Reports of revenge porn increase in Scotland

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Reports of revenge porn are increasing. Rape Crisis Scotland plans to ask its regional centres to monitor numbers so they have a better idea of what they are dealing with.

Scottish Women’s Aid is foc­used on how revenge porn is used in existing relationships, either to blackmail someone not to leave, or to harass them after they do. However, there have also been examples of strangers meeting online, particularly young people, and exchanging images or videos.

Scottish Women’s Aid is planning an education campaign aimed at men which will highlight that videos made within a relationship are private and should remain so, even if the couple separate.

Meanwhile, Police Scotland plans to encourage more women to report men who threaten to distribute clips or post them online.

A round-table discussion, which featured Rape Crisis Scotland, White Ribbon Scotland and Victim Support Scotland, also discussed whether current laws are capable of tackling the new and developing crime. Ellie Hutchinson, prevention worker at Scottish Women’s Aid, said: “We’re still at an early stage of looking at what the law can do. Do the existing laws work and is it a case of promoting those laws better?”

She added: “The focus has to be on the perpetrator. We have to be asking what these young men – although they are not always young – what values they have about trust and compassion. What we really need to be focusing on is why these men think it’s okay to do this, and how we can hold them to account, not just legally but through education.”