The Reclaim Coalition to End Online Image-based Sexual Violence (formerly the Image-Based Sexual Abuse initiative), powered by Panorama Global, published its landmark report.
With social media, smart phones, and other technology woven seamlessly into all facets of everyday life, many of us – primarily women and girls, but not solely – must face the fact that threats of sexual and gender-based violence now pervade our online lives.
For example, there are 3,000 websites dedicated to nonconsensually sharing intimate images, predominantly of women and girls. This issue is also growing at a breakneck speed, impacting people across generations and borders.
Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA)— also known as sextortion, upskirting, revenge porn, deepfakes, digital sex trafficking, or cyberflashing—is a technology-enabled form of gender-based violence that can result in very real impact, ranging from mental illness to suicide, from job loss to social isolation, physical assault to body dysmorphia, threats against friends and family, and many other harms.
This global landscape report explores the issue of image-based sexual abuse, the harms it causes survivors, and what we can—and must—do together to stop it.
There is still much more to learn, but by working together we can catalyze and elevate the field of image-based abuse, support and learn from survivors, and move towards a future where everyone may be freely and safely online without the threat of image-based sexual abuse.
