New campaign: experts call for image-based abuse law

The End Violence Against Women Coalition, #NotYourPorn and Professor Clare McGlynn are calling on the next government to protect women’s rights and freedoms online, in partnership with GLAMOUR magazine.

In a new campaign launched today (19th June 2024), the experts demand a dedicated Image-Based Abuse law to protect women’s rights to be safe online and offline. This must include measures to:

• Strengthen criminal laws about creating, taking and sharing intimate images without consent (including sexually explicit deepfakes)
• Improve civil laws for survivors to take action against perpetrators and tech companies (including taking down abusive content)
• Prevent image-based abuse through comprehensive relationships, sex and health education
• Fund specialist services that provide support to victims and survivors of image-based abuse
• Create an online abuse commission to hold tech companies accountable for image-based abuse

The campaign comes after a number of planned new laws to address this abuse fell through due to the calling of a general election.

Our key calls highlight the holes in the main political parties’ manifestos relating to image-based abuse, which barely scratch the surface of the reality and scale of the threat towards women and girls.

Rebecca Hitchen, Head of Policy & Campaigns at the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: “While this gender-based violence is growing ever-more prevalent, the law is lagging behind: tech companies aren’t required to prevent the abuse they profit from, and survivors have few avenues to justice and support. We want accountability and support for victims and survivors of image-based abuse which looks beyond criminal offences alone, and for billion dollar tech companies to use the tools they have to stop this abuse before it starts.”

Elena Michael, Director of Not Your Porn, adds: “The painful and infuriating truth is that it is within our grasp to make a comprehensive system of protections and preventions to fight image-based sexual abuse. This law is the first step to making this long overdue system a reality. No more excuses. No more putting the burden on survivors to protect themselves and circumvent illogical barriers to accessing justice. And, absolutely, no more facilitating preventable harm by government inaction.”

Professor Clare McGlynn, world-leading expert on image-based abuse, said: “Women are being systematically failed by the legal system. The criminal law is full of holes, and women’s experiences are not taken seriously by the police. It is also extremely difficult to get material deleted or taken down from the internet, even after a criminal conviction.”

“For too long, survivors of image-based abuse have been ignored, their experiences trivialised and dismissed. Women’s rights to privacy and free speech are being systematically breached, with society as a whole suffering. Women deserve a holistic, comprehensive response to these devastating and life-shattering harms.”

Deborah Joseph, GLAMOUR’s European Editorial Director, said: “Earlier this year, we held a roundtable on digital consent and the threat of deepfaking to women where we learned the harrowing reality of women’s experience with Image-Based abuse. Hearing from the everyday people who have experienced this was heartbreaking and it is terrifying to know that there is currently no comprehensive legal framework in place to protect women against this crime. We want to see the next government wake up and take the threat of image-based abuse seriously, actioning meaningful change to protect women both in society and online.”

Read more about our campaign here

ENDS

Media contact

Sinead Geoghegan, Head of Communications, EVAW: media@evaw.org.uk 07960 744 502