Child Pornography and Revenge Porn

Introduction

Background/ Context of Reflection

The potential benefits and advancements of digital technology are associated with increased technological pains. The increase in internet use in people’s lives has made addiction specialists and psychotherapists witness an evolvement of new issues, including online sexual conduct like meeting casual sex partners, sexual chat platforms, revenge porn, and excessive use of child and adult pornography. These conducts have developed to the point that researchers have recognized other forms of sex offenders, which involve people spending time online as a substitute for sexual, social, and physical contact. For instance, revenge porn has emerged as an offensive area in which intimate pictures are shared without the consent of the demonstrated person and to cause distress. Leaking of intimate images has been observed to be often performed by ex-partners who intend to revenge following a breakup. It may also occur whereby strangers, relatives, co-workers, and peers circulate images to intentionally cause distress or harm to the victim.

Thesis Statement: The paper explores a reflection analysis on child pornography and revenge porn by addressing the public attitudes and perceptions towards the criminalization of revenge porn. It will also analyze the significance of understanding how gender impacts the perception of revenge porn criminalization and the onset and continuance of online child pornography use among sex offenders.

Body Paragraphs

Theme A: Understanding what are the public attitudes and perceptions toward the criminalization of revenge porn is essential.

• Writer’s Past Position: From my point of view, public perceptions towards criminalization differ based on the context of the issue. Many individuals may perceive revenge porn as a heinous and gross invasion of privacy, which requires it to be criminalized in all states. This involves posting explicit images and nudes on the internet and social media platforms without the victim’s consent to harass or embarrass the victim. Besides, in many cases, the explicit images may be accompanied by crude comments and descriptions of personal information. The involvement of the descriptions, along with the nude images, often results in physical harassment of the victim. As a result, my perception of public attitudes toward criminalizing revenge pornography is that the public supports laws and regulations that control such behaviors. This involves the public attitudes towards implementing criminal codes across the country that must catch up with culture and technology by criminalizing revenge pornography practices of both those who develop the sites and those who post explicit images and videos without the subject’s consent.
• Moment of Learning: However, I have learned that public opinion and attitudes may significantly influence the implementation of new laws criminalizing revenge pornography. According to a study conducted by Lageson et al. (2019), it was observed that there is widespread support for criminalizing revenge porn among women and men. Also, the perceptions of criminalization differ across the forms of non-consensual pornography. According to the authors, public support for the issue of revenge pornography is centered on implementing laws against posting explicit images of a stranger or a spouse. There are few public opinions towards laws protecting the subjects who self-produced explicit pictures. Thus, public opinions are based on the subject’s guilt. Hence, provided with the apparent association between sexting and conducts traditionally related to promiscuity, it is conceivable that people who had intimate images exposed because of being involved in sexting can be viewed as promiscuous (Starr & Lavis, 2018).
• New Position: Having understood different public opinions about criminalizing non-consensual pornography, my new stance on the concern is that many individuals support the criminalization of the conduct. This is because exposing an individual’s explicit photos, especially those captured without their consent, may cause distress and embarrassment to the victim. Therefore, public opinions demonstrate that laws and regulations should be implemented in all states to eliminate the growing issues of non-consensual pornography. However, people who self-produce their explicit photos, thinking they will not leak or be exposed, should be partially accountable for their victimization. Hence, the support for criminalization is lower when the victim has self-produced their images, has a connection with the image disseminator, and can be alleged partially accountable for co-creating the media and their succeeding victimization. This is because people may blame the subjects for their sufferings because of personal factors that contributed to their conduct of self-producing the images (Starr & Lavis, 2018). In this context, people can negatively examine the morals of those who sent the explicit photos, blaming them for their immorality, including why the person took the images in the first place.

Theme B: Understanding how gender impacts the perception of revenge porn criminalization is significant.

