A multi-country study of image-based sexual abuse: extent, relational nature and correlates of victimisation experiences

ABSTRACT

This study examined image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) victimisation in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (n = 6,109). Findings showed that 37.7% (n = 2,306) of respondents had at least one IBSA victimisation experience since 16 years of age. Logistic regression analyses further identified that demographic characteristics (age, sexuality, disability/assistance), attitudes towards IBSA, and experiential variables (online dating and sexual self-image behaviours, IBSA perpetration) were each predictors of IBSA victimisation. Though gender did not predict the overall extent of IBSA victimisation, the relational contexts and impacts of IBSA remained gendered in particular ways. Implications of the study are discussed with respect to conceptualising gendered violence and future research.

PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT

This article demonstrates both the diversity of victim experiences of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), as well as gendered and other patterns in the relational contexts in which it occurs. The findings presented here may assist researchers and practitioners by promoting understanding of the diverse contexts of IBSA, and in turn informing policy, response options and ultimately prevention of IBSA victimisation targeted for different abuse experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Image-based sexual abuse
• technology-facilitated sexual violence
• victimisation
• gendered violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Pākehā is a Maori term referring to New Zealanders who are primarily of White European descent.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Australian Research Council (ARC) funding for the project “Revenge Pornography: The implications for law reform” (DP170101433), and the author's wish to acknowledge the contributions of the Chief Investigators, Nicola Henry, Asher Flynn and Anastasia Powell, and Partner Investigators Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley, Nicola Gavey, and Adrian Scott, as well as research contributions from Kelly Johnson, in providing ideation, data and/or underpinning conceptualisation.