{"id":573,"date":"2022-08-19T06:45:25","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T06:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/?p=573"},"modified":"2022-08-19T13:06:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T13:06:37","slug":"what-netflix-documentary-the-most-hated-man-on-the-internet-gets-right-and-wrong-about-revenge-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/index.php\/what-netflix-documentary-the-most-hated-man-on-the-internet-gets-right-and-wrong-about-revenge-porn\/","title":{"rendered":"What Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on the Internet gets right (and wrong) about \u2018revenge porn\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Grant<\/a>, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The most hated man on the internet, according to a new Netflix docuseries, is Hunter Moore. The convicted criminal<\/a> and self-described \u201cprofessional life ruiner\u201d Moore enabled the non-consensual distribution of thousands of private images by founding \u201crevenge porn\u201d website Is Anyone Up?.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The documentary captures what revenge porn is, how it is carried out and how traumatic it can be for victims. The women in the series were not stereotyped as being na\u00efve<\/a> or at fault, as they often are in media coverage. The series showed how the thousands of people who share the image<\/a> play a role in revenge porn, not just the first person to upload them. <\/p>\n

As a former probation officer, I\u2019m interested in how society views sexual crime, and how we treat women<\/a> who are victims. The docuseries could have gone further by talking about brave women as victims of gender-based violence<\/a>, not just \u201crevenge porn\u201d.<\/p>\n

This term overlooks that private images shared without consent are not always actually pornographic<\/a>. It also blames the victim<\/a>, because it suggests they did something to deserve revenge. While I\u2019ve used it above as most readers will be familiar with the term, for the rest of the article I will talk instead about image-based sexual abuse. <\/p>\n

The series doesn\u2019t make especially clear that it is normal to take and send images of yourself as part of sexual self-expression<\/a>, but when someone shares them without consent, it can be a form of domestic abuse<\/a>. The internet is saturated with such images. There are now over 3,000 websites<\/a> dedicated to image-based sexual abuse, and reports to the government\u2019s revenge porn helpline are increasing<\/a> year on year.<\/p>\n

Victims of revenge porn become isolated<\/a> and frightened of what others think of them. Because of this, many experience mental health issues including PTSD and depression<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As the docuseries showed, victims are usually female. Data from early 2022 shows that in the UK, 81%<\/a> were. Their images are generally shared without their permission by men<\/a>, though not usually those who hack into their accounts. Most image-based sexual abuse is perpetrated by ex-partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many people imagine an angry ex-partner commits this crime for retaliation after an unwanted break-up. However, this is not always the case. A 2021 study of over 2,000 British people conducted by the law firm Slater & Gordon found some men wanted to scare their victim<\/a>. Others thought it was \u201ca laugh\u201d, an attitude shared by the perpetrators in the Netflix documentary. <\/p>\n

\n