ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by first problematizing the popular terminology of "revenge pornography," and provides a rationale for why "image-based sexual abuse" is a preferable term to describe these behaviors. It also provides an overview of emerging research into the nature and harms of image-based sexual abuse, as well as a feminist criminological account of the new, yet somewhat familiar, harm. The chapter considers the available empirical research to date, before presenting results from their own Australian national survey on image-based sexual abuse in order to examine the prevalence and nature of the harms. It explores a feminist criminological analysis of the gendered nature of image-based sexual abuse. The chapter shows that, the creation, distribution, or threat of distribution of intimate images without consent should be recognized as a violation and, in many instances, as a form of abuse rather than pornography. Overall, image-based sexual abuse can be understood through a technofeminist criminological account as inherently technosocial practice of gendered violence.
