Image-Based Sexual Abuse Victimization: Causes, Consequences, and Seeking Justice

As technological advances and innovative communication methods are integrated into everyday life, concerns over the misuse and abuse of such technologies has warranted further interrogation. The particular act of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) or nonconsensual pornography, has garnered much media and academic attention. IBSA is understood as the creation, dissemination, and/or threatening to create or disseminate illicit sexual images or videos of someone without their explicit consent. This three-article dissertation employs a three-fold approach in exploring the phenomenon of IBSA. First, it applies a cyber theory of victimization, routine activity theory (RAT), in order to assess the risk of and protective factors from experiencing IBSA. Such an endeavor has not been initiated and the current project will contribute to this body of knowledge within online interpersonal victimization scholarship, as well as criminological theory development. Second, this dissertation aims to better understand the experiences and potential consequences of IBSA victimization. Finally, this dissertation assesses what factors shape the ways in which IBSA victims seek (or do not seek) justice and help after victimization through a qualitative examination of open-ended survey responses. By taking a multiple methods approach in offering both quantitative and qualitative prompts, the current project aims to capture a holistic and comprehensive overview of individual experiences of IBSA. Such an approach takes into account the personal voices of victim-survivors and offers the space wherein these experiences are observed and evaluated.