Intent to cause distress: Theorizing the rise and impact of non-consensual pornography

The recent surge in testimonies of sexual violence in movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have shed a light on the impact of multiple forms of abuse. Sexual violence has come to be seen as multi-faceted with increasing calls for laws against violent acts such as up-skirting and catcalling. Non-consensual pornography can be incorporated within this widening definition of sexual violence which seeks a deeper understanding of body autonomy, objectification and emotion. The acknowledgment and understanding of this continuum of sexual violence in political science has never been more important.

'Revenge-porn' has been a subject of debate since 2014 and whilst the UK passed legislation criminalising it in April 2015, revenge-porn and the wider issue of non-consensual pornography remains poorly understood and there has been no substantial feminist political research into the phenomenon. My project hopes to speak to this gap in the scholarship.

In 2016, I completed research exploring the rise of non-consensual pornography, focusing on cases in which the survivor was female and the perpetrator male. However, this definition is too narrow, invisibilising cases which do not conform to norms relating to gender and sexuality and highlighted the need for an intersectional approach. This research therefore aims to explore how an analysis of non-consensual pornography and its impact can contribute to a feminist analysis of the politics of the body. It will consider how far neoliberal culture and the proliferation of social media has impacted the rise of non-consensual pornography, and the social perception of sexualised images of bodies and ask what non-consensual pornography and its impact means for the future of feminism.

I will take an intersectional feminist approach in order to deconstruct, interrupt and rebuild how we understand non-consensual pornography. The project will use a qualitative mixed method approach primarily depending case study analysis and interviews. This mixed method approach will highlight the ongoing continuum of violence and harm through the shaming and sharing of images of the body along with a feminist analysis of non-consensual pornography and its proliferation and effect.

In my initial research I focused on how feminist ideals of empowerment, freedom and choice created tensions with existing societal norms around sexuality, bodies and sex and became embodied in issues like non-consensual pornography. Classic feminist texts highlighted issues such as the sexual double standard and hyper sexuality. The scope of this project will create the space to explore further questions that emerged from this research. Three key areas for further analysis are, emotion and shame, regulation and discipline of the body and lastly ownership of the body.

Firstly, as non-consensual pornography relies on the shaming of its victims through their sexuality and bodies I will draw on literature by Arendt (1958) to analyse shame and show why non-consensual pornography is so effective. I will seek to discover how gender, shame and sex interact with intersections of race, sexuality and body types to generate emotions which make non-consensual pornography so harmful. Secondly, it is essential to analyse factors such as pornography, marketing, beauty and choice. Contemporary sex radicalism has been amalgamated with capitalist principles and sexualised culture is celebrated as a sign of liberation, overshadowing the importance of understanding the regulation of bodies in phenomenon like revenge-porn. Finally, an understanding of ownership of the body and the media reproduction of it in private sexualised images is required. The analysis of this is important in an environment where photographs are so easily taken and uploaded using technology and the internet, providing an environment where bodies are so often shared and shamed.