ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the individual, community, social and structural drivers of image-based sexual abuse. The chapter draws on theories from the disciplines of sociology, criminology, psychology and philosophy to construct an ecological framework of image-based sexual abuse, where gender hierarchy and unequal power relations shape individual behaviours as well as broader social norms and expectations. The authors argue that existing feminist frameworks for understanding gendered violence are crucial, but to understand image-based sexual abuse more fully, broader social trends in digital media must also be examined, including the cultural obsession with visuality and realism, the proliferation of user-generated content and the commodification of both content and users in digital spaces.
