The Crying Shame of Image-based abuse

Content warning: This article discusses sensitive topics, including rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, image-based abuse, and suicide. The content may be distressing for some readers. Please take care and consider your well-being before reading further. If you or someone you know needs support, resources are available to help.

"...Some flee their homes, change their identities, careers and lifestyles. Some consider suicide. The activists in the Hassan district who supported the victim-survivors said they found the phones of the women and their families switched off, their homes locked, and their whereabouts unknown. In 2010, in what came to be publicly known as the Karavali MMS(Multimedia Messaging Service) scandal , a student in Karavali filed a police complaint against her former boyfriend because he posted their intimate images and videos online. A few months later, a prospective employer conducted an antecedent check on her, found the police report, and rescinded the job offer while commenting on her “calibre” and “conduct”. In another incident, a manipulated, nude video of a homemaker in Kerala was posted on a WhatsApp group of the employees of a shop run by her husband. Despite her claim that she was innocent, her husband evicted her from their home, served her a divorce notice, and cut off her access to their children. A forensic investigation later revealed that the video was manipulated. Research conducted by various scholars in the past decade and the work of activists and advocates against gender-based violence show that the harms of IBSA for victim-survivors are constant, profound, often life-long, and affect all aspects of their lives."