“Revenge porn” as image-based sexual abuse: a case of sexual violence continuum

Abstract

In recent years, the phenomenon colloquially known as “revenge pornography” has emerged in several countries. A phenomenon that gained notoriety and received criminal treatment, with many countries introducing laws that combat it. Although confronting this practice represents a positive advance, the social response based on the term used has been fragmented and usually focuses only on the practices of vengeful ex-partners. At the same time that the term restricts and minimizes its application, it ends up attributing blame to victims-survivors to what is referred to as pornography, centralizing the blame on them (conveying the false perception of choice and legitimacy) and encouraging - indirectly - eroticization and encouraging the lewd interest of the media in publicizing these phenomena. Thus, in line with foreign literature, we propose that “revenge pornography” be understood as “image-based sexual abuse” and as just one form of a set of sexualized and gendered forms of abuse with common characteristics that constitute what we conceptualize. as a continuum of sexual abuse. We also argue that image-based sexual abuse is on a continuum with other forms of sexual violence.