Revenge Porn Cases Spike During Lockdown

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a shocking spike in the number of calls to The Revenge Porn Helpline{ =nofollow}. ‘We are breaking all the records in the number of cases we receive,’ says Sophie Mortimer, a helpline manager who adds that the organisation was already seeing ‘a steady 35% rise in cases’ even before lockdown. ‘We initially saw a dip in cases, but once full lockdown was announced, cases nearly doubled. April has seen well over 200 cases, 25% higher than March.'

The increase, Sophie says, may be due to the lockdown causing an ‘additional strain on abusive relationships’. ‘Women are reporting predominantly domestic abuse by current or previous partners. Perpetrators have additional power and victims have less support, fewer services to reach out to and less visibility behind closed doors,’ she explains, adding that opportunist criminals are ‘targeting people who are locked down alone’ which is leading to sextortion - a type of revenge porn where someone coerces their victim to perform sexual favours - and phishing attempts.

The peak in online dating may have also led to more cases, Sophie says. ‘More people are meeting new people on online dating or social networking sites and are then being extorted for additional images or money.’ Sophie explains the victims of sextortion are ‘predominantly male', but she adds that the helpline is ‘seeing a rise in numbers among women too.’

Lauren, who is a victim of revenge porn, says her experience has taken its toll on her confidence and mental health. ‘I still get really down about myself because I feel like I don't have as much worth,’ she says, adding she still has ‘a lot of anxiety’. Lauren discovered she was a victim in 2015 after her friend alerted her to a Twitter account which was feigning her identity and posting multiple topless photographs of her. ‘It was shocking. I just kept clicking through links and finding more fake accounts of myself and more photographs,' she says. 'Some of the comments and stories that were being written about me on the amateur porn sites were really disgusting to read.' After some investigating, she realised that her perpetrator was an older man she had considered a ‘friend’ and been speaking to online since she was 13. ‘I'd never clocked that he'd been grooming me all that time and been posting the photographs since 2012,’ she says. ‘It was a horrible pill to swallow.’

Lauren’s situation was made worse by her ‘unsupportive’ case officer, which resulted in her perpetrator not being charged for revenge porn, which has been a specific offence since April 2015, (two months before Lauren’s case) and carries up to two years in prison. ‘I don't feel like I’ve had justice,’ she says. ‘The whole process took just over a year - it was very painful to re-live and my case officer wanted me to accept a letter of apology, instead of going to trial. In the end, he got a very small fine and was put on the sexual offenders list.’

Yet The Revenge Porn Helpline was a lifeline for Lauren. ‘They're amazing - they helped take some of the photos down and they were good to talk to as well.’ Articulating her experience has helped Lauren come to terms with the assault.

Speaking out has encouraged people to get in touch with Lauren. ‘People email me fairly often because they don't know what to do or how to move on - a lot of people are suicidal and dying to talk to someone,’ she says. ‘I try and help as much as I can and offer myself as a listening ear but also give them any websites that I think would be useful, like Victims of Internet Crime.’

‘The more people talk about it the better,’ Lauren continues, adding that she believes there is still a ‘stigma’ surrounding Revenge Porn. ‘Sometimes I think ‘who's going to hire me because of this, which is a logical - if someone's not going to hire me because of what someone else has done to me then they're probably not a great person to work for anyway. After all, lots of people send photos and we're all sexual beings.’

During the pandemic, The Revenge Porn Helpline is continuing to 'offer advice on the law, support and signposting to appropriate services and remove online content,' says Sophie. The team however are now no longer able to carry out 'extensive searching for additional content' but are continuing to 'report all content reported to us by clients.'

READ MORE: Meet The Women Seeking Revenge On Revenge Porn

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