In a disturbing trend that echoes the sinister online forums used to plan the drugging and rape of women in France, a leading UK charity has warned of underground networks of men exploiting local women by sharing their explicit images without consent. The Revenge Porn Helpline reports that peer-to-peer messaging boards are being used to request, trade, and non-consensually distribute intimate photos, fueling a dark underworld of systematic misogynistic abuse.
A Dangerous Underground Trade
Sophie Mortimer, a helpline manager at the Revenge Porn Helpline, describes the alarming reality unfolding on apps like Telegram and Discourse. “We are seeing images posted by strangers, collected and re-shared peer to peer,” Mortimer explains. “Men state they are looking for images of named individual women from York or from Huddersfield or anywhere in the country. Pictures are then being shared with derogatory comments about the women and what they would do to them.”
This underground trade in non-consensual images points to a much deeper issue. “I think that’s the most frightening area for me, because we’re not talking about the sharing of images after a relationship breaks down. We’re talking about a systematic deep-seated misogyny,” emphasizes Mortimer. It’s a stark reminder that online abuse is rooted in real-world attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate violence against women.
Rising Reports and Challenges in Removal
The Revenge Porn Helpline has seen a staggering 57% average yearly increase in reports, highlighting the escalating scale of this abusive behavior. To meet the rising demand for support, the charity introduced a chatbot that assists about 50 people daily. It also receives between 350 and 400 in-person calls each month from victims seeking help.
While sharing private sexual images without consent has been an offense in the UK since 2015, convictions remain relatively low. Figures from the Crown Prosecution Service reveal that only 277 people were convicted in the year ending June 2024. Moreover, in some cases, the law falls short in providing a remedy.
The charity points out the challenges in getting these violating images removed from certain online spaces. Images are now less likely to be found on mainstream platforms like Facebook or Pornhub, which have improved their content moderation. However, this has pushed the nonconsensual content to “less compliant” margins of the internet. “These images can be much harder for us to access because they’re not visible. People have so much more content and it moves much faster because there are many more websites hosting and sharing it,” Mortimer notes.
Lasting Trauma for Victims
For the victims of this abusive image sharing, the path to healing is long and arduous. Some women spend years battling to get their intimate pictures erased from the internet. One woman has been working with the Revenge Porn Helpline for over eight years to remove around 150 images shared online by an ex-partner.
“It has had the most devastating impact on her entire life, and understandably she has really struggled,” said Mortimer.
Another victim, whose images were taken while she was being abused, has been informed by strangers that they saw her intimate photos online alongside identifying details. “We are much better at removing content but if it is still there, you can’t put it behind you, you can’t move on,” Mortimer emphasizes. “It’s just endlessly debilitating.”
Strengthening Laws and Shifting Societal Attitudes
The Revenge Porn Helpline argues for widening legislation to criminalize the very existence of adult non-consensual intimate images, not just the sharing of them. This would align with laws on child abuse imagery and make removal from the internet more straightforward. The UK government has stated its commitment to tackling this violation through the Online Safety Act, which will compel platforms to take down intimate images.
However, Mortimer stresses that legislative changes must be accompanied by a profound shift in societal attitudes. “I think this is actually a really dangerous time for women,” she warns. “What I’ve learned from doing this work is that men who doing this are not monsters living in their mothers’ basements … This is all around us, under our noses, the men that we think are allies, in many cases, are not as benign as they appear.”
It’s a sobering call to action – uprooting the deep-seated misogyny that fuels these violations will require a collective effort. Stronger laws, yes, but also a commitment from every corner of society to challenge the attitudes and behaviors that enable such abuse to fester in the shadows of our online world. Only then can we hope to build a safer, more equitable digital future for all.
The rising scourge of non-consensual intimate image sharing is more than a legal issue; it’s a reflection of entrenched misogyny that permeates our digital and physical realities. As we navigate an increasingly connected world, it’s imperative that we confront this abuse head-on, through robust legislation, vigilant content moderation, accessible victim support, and most crucially, a societal reckoning with the attitudes that perpetuate such violations. The path forward demands collective action to dismantle the networks that exploit and degrade women, and to build a culture of respect and consent in our online and offline lives.
