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"Did They F***ing Consent to That?": Safer Digital Intimacy via Proactive Protection Against Image-Based Sexual Abuse

Lucy Qin, Vaughn Hamilton, Sharon Wang, Yigit Aydinalp, Marin Scarlett, Elissa M. Redmiles

TL;DR

This paper addresses the safety challenges of sharing intimate content in the face of image-based sexual abuse by examining proactive technological protections against nonconsensual distribution. It uses a rigorous qualitative interview study with 52 European adults, including sex workers and recreational sharers, to map contexts, threats, and defensive practices. The authors synthesize findings with prior work to propose concrete platform and research directions aimed at preventing NDII while preserving digital intimacy and autonomy. The work highlights stigma as a central barrier and argues for consent-centered design and broader safety feature adoption to shift responsibility from individuals to technology.

Abstract

As many as 8 in 10 adults share intimate content such as nude or lewd images. Sharing such content has significant benefits for relationship intimacy and body image, and can offer employment. However, stigmatizing attitudes and a lack of technological mitigations put those sharing such content at risk of sexual violence. An estimated 1 in 3 people have been subjected to image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), a spectrum of violence that includes the nonconsensual distribution or threat of distribution of consensually-created intimate content (also called NDII). In this work, we conducted a rigorous empirical interview study of 52 European creators of intimate content to examine the threats they face and how they defend against them, situated in the context of their different use cases for intimate content sharing and their choice of technologies for storing and sharing such content. Synthesizing our results with the limited body of prior work on technological prevention of NDII, we offer concrete next steps for both platforms and security & privacy researchers to work toward safer intimate content sharing through proactive protection. Content Warning: This work discusses sexual violence, specifically, the harms of image-based sexual abuse (particularly in Sections 2 and 6).

"Did They F***ing Consent to That?": Safer Digital Intimacy via Proactive Protection Against Image-Based Sexual Abuse

TL;DR

This paper addresses the safety challenges of sharing intimate content in the face of image-based sexual abuse by examining proactive technological protections against nonconsensual distribution. It uses a rigorous qualitative interview study with 52 European adults, including sex workers and recreational sharers, to map contexts, threats, and defensive practices. The authors synthesize findings with prior work to propose concrete platform and research directions aimed at preventing NDII while preserving digital intimacy and autonomy. The work highlights stigma as a central barrier and argues for consent-centered design and broader safety feature adoption to shift responsibility from individuals to technology.

Abstract

As many as 8 in 10 adults share intimate content such as nude or lewd images. Sharing such content has significant benefits for relationship intimacy and body image, and can offer employment. However, stigmatizing attitudes and a lack of technological mitigations put those sharing such content at risk of sexual violence. An estimated 1 in 3 people have been subjected to image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), a spectrum of violence that includes the nonconsensual distribution or threat of distribution of consensually-created intimate content (also called NDII). In this work, we conducted a rigorous empirical interview study of 52 European creators of intimate content to examine the threats they face and how they defend against them, situated in the context of their different use cases for intimate content sharing and their choice of technologies for storing and sharing such content. Synthesizing our results with the limited body of prior work on technological prevention of NDII, we offer concrete next steps for both platforms and security & privacy researchers to work toward safer intimate content sharing through proactive protection. Content Warning: This work discusses sexual violence, specifically, the harms of image-based sexual abuse (particularly in Sections 2 and 6).
Paper Structure (33 sections, 1 equation, 2 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 33 sections, 1 equation, 2 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Methodology
  4. Demographics
  5. Summary of Findings
  6. Sharing Contexts
  7. Threats
  8. Recipient Resharing
  9. Non-Recipient Threats
  10. Unintentional Discovery
  11. Mechanism of Harm: Stigma
  12. Technologies
  13. Convenience
  14. Security
  15. Interpersonal
  16. ...and 18 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Recruitment graphic for recreational sexters
  • Figure 2: Recruitment graphic for sex workers