Over the summer, the Government ordered the Law Commission, an independent body that recommends reforms to laws in England and Wales, to review the law around non-consensual taking, making and sharing of sexual images.
Digital trends, including Cyber flashing, but also 'deep fake' and revenge will be examined, and the commission will also look at whether victims receive automatic anonymity. This is already the case for victims of sexual offences. The full review is expected to be published in 2021. But that's nearly 3 years away.
This throws up the issue of 'what's being right now?' We've already seen the FOI response that showed the frequency of incidents, but only the ones that were reported to BTP and only within a 12 month period. As Sophie Gallagher put it in our chat a couple of weeks ago, "I'm sure this is much wider spread than any of us know".
Comprehensive legal change is obviously instrumental in beginning to tackle a problem like image-based sexual harassment. But it's ineffective to treat the symptoms, rather than the cause. It is no doubt a multifaceted issue and requires a multifaceted approach.
Professor Clare McGlynn, along with colleagues Erika Rackley and Kelly Johnson, recommended several things in the findings of their Shattering Lives and Myths report. They highlight the importance of the "production of national-level guidance and support mirroring that around domestic abuse and the workplace", with "schools, universities and workplaces" putting in place "training and policies to effectively and compassionately respond to disclosures of image-based sexual abuse."
I will be speaking with Professor McGlynn over the next couple of weeks, to discuss this report in further detail, and outline some other courses of action she feels need to be taken now, to protect targets of image-based sexual harassment.
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