Amendments have recently been made to the Online Safety Bill which made persecuting perpetrators of revenge porn easier. This amendment removes the requirement for prosecutors to prove the intent to cause distress, therefore, anyone who has shared explicit videos of someone without their consent will be sentenced to a minimum of six months in prison.
Former Love Island star Georgia Harrison has been a passionate campaigner for such reforms after falling victim to revenge porn - her ex-partner Stephen Bear disclosed private, sexual videos of her on Only Fans and was sentenced to twenty-one months in prison.
The amendments that have been made are extremely important regarding the accountability of those who seek to exploit others. They will allow for easier prosecution, hopefully resulting in a higher conviction rate in the short term, but in the long term will deter potential offenders from violating those who once trusted them.
Harrison details the impact this has had on her life in various interviews, describing the toll it has taken on the way she values herself and experiencing a decline in her mental and physical health. However, she is grateful that she has been able to use her position and experiences to enact meaningful change to prevent others from going through what she had to.
Much of the motivation behind revenge porn centres around power and humiliation - male perpetrators seek to belittle and embarrass women who put their trust in them, only for them to take advantage. Revenge porn is a crime that has the ability to devastate lives, physically, mentally and financially - the change in law takes a positive step in the direction of preventing the crime impact the lives of more people.
- Rianna Mistry