Gay people are eight times more likely to be victims of revenge porn
(YouPorn)
LGBT people are eight times more likely to be targeted by revenge porn, a study has revealed.
One in 25 Americans have either been threatened with or made the victim of revenge porn, but this includes just two percent of straight people.
On the other hand, a huge 17 percent of LGBT people have been targeted with threats or actual posts of pornographic images or videos of them which they did not consent to being online.
(Pexels)
Amanda Lenhart, one of the report’s authors, said that the study – conducted by the Data & Society Research Institute and the Centre for Innovative Public Health Research – was crucial.
“Nonconsensual pornography can have a devastating and lasting impact on victims, so it’s vital that we understand how common this is and who is affected,” she said.
The news comes as YouPorn releases a powerful video to combat the dangerous phenomenon.
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In association with women’s rights organisation the Danish Women’s Society, the porn site has created a video which looks like an adult film – and that’s exactly the point.
The video, called “Ex doesn’t know I put this online!”, features a woman stripping while her boyfriend films her.
He asks her to take her trousers off, but she tells him: “I don’t like that you’re filming this.”
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The faceless man asks why, to which she responds: “I’m just afraid that someone is going to see it.”
He reassures her, lying to her face until she smiles and goes along with his request.
But when she has removed her trousers, she straightens up, looks straight into the camera, and asks: “What the f**k do you think you’re doing?”
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Shocked, he asks who she’s talking to, to which she replies: “I’m talking to the person who’s watching this.
“You know this is revenge porn, right? You saw the title of the video. You heard what my boyfriend just said – that no-one would see this.
“You know what is going on here.”
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Seething with completely justified anger, she continues: “What the f**k are you doing?
“You know I’m a human being, right? That I have feelings?
“Can you imagine what I’m going through, what victims of revenge porn go through every single day, and you are just sitting there watching this? Sharing this?
(YouPorn)
“You don’t even care. F**k you!”
She ends with the sobering fact that “victims of revenge porn, they suffer anxiety, they go through depression, and some have even killed themselves.”
Signe Vahlun, vice president of the Danish Women’s Society, said: “For the last year we have talked to victims and have come to understand how damaging being the victim can be.
“For several people, this literally destroys their lives. In order to avoid this, we need to put focus on the problem.
“The fact that YouPorn agrees with us on this issue and wanted to partner together to launch this campaign sends a clear message that revenge porn has to be stopped,” she added.
In 2015, a woman became the first person to be jailed under the UK’s revenge porn laws, after posting her ex-girlfriend’s sex pictures to Facebook.
Earlier this year, a number of gay men spoke out against a revenge porn forum for what they said was its “cruel” conduct with their leaked nudes.
And in January, lesbian YouTubers Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers announced their engagement – after winning a high-profile revenge porn battle.
Watch the full video here:
