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Image-Based Sexual Abuse: An LGBTQ+ Perspective

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The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology

Abstract

Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA), sometimes referred to as revenge pornography or technology-facilitated violence is associated with an array of behaviours where perpetrators utilise digital technologies to inflict harm of a sexual nature against another person. There is a growing body of evidence that LGBTQ+ individuals are reporting higher incidences of perpetrators sharing images, as well as threats to share images, and as yet, little is understood as to why this is the case. The discussion within this chapter will provide preliminary insights into the lived experience of LGBTQ+ survivors from a recent international study incorporating participants from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank all of the LGBTQ+ participants of our study who took the time to share their experiences with us. We have been truly humbled by all of the individuals for their enthusiasm in the study, without their input it would not have been possible to develop this work. We would also like to thank the various organisations who took the time to talk to us about this study, including Victims of Image Crime, the Revenge Porn Helpline, the Legal Advice Centre at Queen Mary University London, Survivors UK, the e-Safety commission in Australia, the UK Law Commission, Net Safe New Zealand, Thriving Through in the US, the Rainbow Project in Northern Island, the Equality Network in Scotland and Police officers from Greater Manchester Police Constabulary. Finally, we would like to thank Clare McGlynn, Kelly Johnson, Erika Rackley, Nicola Henry, Nicola Garvey, Asher Flynn and Anastasia Powell for allowing us to utilise their framework in this chapter. This project was not funded or supported by any external funding body/authority.

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Correspondence to Ronnie Meechan-Rogers .

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Meechan-Rogers, R., Jones, C.B., Ward, N. (2021). Image-Based Sexual Abuse: An LGBTQ+ Perspective. In: Powell, A., Flynn, A., Sugiura, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_15

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83733-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83734-1

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