Number of revenge porn victims in West Midlands risen by 58% in past two years
Sarah from Worcestershire shares her story of being a victim of revenge porn
The number of revenge porn victims in the West Midlands has risen by 58 percent in the past two years, according to latest figures.
Research by law firm Slater and Gordon showed that 19% of 2,006 people surveyed said they had suffered a sexual image being shared without their consent, compared to 12% two years ago.
Lawyers first commissioned the research in 2019 after they saw partners involved in divorce proceedings increasingly being threatened with such abuse.
Disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress became an offence in 2015, but those who even threaten to share such material could face two years in prison under a proposed change to the law.
The research found that 45% of those surveyed knew someone who had been the victim of revenge porn, up by 31% on 2019.
Of those surveyed, 18% said it had been a family member who had released the sexual photograph or video, compared with 9% the year before.
Holly Atkins, family lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said:
"It's extremely distressing and damaging behaviour for anyone to experience.
"These numbers are deeply worrying. We had hoped that the offending behaviour would have decreased as the issue became more widely discussed and condemned within society.
"The image-based sexual abuse carries very similar hallmarks to other forms of mental and emotional abuse. It tries to evoke feelings of shame and public embarrassment and aims to control the victim and coerce them into certain actions".
Sarah's Story
Sarah is from Worcestershire and has been the victim of revenge porn twice in her life. The first time was when she was 12-years-old.
"I had an incident with someone online. You know how it is you just get coerced and you're quite naïve when you're younger.
"I was on holiday with my family at the time when I got the message from this guy saying "I'm going to leak these unless you send me more.
"I was just up all night and I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach. It's embarrassing, it's humiliating; I felt like I had done something wrong".
The second time Sarah had sexual photos and videos shared without her consent was when she was at college.
"It can happen to you son, daughter, sister, brother"
She was in an abusive relationship and was also struggling with alcohol addiction.
"It happened when I was trying to flea the relationship. I had broken up with him and he came and found me and took my phone.
"He took off and transferred the photos from my phone to his because he had the passcode.
"He'd threatened to put them on PornHub and social media and he actually showed my parents these photos and videos of me.
"The feeling is like a dirt you can't wash off, it doesn't matter how many times you wash there's this horrible dirty feeling".
Sarah has shared her story in the hope of raising awareness of the issue and the impact it has on victims.
"Most girls I know have had something like this done to them"
She explained this can happen to anyone and that it happens more than people may realise.
"We need to stop turning a blind eye to the crime of revenge porn.
"It can happen to you, your son, your daughter, your sister, your brother.
"Everybody has the right to engage in whatever sexual activity they please but nobody deserves to have their life ruined through this".
She's calling for there to be support for victims of revenge porn after receiving very little herself.
"I felt like I was in the wrong and that it was my fault. There was just no support and no one talks about this.
"This does happen. This happens a lot and I feel like it happens so much that people are almost desensitised to it happening.
"Most girls I know have had something like this done to them.
"There are steps that can be taken to remove this stigma around those who experience revenge porn. There needs to be better availability to access emotional support and we need to be talking about this more as a society".
If you've been a victim of revenge porn there is help available
West Mercia Women's Aid: Call their helpline on 0800 783 1359
Revenge Porn Helpline: Email their helpline help@revengepornhelpline.org.uk