• Writer’s Past Position: From my point of view, gender may influence the perception of criminalizing revenge pornography acts. Women are more likely to support the criminalization of revenge pornography than men. Provided that women are seen to be more susceptible to getting involved in sexting, and considering that females are more likely to be affected than males by revenge pornography based on emotional and social consequences. Women are the most vulnerable individuals to revenge porn and have been victims. In a society where females are provided the sole responsibility of maintaining their dignity, and when there are scenarios of revenge porn, the subjects are usually persecuted and blamed. Circulating and spreading nudes without the victim’s consent damages their reputations, humiliates them, violates their trust, destroys their job prospects, and significantly impacts their political and social standing in society and mental health. Therefore, women being the most vulnerable to revenge porn may influence their perception of criminalizing revenge pornography. Women may seek the government to implement laws that protect them from such bullying more than men.
• Moment of Learning: However, I have learned that gender may significantly influence the implementation of new laws criminalizing revenge pornography. According to a study conducted by Lageson et al. (2019), it was observed that there is widespread support for criminalizing revenge porn among women and men. The authors also indicated that there is much support among females about criminalization, but they are less supportive of retributory penalties. In their study, Lageson et al. (2019) reveal that an estimation of about 97% of females supports criminalization compared to 90% of males, which depicts a significant difference in gender influence. According to the authors, there is a gender gap in supporting criminalization that continues in cases of photos circulated by a spouse or partners and when the victim creates photos.
• New/ Current Position: Having learned from the studies demonstrated by scholars about how gender differences impact criminalizing of non-consensual pornography, my current stance on the concern is that women are more supportive of the criminalization of the conduct. Women are more susceptible to revenge porn and thus are more likely to support criminalizing the conduct. This may help to lessen women being targeted for humiliation and embarrassment by their spouses, partners, or ex-partners through the exposure of intimate images on the internet.

Theme C: Understanding the onset and continuance of online child pornography use amongst sex offenders is significant.

• Writer’s Past Position: From my point of view, the onset of online child pornography began with the addiction to adult pornographic films and images on pornographic websites. Many sexual offenders are likely to be addicted to adult pornography before finding interest in child pornography. Also, people may begin to possess materials depicting sexually explicit behaviors involving a child when they find them exciting and pleasurable. Thus, an individual’s perception of child pornography may influence them to participate in illegal acts when looking for their satisfaction because of addiction to pornography which starts with adult pornography. However, the continuation of online child pornography may be influenced by sexual offenders finding it attractive to possess or observe materials such as explicit images of minor victims. It may appear attractive to the offenders because of the inexperience or innocence of the children.
• Moment of Learning: According to Steely et al. (2018), they performed a study to examine the onset and continuation of child pornography. According to the authors, it is evident that Child Pornography Offenders (CPOs) demonstrated numerous reasons for starting online child pornography, which included transforming from grown-ups to child pornography. Some of the respondents to the study said that changing from grown-up to child pornography started by observing adult pornography sites. For instance, Simon, one of the participants in the study and aged 44 years and sentenced for possession of child porn materials, reported that he was addicted to viewing explicit photos of girls between six to thirteen years old. This was after his long-lasting addiction to adult pornography. He later preferred images of young females aged eight to twelve because their innocence attracted him. He also indicated that female children made him thrilled, assertive, and excited. Another participant in the study reported that they did not transition from adult to minor porn but started by looking for child porn on the internet. The individual was curious, had self-esteem issues, or was attracted to minor porn. Steely et al. (2018) also indicate that the continuation of viewing child porn is influenced by the offender’s enjoyment, thrill, risk, and instant satisfaction of accessing child porn. Other respondents indicated that they were attracted to the pictures of child victims since their inexperience and innocence aroused them.
• New/ Current Position: Having learned from the studies demonstrated by Steely et al. (2018), my current position concerning the understanding of the continuation and onset of child porn is because of personal desires. The personal desires include excitement, arousing, and finding it enjoyable to view images of minors for self-satisfaction.

Conclusion

The information is necessary for everyone because it provides an understanding of child pornography and revenge porn by addressing the public attitudes and perceptions towards the criminalization of revenge porn. It also analyzes the significance of understanding how gender impacts the perception of revenge porn criminalization and the onset and continuance of online child pornography use among sex offenders. I may apply this information in the future for reference when engaging in academic or personal research about child pornography and revenge porn in contemporary society.

References

Lageson, S. E., McElrath, S., & Palmer, K. E. (2019). Gendered public support for criminalizing “Revenge Porn.” Feminist criminology, 14(5), 560-583. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1557085118773398

Starr, T. S., & Lavis, T. (2018). Perceptions of revenge pornography and victim blame. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 12(2), 427–438. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tegan-Starr/publication/335976380_Perceptions_of_Revenge_Pornography_and_Victim_Blame/links/5e1ac1e0299bf10bc3a66bbc/Perceptions-of-Revenge-Pornography-and-Victim-Blame.pdf

Steely, M., Ten Bensel, T., Bratton, T., & Lytle, R. (2018). All part of the process? A qualitative examination of change in online child pornography behaviors. Criminal justice studies, 31(3), 279–296. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1478601X.2018.1492389