“Stripped”: An Analysis of Revenge Porn Victims’ Lives after Victimization by Samantha Bates B.A. (Criminology), St. Thomas University, 2012 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Criminology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Samantha Bates 2015 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2015 Approval Name: Samantha Bates Degree: Master of Arts (Criminology) Title: “Stripped”: An Analysis of Revenge Porn Victims’ Lives after Victimization Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Richard Frank Assistant Professor Dr. Brian Burtch Senior Supervisor Professor Dr. Sheri Fabian Supervisor Senior Lecturer Dr. Ann Travers External Examiner Associate Professor Department of Sociology and Anthropology Date Defended/Approved: August 4th 2015 ii Ethics Statement iii Abstract This study examines the experiences of female revenge porn victims. To date, no other academic studies have exclusively focused on experiences of victimization in revenge porn cases. Researchers have focused on legal and moral aspects of revenge porn rather than on victims’ experiences. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between February 2014 and January 2015 with 18 revenge porn victims to understand how they experienced victimization and its effects on their lives. Inductive analysis revealed six main themes among the interviews: (1) emotional effects of revenge porn, (2) coping mechanisms, (3) relationships, (4) dealing with the law, (5) revenge porn as a gendered crime, and (6) intimate partner violence. The findings underscore the need for new policies and laws that would afford protection to revenge porn victims and the need for in-depth research on revenge porn victimology. Keywords: Revenge porn; feminism; cyberbullying; sexual harassment; sexual assault; qualitative research iv Dedication I dedicate this project to the 18 women who allowed me to interview them about their victimization, and to revenge porn victims everywhere – I hope this thesis will help shed some light on the horrors of revenge porn and what victims truly go through. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisory committee for all of their help, support, and guidance over the past year and a half. I truly feel that I “lucked out” by getting the best supervisory committee in the School of Criminology. I am incredibly grateful that Dr. Brian Burtch, my senior supervisor, chose to accept me as one of his final MA students to supervise before his retirement. Brian especially helped me improve my writing skills throughout my time as his student, which I really appreciate a lot. I’d also like to thank Dr. Sheri Fabian, another member of my supervisory committee, for all of the extra help she gave me with formatting my thesis when I ran into trouble with the thesis template, and for her constant encouragement that my thesis and research were important. I would also like to thank Dr. Ann Travers, my external examiner, for her incisive comments and suggestions that helped make this thesis a more well-rounded project. I’m grateful to the School of Criminology for providing me with TA/TM positions that helped fund my degree, as well as the university for providing me with a Graduate Fellowship during the Spring 2015 semester. Thank you to the End Revenge Porn organization as well – If it were not for Anisha at End Revenge Porn, I would have had a lot of difficulty finding participants for this study. I also need to mention all of the support I received from my friends/family throughout this degree. Particularly, I could not have done this without my best friend Hannah Barrett, who I’ve barely gone one day without speaking to in the past 2 years. Hannah also spent hours helping me interpret the Canadian criminal code and understand the legal system, which really helped me write the sections of my thesis about legal issues. Joanna and the Doak family – thank you for being like a second family to me and always providing support and a place for me to stay. Katherine Cleven – our FaceTime chats always reminded me of home and helped me feel better when I was stressed about school. Finally, I’d like to thank my friends/colleagues at SFU who were supportive of me and my research, and also made our classes fun – Anita Chiang, Shannon Linning, Stephanie Lau, Karen Mjanes, Katherine Brine, Kyle Sutherland, Danielle Lappage, and Stephanie Shea – you guys were a great cohort! J vi Table of Contents Approval ............................................................................................................................. ii Ethics Statement ............................................................................................................... iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv Dedication .......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Glossary ............................................................................................................................. x Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2. Literature Review ...................................................................................... 6 Sexting .............................................................................................................................. 6 Sexting among Teenagers as Child Pornography? ................................................. 6 Sexting Among Adults ............................................................................................ 11 Cyberbullying and other negative outcomes with sexting ...................................... 13 Victim Blaming & Sexism ................................................................................................ 18 Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault ................................................................................ 20 Sexual Victimization & Mental Health ............................................................................. 24 Consent and Breach of Trust .......................................................................................... 26 Revenge Porn & Current Laws ....................................................................................... 31 Chapter 3. Theoretical Orientation .......................................................................... 37 Chapter 4. Methodology ........................................................................................... 51 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 51 Sampling and Recruitment .............................................................................................. 51 Participants and interviews ............................................................................................. 54 Ethical Considerations .................................................................................................... 58 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................. 59 Chapter 5. Findings and Discussion ....................................................................... 61 Emotional Effects of Revenge Porn ................................................................................ 61 “I am much more hesitant to give my trust”: Trust issues after revenge porn ........ 61 “Humiliated, embarrassed, betrayed”: PTSD, Anxiety & Depression ..................... 63 “He still has that power”: Fear for the future .......................................................... 67 “I didn’t have control over who they were distributed to”: Self-Esteem, Confidence, and Loss of Control .............................................................. 68 Coping Mechanisms ....................................................................................................... 70 “I can admit now that I was suicidal”: Negative Coping Mechanisms .................... 70 “I wasn’t alone”: Positive Coping Mechanisms ...................................................... 73 “You want your privacy back”: Security and Privacy .............................................. 77 vii Relationships .................................................................................................................. 79 “You can imagine what this did to them”: Family ................................................... 79 “I come with baggage now”: Dating and Romantic Relationships .......................... 85 “Caught in the crossfire”: Friendships .................................................................... 90 Dealing with the Law ....................................................................................................... 94 “There’s nothing I can do for you, this is your problem”: Issues with the police ........................................................................................................ 94 Legal Issues: Getting Photos Removed