Munirul-Haq Raza | News Editor
Featured Image: “In Canada, revenge porn falls under exploitation and is a crime,” says Debbie Hansen, executive director of York community support and services. | Anna Voskuil
An anonymous image-hosting site, modeled in the vein of 4chan, has recently been discovered displaying revenge porn—images, and videos of mostly women that have been uploaded online without their consent—of university students across Canada, including York.
Laura Hensley, staff writer for Flare, described a process where a request for photos are made on the site, and can get very specific, where they can start with names and/or publicly available photos from social media. They ask if users of the site have sexual photos of the named person, also described as “wins.”
To avoid perpetuating any further publicity for this site, Excalibur has omitted its name.
Hensley says: “Victims of revenge porn should gather as much information as possible—if the image was sent to anyone, who it was sent to, if it was posted online accidentally—find out as much as you can about your case, and report all the information you’ve gathered to the police.”
She continued that, if victims feel intimidated when reporting to the police or university, to know that they still have fundamental rights, which includes being allowed to bring someone in to help support their case. “Police should investigate this, and they should take your complaint seriously.”
Hensley emphasized the need to include discussion about consent pieces about images and revenge porn, and that revenge porn should be adopted into universities’ sexual assault guidelines. Hensley continues that, as universities, they should offer support to students who are victims to this.
“We need to believe in women and take this stuff seriously, because it is serious and should be treated that way,” she adds.
“Following an extensive consultation process, on December 14, 2016, York’s Board of Governors approved a comprehensive new policy on sexual violence. In Canada, revenge porn falls under exploitation and is a crime; it’s illegal to distribute an intimate image of someone without their consent,” says Debbie Hansen, York’s executive director of community support & services.
“A survivor would have the options of reporting this crime to the police as well as to York’s Community Support and Services team, where they would receive the same support that any survivor of sexual violence would,” continues Hansen.
“We have established a Sexual Violence Response Office to be the first point of contact and coordinate support for all members of our community who have experienced sexual violence. York always works to create an environment where all people feel welcome, valued, and safe, and to provide the services, programs, and resources that will ensure our entire community is supported and empowered.”
When asked what more we can do to support victims of revenge porn, Hensley adds: “As a society, we need to have conversations not only with women, but also men—unfortunately, because the bulk of the people who are posting images are men. We must speak about respecting women, consent, what it mean to respect another person’s privacy, and their body.”
Hensley emphasizes—instead of blaming the victims of revenge porn, focus on the men who perpetrate it. “You need to be aware that these sorts of things happen, but it’s not your fault if you’re a victim.”
