Petition launched by Derbyshire woman to make sending "unsolicited nudes" a criminal offence
Nearly 300 people have signed
A petition started by a Derbyshire woman to make the sending of unsolicited nude pictures a criminal offence has been signed by nearly 300 people.
Currently there is no specific law to ban the sending of the images, which has become more common with the evolution of the camera phone.
The petition's founder wrote "I have, and every female I know has, been a receiver of unwanted photos of a male's genitals. Some containing captions like, "I know you want it", and "You can't handle this". This is a duplication of one pulling their trousers down in public, and uttering these phrases, otherwise known as flashing."
"Flashing is a known trait of a sexual predator and one of the first signs of a potential rapist. Flashing, virtually, can build their confidence in sexual perpetrations. When the offender sends these non-consensual photos, when not asked for by the recipient, it is identical to flashing someone in public."
"If they get a criminal offence on record for this it could prevent them from developing into involvement in worse sexual offences. Flashing is a sexual offence, so why is it normalised when virtual?"
In response to the petition Kate Burns from the Derbyshire Women's Equality Party said that the laws need to be update: "There's the malicious communications act but the issue with that is they require proof that the sender is intending to cause distress and I just can't imagine, if someone was to expose themselves, it would be ridiculous that you'd have to prove that that person was intending to cause distress to prove that was a crime."