Folami Prehaye knows first-hand what it’s like to discover that your most intimate images have been shared far and wide. In 2014, her ex-boyfriend Thomas Samuel set up a fake Facebook page in her name, posted the sexually explicit pictures and then invited her friends and family to view it. He also posted the images on a number of porn websites and some were viewed almost 50,000 times.
‘I went through days and months where I blamed myself,’ says Folami, who had to go through the process of getting the pictures removed herself. ‘I had phases where I would only go to the shop wearing a hoodie because I felt like everyone was looking at me and had seen the pictures. It strips you. You feel naked because you know people have seen intimate photos of you that you would never have shown anyone. That feeling of shame is horrible.’
This happened to Folami before the Government’s drive to stamp out revenge porn. Two years ago, new legislation made posting ‘revenge porn’ a specific offence and a helpline was set up for victims of this rising crime, to help them get the images removed and understand their rights. Now, that progress looks set to be rolled back as it has come to light that the helpline’s future is under threat.
It strips you. People have seen intimate photos you would never have shown anyone. That feeling of shame is horrible
Laura Higgins, who founded and runs the helpline, told Grazia that their money will run out in six weeks’ time. ‘We were funded initially as a pilot by the Government Equalities Office [GEO], and they renewed that for a second year, but now we’re reaching the end and we haven’t yet managed to secure funding from anywhere else. We’re in discussions with crowdfunder.co.uk but there is a question over whether the public will want to – and should – support a service that’s currently supported by the Government.’
MP Sarah Champion recently raised the issue in Parliament and is pushing for Justine Greening, Minister for Women and Equalities, to step in and save the helpline. Sarah says, ‘The victims of this crime feel unbelievably vulnerable and exposed and often don’t know what to do. It’s a very deliberate crime to expose you to humiliation to the widest number of people possible. Because it’s a new phenomenon, most of the places you would usually go to for victim support aren’t up to speed with it. That’s where the helpline has been crucial. It’s taken over 5,000 calls and worked on more than 1,200 cases, and its staff understand on a very practical level how to get these pictures taken down. It’s a very specialist service. The fact Laura is having to talk about crowdfunding it is disgraceful.’
As someone who’s lived the nightmare of revenge porn first-hand, Folami is convinced that victims need more than just a helpline to assist with getting images taken down. ‘People need support,’ she says. ‘When it happened to me, I wanted to let others know they’re not alone. I wanted to stand up and show that I’d been through it and come out the other side. But victims need emotional support to be able to do that. We need to go into schools and educate about consent and relationships and respect.’
A spokesperson for the GEO told Grazia, ‘The Government has provided over £180,000 in funding for the Revenge Porn Helpline’s pilot scheme and a decision on future funding will be announced later this year.
‘We are committed to helping victims of revenge porn with specialist support and the helpline is just one element of £80 million pledged cross-Government to prevent violence against women and girls. We are continuing to develop resources that support young people’s understanding of respectful and tolerant behaviour to help stop abuse from happening in the first place.’
Meanwhile, all Laura and her team can do is focus on the work of helping victims, whose calls and emails arrive hour by hour. ‘Obviously, we’re feeling panicked by it but we’re doing everything we can,’ says Laura. ‘The pot of money from the Government is shrinking at such a pace that not all of us [services] can survive. It’s getting very urgent now...’
Find free advice and support at revengepornhelpline.org.uk