- The Griveaux affair highlighted the phenomenon of porn revenge , already well known to young people. Indeed, according to our #MeYoung 20 Minutes - OpinionWay study, 89% of 18-30 year olds already knew this concept.
- 2% of the young people questioned declare having been directly victims of revenge porn .
- For these same victims, the psychological effects of such exposure can be devastating.
See her most absolute intimacy exposed. On the Internet, on social networks. Even where the right to be forgotten does not exist. When you are a victim of revenge porn - when someone reveals sexual images without the consent of the person concerned - everything collapses. This is precisely what Benjamin Griveaux has just undergone, pushing him, at the end of last week, to renounce his candidacy for the City of Paris.
This phenomenon is not new and has gained momentum with the development of social networks. A practice that young people know well, since 89% of 18-30 year olds had already heard of revenge porn before the blast in the Griveaux affair, according to the results of the study #MoiJeune 20 Minutes –OpinionWay * that we are revealing Friday. And more than one in four young people (26%) say they have already seen photos or videos of this type. Who can be the victim of such an act? How do those who face it directly or indirectly react? Are the reports successful?
Women more affected by "revenge porn"
If Benjamin Griveaux is the last known victim of the general public to undergo the dissemination of pornographic content representing him, he is not the only one. Thus, 2% of the 18-30 year olds questioned indicate that they have already been personally victimized by such an action, and one in ten young people say that they know a victim around them. Still according to our #MoiJeune survey, in reality, victims of porn revenge are most often women, since 13% of them say they are closely affected by this phenomenon (themselves or someone close to them), against 8% of young men.
For women victims, the effects of such exposure can be particularly devastating. This was brought to light by researcher Samantha Bates, who conducted a study at Simon Fraser University in Canada on the psychological effects of revenge porn on women. Analysis of the results of his interviews revealed, among the victims interviewed, the appearance of confidence problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression or even suicidal thoughts. "The victims bear the brunt of the shame caused by the porn revenge , abounds Michael Stora, psychologist and co-author of the book Hyperconnexion (ed. Larousse). The people who will experience the worst of a porn revenge are the people whose image is going to be particularly tarnished, like Benjamin Griveaux, who had to give up his candidacy for the City of Paris. Or, as is most often the case in practice, young women or even adolescent girls with profiles on several social networks, and who will be victims of a malicious boy. Especially since this can open the way to cyberbullying campaigns. ”
With porn revenge , “there is the idea of commando operation, an outrageous operating mode, to harm and show the world the true face of the person who is the subject of it,” analyzes Nicolas Arpagian, cybersecurity expert and author of Cybersecurity (What do I know?).
Reports of "revenge porn" little followed up on
If the phenomenon of porn revenge is so known by young people, it is therefore because many of them would have had it before their eyes. It has been said that more than one in four young people (26%) state that they have already seen revenge porn photos or videos personally concerning people other than him. Unsurprisingly, social networks are the main channel for disseminating this content, the #MeYoung 20 Minutes - OpinionWay study tells us, with Twitter (39%), Snapchat (33%) and Facebook (27%) in mind. But how do you react when you see this pass? In practice, 43% of those who have seen this type of content indicate having reported it. Young women would be better pupils, since 56% of those who have seen a porn revenge say that they launched the alert, twice as much as young men (28%). How to explain it? Perhaps because revenge porn is more practiced by boys, as explained by the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians at a conference on the exposure of young people to pornography in June 2018.
Among the 43% of young people who say they reported a porn revenge , the approach was not followed up in half of the cases (21%). "Social networks have the status of hosting content, they are not publishers, so are not legally responsible for the dissemination of this type of image, decrypts Nicolas Arpagian. The only possible actions are based on a reporting logic, but there is no automation of responsibility. In addition, as the very term revenge porn suggests, there is a notion of dissemination of sexual images, which makes it a material with high viral potential. As soon as it is online, such content escapes all control, captures can be made and this content can resurface at any time and never disappear, he says. The solution, to fight against, is to get the content dereferencing, platform by platform. But it is a process which takes time, and which is not completely effective ”.
* Study #MoiJeune 20 Minutes - OpinionWay, carried out online on February 17, 2020 with a representative sample of 540 young people aged 18 to 30 (according to the quota method) .
If you are between 18 and 30 years old, you can take part in the “#MOIJEUNE” project, a series of surveys launched by 20 Minutes and built with and for young people. All the info to register online here.
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