Psychologists identify myths that predict the willingness to share someone else’s sexual images without their consent

New research has found that certain attitudes, personality traits, and demographic characteristics are related to the willingness to share someone else’s nude or sexual image without their consent. The findings, which have been published in the Journal of Sexual Aggression, indicate that myths related to blaming the victim or minimizing the consequences of such actions play a key role.

Sexting is a common practice. As many as half of young adults exchange sexual materials using smartphones and other devices. But sexting has a dark side as well. Namely, the non-consensual creation and distribution of images and videos, such as so-called “revenge porn.” The authors of the new study were interested in learning more about the tendency to engage in non-consensual image dissemination and the attitudes surrounding it.

“In 2014, the iCloud accounts of dozens of (mostly women) celebrities were hacked and their nude images were posted all over the internet without their consent,” explained study author Vasileia Karasavva, a graduate student and member of the Peer Relationships in Childhood Lab at the University of British Columbia.

“I remember distinctively at the time, that whenever someone spoke up online about how the images were shared without consent and how the incident was a massive breach of privacy, they would be shot down with protests that 1) if these women never wanted their nude images to be widely shared with everyone in the world, then they shouldn’t have taken them in the first place, and 2) all the targets were rich, famous women, who had posed for sexy photoshoots before, so who really cares?”

“This sort of victim blaming and minimizing of someone else’s pain struck a chord with me,” Karasavva said. “It also worried me that people seemed to think that giving consent to one person to view your nude or sexual image while sexting, was the same as consenting to your image to be shared online for everyone to see. So, I was really interested in digging into the nitty gritty of all the myths about image-based sexual abuse people buy into and how they inform the way they view non-consensual intimate image dissemination.”

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In the study, 816 undergraduate students completed a measure of sexual image-based abuse myth acceptance, which was based on the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale. The questionnaire asks the extent to which you agree or disagree with statements such as “Women should be flattered if a partner or ex-partner shows nude pics of her to some close friends,” “Women tend to exaggerate how much it affects them if a nude or sexual image of them gets out online,” and “A woman who sends a nude or sexual image to her partner, should not be surprised if the image ends up online.”

The participants also completed an assessment of their willingness to share intimate images of another person without their consent, and they were asked to report how excited, amused, angry, and regretful they would feel after disseminating such images. In addition, the participants completed a measure of Machiavellian, narcissistic, psychopathic, and sadistic personality traits.

About half of the sample (51.8%) indicated that they “definitely would not” be willing to share someone’s intimate photos without consent. But only 28.6% said they would not be at least a little excited or amused when sharing someone’s intimate photos without consent.

The researchers found that all four dark personality traits were associated with greater acceptance of sexual image-based abuse myths and all the traits except for Machiavellianism were associated with greater enjoyment of non-consensual image sharing. Being a man and being heterosexual were also associated with greater acceptance of sexual image-based abuse myths.

Importantly, Karasavva and her colleagues found those who endorsed more myths tended to be more willing to share someone’s intimate photos without consent.

“In our work, we found that accepting myths that either minimized or excused the harm that non-consensual intimate image dissemination can have or placed the blame on the victim predicted not being opposed to sharing someone else’s nude or sexual image without their consent,” Karasavva told PsyPost.

“These results aren’t necessarily all that surprising. It’s all that common to see victims of non-consensual intimate image dissemination to be met with such attitudes. I would implore people who see someone else victim blame or downplay someone else’s experience to speak up in defense of the victim and correct the acceptance of such harmful myths.”

Sexting and related behaviors are relatively new phenomena and there is still much to learn about them, the researchers noted.

“This is an emerging topic in the literature so there’s still a ton to do, both from research and a policy perspective,” Karasavva said. “From what we know about face-to-face sexual violence, the people victims and survivors often turn to can also hold harmful victim-blaming or minimizing false beliefs that make the reporting process very daunting and often-retraumatizing.”

“I think it is important to test if the authority figures a victim of non-consensual intimate image dissemination would turn to (i.e., police officers, therapists, campus resources) also hold similar views and to examine ways we can educate them on the topic so they can better support victims.”

“A small reminder: If you’re someone who has experienced someone sharing your nude or sexual image without your consent, I’m sorry this happened to you,” Karasavva added. “It was not your fault. It doesn’t matter if you were the one who initially shared that image. It’s the fault of the person who broke your trust.”

The study, “From myth to reality: sexual image abuse myth acceptance, the Dark Tetrad, and non-consensual intimate image dissemination proclivity“, was authored by Vasileia Karasavva,Jessie Swanek, Audrey Smodis, and Adelle Forth.