysis of internet rape sites. Gender & Society, 16, 689-709.

28.

Green

S. P.

(2018). To see and be seen: Reconstructing the law of voyeurism and exhibitionism. American Criminal Law Review, 55, 203-258.

29.

Hall

Hearn

(2018). Revenge pornography: Gender, sexuality and motivations. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

30.

Hargreaves

(2018). “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo”: Street photography in the service of the male gaze. In Newell

B. C.

Timan

Koops

(Eds.), Surveillance, privacy and public space (pp. 179-198). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

31.

Hearn

(2004). From hegemonic masculinity to the hegemony of men. Feminist Theory, 5, 5-23.

32.

Henry

Flynn

Powell

(2018). Policing image-based sexual abuse: Stakeholder perspectives. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 19, 550-581. doi:10.1080/15614263.2018.1507892

33.

Henry

Powell

Flynn

(2017). Not just “revenge pornography”: Australians’ experiences of image-based abuse. A summary report. Melbourne, Australia: RMIT University.

34.

Hine

(2000). Virtual ethnography. London, England: Sage.

35.

Holt

T. J.

(2007). Subcultural evolution? Examining the influence of on-and off-line experiences on deviant subcultures. Deviant Behavior, 28, 171-198.

36.

Hopkins

Solon

(2017, May 22). Facebook flooded with “sextortion” and revenge porn, files reveal. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/22/facebook-flooded-with-sextortion-and-revenge-porn-files-reveal?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

37.

Jackson

(2006). Interchanges: Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality: The complexity (and limits) of heteronormativity. Feminist Theory, 7, 105-121.

38.

Kappeler

(1986). The pornography of representation. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

39.

Langlois

Slane

(2017). Economies of reputation: The case of revenge porn. Communications and Critical/cultural Studies, 14, 120-138. doi:10.1080/14791420.2016.1273534

40.

Lenhart

Ybarra

Price-Feeney

(2016). Online harassment, digital abuse, and cyberstalking in America. New York: Data & Society Research Institute.

41.

McGlynn

Rackley

(2013). Prosecuting the possession of extreme pornography: A misunderstood and mis-used law. Criminal Law Review, 5, 400-405.

42.

McGlynn

Rackley

(2017). Image-based sexual abuse. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 37, 534-561. doi:10.1093/ojls/gqw033

43.

Morelli

Bianchi

Baiocco

Pezzuiti

Chirumbolo

(2016). Sexting, psychological distress and dating violence among adolescents and young adults. Psicothema, 28, 137-142. doi:10.7334/psicothema2015.193

44.

Murthy

(2008). Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research. Sociology, 42, 837-855.

45.

Nussbaum

M. C.

(2010). Objectification and internet misogyny. In Levmore

Nussbaum

M. C.

(Eds.), The offensive internet: Speech, privacy, and reputation (pp. 68-90). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

46.

Office of the eSafety Commissioner. (2017). Image-based abuse national survey: Summary report. Australia: Office of the eSafety Commissioner. Retrieved from https://www.esafety.gov.au/image-based-abuse//-/media/15469f65e05e4d02b994010def7af3bb.ashx

47.

O’Halloran

Quayle

(2010). A content analysis of a “boy love” support forum: Revisiting Durkin and Bryant. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 16, 71-85.

48.

Paasonen

(2010). Labors of love: Net porn, web 2.0, and the meanings of amateurism. New Media & Society, 12, 1297-1312.

49.

Palmer

(2018). Rape pornography, cultural harm and criminalization. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 69, 37-58.

50.

Pink

Horst

Postill

Hjorth

Lewis

Tacchi

(2015). Digital ethnography: Principles and practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.

51.

Postill

Pink

(2012). Social media ethnography: The digital researcher in a messy web. Media International Australia, 145, 123-134. doi:10.1177/1329878X1214500114

52.

Powell

Henry

(2017). Sexual violence in a digital age. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

53.

Powell

Henry

Flynn

(2018). Image-based sexual abuse. In DeKeseredy

W. S.

Dragiewicz

(Eds.), Handbook of critical criminology (pp. 305-315). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

54.

Powell

Henry

Flynn

Scott

A. J.

(2019). Image-based sexual abuse: The extent, nature, and predictors of perpetration in a community sample of Australian adults. Advance online publication. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 393-402. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.009

55.

Pyne

(2015, August 7). This is how porn sites make money. Business Insider India. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.in/This-is-how-porn-sitesmake-money/articleshow/48385361.cms

56.

Slater

(1999). Trading sexpics on IRC: Embodiment and authenticity on the Internet. Body and Society, 4, 91-117.

57.

Smith

Raymen

(2018). Deviant leisure: A criminological perspective. Theoretical Criminology, 21, 62-81. doi:10.1177/1362480616660188

58.

Stroud

S. R.

(2014). The dark side of the online self: A pragmatist critique of the growing plague of revenge porn. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 29, 168-183. doi:10.1080/08900523.2014.917976

59.

Tran

(2015). Combatting gender privilege and recognizing a woman’s right to privacy in public spaces: Arguments to criminalize catcalling and creepshots. Hastings Women’s Law Review, 26, 185-206.

60.

Uhl

C. A.

Rhyner

K. A.

Terrance

C. A.

Lugo

(2018). An examination of nonconsensual pornography websites. Feminism & Psychology, 28, 50-68. doi:10.1177/0959353517720225

61.

Van Doorn

. (2010). Keeping it real: User-generated pornography, gender reification, and visual pleasure. Convergence: International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16, 411-430.

62.

Varis

(2015). Digital ethnography. In Georgekopoulou

Spilioti

(Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language and digital communication (pp. 55-68). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

63.

Ward

(2013, July 1). Web porn: Just how much is there? BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23030090

64.

West

Zimmerman

D. H.

(1987). Doing gender. Gender & Society, 1, 125-151.

65.

Wilkinson

(2017). The diverse economies of online pornography: From paranoid readings to post-capitalist futures. Sexualities, 20, 981-998. doi:10.1177/136346071667514

66.

Wood

M. A.

(2018). Antisocial media and algorithmic deviancy amplification: Analysing the id of Facebook’s technological unconscious. Theoretical Criminology, 21, 168-185. doi:10.1177/1362480616643382

67.

Yar

(2012). Crime, media and the will-to-representation: Reconsidering relationships in the new media age. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 8, 245-260. doi:10.1177/1741659012443227

Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Online Distribution Channels and Illicit Communities of Support

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References