Investigation finds victims of revenge porn as young as 11

Children as young as 11 are among over 1,000 alleged victims of revenge porn over the past year, it has emerged.

Children as young as 11 are among over 1,000 alleged victims of revenge porn over the past year, it has emerged.

Revenge pornography refers to distributing sexually explicit images of films of a partner or ex-partner without their consent.

A law making this an offence came into effect in April of last year, after campaigners lobbied MPs.

According to Freedom of Information requests analysed by the BBC, there were 1,160 reported incidents of revenge pornography between April and December 2015.

30% offences involved under 19s

The BBC’s analysis shows that three of the victims were just 11 years old, and around 30% of offences involved young people under the age of 19. The average age of the victim was 25.

61% of reported offences resulted in no action being taken against the perpetrator, with police citing lack of evidence or the victim withdrawing support as the main reasons.

Of the remaining perpetrators, 11% were charged, and the rest given a caution or a community resolution.

Previously, convictions for this offence were sought under existing copyright or harassment laws.

Facebook was the most common medium for the reported offences at 68%, followed by Instagram at 12% and Snapchat at 5%, and a small number of incidents on Twitter and WhatsApp.

'Effect on victims pervasive and long-lasting'

Commenting on the figures, Laura Higgins of the Revenge Porn Helpline, said that being a victim was a "hugely distressing, damaging and violating experience".

"The effect on victims is often pervasive and long-lasting," she went on.

"Whilst they have been the victim of a crime, often individuals internalise feelings of guilt and shame, which can negatively affect an individual's sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

"Victim-blaming attitudes only exacerbate these feelings. Some feel so isolated and overwhelmed they consider suicide."

Ms Higgins also said that she believes the legislation to be flawed as it does not take into account images altered by Photoshop or ensure the victim’s anonymity.

Sexting

The report comes after last month new figures were revealed, showing that over 1000 secondary school children had been involved in ‘sexting’ since 2012.

An investigation from The Times found that 1218 children from 50 secondary schools had been caught in incidents of so-called 'sexting' (sharing sexually explicit videos and images).

"When scaled up nationally, the figures suggest that at least 44,112 secondary school pupils have been caught sexting in the past three years", the paper stated.

The freedom of information requests also revealed more than a third of all 'sexting' cases involve children aged 12 and 13, while more than one in ten pupils have sexted a "non-school adult".

In light of these reports, Chief Executive of Christian Concern Andrea Williams has said that parents need to be more vigilant in protecting their children.

"We are seeing here that children who have not even hit puberty are being sexualised and made extremely vulnerable. We need to be teaching our children to respect their bodies, and not to bow to pressure from their peers to get involved in these kinds of messages," she said.

"We need to teach them that relationships are built on respect, on trust and on dignity, and that God’s design of sexual intimacy only finds safe and fulfilling expression within the context of marriage."

If you would like to find out more about pornography statistics and its effects on individuals, relationships and families, accountability group CovenantEyes has compiled a helpful report.

Help is available for those who are struggling with pornography here.