Watch: Out YouTuber Chrissy Chambers launches legal challenge over ‘revenge porn’
YouTuber Chrissy Chambers has launched a campaign to clamp down on ‘revenge porn’ – after her ex-boyfriend released explicit videos of her.
The video-maker has built a following of nearly half a million subscribers alongside her partner Bria Kam, on their channel BriaAndChrissy.
She has revealed in a video that she will pursue legal action against her British ex-boyfriend, after he uploaded videos of her online several years ago.
Ms Chambers is using her online presence to speak about the problem – and call for tougher rules to be put in place in the US.
She said: “By going public with my story, I hope to take away the shame society puts on victims… and also encourage other victims of revenge porn to come forward and begin seeking justice.”
The vlogger explained in a post: “When I was 18 years old, I started a long-distance relationship with a man who was 6 years older than me. As you might expect, soon enough the relationship grew strained and we broke up. I still cannot believe what happened next.
“Before the relationship ended, and without my knowledge or consent, my ex filmed himself having sex with me, and when we broke up he posted them online and they were shared to over 30 pornography sites.
“It wasn’t until two years after they were posted, when a link to one of those videos was emailed to me, that I found out they existed or even that this sexual encounter had taken place.
“Each one included my full name, and my ex had included text calling me a slut and a horrible role model. By the time I found them, they had been viewed tens of thousands of times.
“Life as I had known it ended. It was like I had been hit in the chest and couldn’t catch my breath.
She went on: “It only got worse when I found out that there was nothing I could do to get them taken down.”
“There are currently no federal laws in the United States that criminalize ‘revenge porn’, meaning sexually explicit photos or videos posted online without consent.
“My ex posted those videos for revenge, plain and simple. He wanted to hurt me, and to tarnish my reputation. But he won’t succeed.
“I am standing up to fight back, not just for me, but for the tens of thousands of other women (and men) who have been put in this same situation with no way to defend themselves. With the help of our lawyers at the firm McAllister Olivarius, we are bringing the first ever civil lawsuit against revenge pornography in the UK.”
Urging people to sign a petition calling for a US law, she said: “A bill that would criminalise “revenge porn” in the United States is currently being written by multiple members of Congress, but it will take a lot of public support in order to convince them to push it through.
“Please stand with me and call on Congress to end this horrific practice once and for all.”
