The Revenge Porn Helpline (a service operated by SWGfL) has now released their five-year report ‘Intimate image abuse, an evolving landscape’ looking at the period between 2015 - 2020. The report was presented at an exclusive online event and looked at the impact of intimate image abuse over the past five years and the support that the helpline has been able to provide.
The report shows that the Revenge Porn Helpline supported over 8,000 people during this time and successfully removed nearly 200,000 pieces of content that was shared illegally. Take a look at the full report here:
Intimate image abuse, an evolving landscape
Top Trends and Findings
The report looks at how reported instances have increased significantly over the five-year period. As well as this the below shows the top trends that were seen in reports to the helpline.
- Reports to the RPH doubled in 2020 and continue to rise.
- Cases of sextortion (webcam blackmail) tripled in 2020.
- Intimate image abuse is predominantly male–perpetrated, accounting for over
- 76% of cases where the perpetrators’ gender is known.
- When a female reports images to the Helpline, an average of 42 images are reported, whereas it is less than two for male victims.
- RPH has removed almost 200,000 intimate images since 2015.
- RPH is working with the Law Commission on their review of the law on sharing intimate images without consent to improve support for victims.
- RPH continues to work to improve client support out of hours and provide more support to vulnerable groups such as students, sex workers and those with disabilities.
The report also breaks down the following areas:
- What is the Revenge Porn Helpline?
- Purpose of the report
- Data collected from the helpline
- Trends
- Helpline projects
- The future of the helpline
- Conclusions
If you want to know more about the work of the Revenge Porn Helpline or need support if you are a victim of intimate image abuse, you can contact a helpline practitioner for support and advice
Alternatively, you can create your own case on Stopncii.org which is a free tool that is designed to support victims of Non-consensual intimate image abuse. Find out more here:
