Stories
The society tends to put the blame on victim-survivors for the happening of sexual violence. People might blame victim-survivors for what they wear, for not fighting back, for taking intimate images, for not reporting to police... But they overlook the perpetrators' behaviours of taking, sharing and threatening to share intimate images without consent.
Victim-blaming culture silences victim-survivors. To make Image-Based Sexual Violence experiences visible, we collected victim-survivors' stories through 'Project Treehole' and 'Survey Report on Image-Based Sexual Violence'.
*Names of victim-survivors below are pseudonyms.
Rain’s story
The video has been uploaded onto the internet and many people have viewed it. Personally, I feel that it makes no difference with one more or less person watching the video.
Candy’s story
The victims themselves have already been harmed. You shouldn’t blame them anymore. It’s not their responsibility at all.
Rebecca’s story
I never meant to show [my intimate photos] to the public, they accessed the pictures without my consent. That’s not what I wanted.
Benjamin’s story
She threatened me with the [intimate] video. If I didn’t get back to her, she would spread the video to ruin my life…
Cindy’s story
Even if I had so much of his information, I couldn’t exert any pressure on him. He was so well-prepared.
Survey Report on Image-Based Sexual Violence
Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women conducted the survey 'Taking and Distributing Intimate Images Without Consent' in 2019 and 2020 to collect the public's experiences in 'Image-Based Sexual Violence (IBSV)'. These experiences include: taking intimate images without consent; distributing, sharing, circulating and selling intimate images without consent; threatening or extorting to distribute intimate images; and creating fake pornography.
A total of 206 people have filled in the questionnaire. Through the questionnaire, we got in touch with 11 victims and conducted in-depth interviews with them. We also conducted an in-depth interview with 1 co-worker of social welfare organisation.