About one in 25 Americans are either threatened with, or are victims of, image-based sexual assault (IBSA), which some people call “revenge porn.”
Chances are, you know someone who has been blindsided into this nightmarish reality.
Imagine my horror.
I was 23 years old, a recently abandoned single mom with three jobs and no child support. I was barely surviving when I was sexually exploited by a self-proclaimed “professional life-ruiner” named Hunter Moore, on IsAnyoneUp.com, a site solely created to harass, mock, bully, and shame nonconsensual victims and encourage them to commit suicide.
I tell my story in the 2022 Netflix documentary, The Most Hated Man on the Internet.
Like the others, I was helpless to escape the crushing tidal wave of shame and depression that sucked me under.
I narrowly survived but, tragically, some did not. Now I’ve spent the last decade fighting trauma that I’ll forever be saddled with. But I’m powering my purpose and initiative from that pain to advocate, support victims, and fight for legislation.
Our current system is broken.
Since the Netflix documentary aired, victims of IBSA have reached out to me on every platform seeking advice. So what exactly is the current course of action for victims today?
Some 48 out of 50 states have outlawed image-based sexual assault but there is currently no federal law in place. There is also no government agency that provides victim outreach. There are organizations that dedicate themselves to legislation reform and victim support.
Unfortunately, they are severely underfunded and overwhelmed with massive caseloads. If a victim was underage at the time of exploitation, it’s a completely different course of action. If there is stalking involved, there are other crimes to navigate.
The current answer that’s being promoted from all supportive institutions, including the leading social media platform, Meta, is to contact the police.
Victims are taking to social media to describe their encounters with making police reports and how ineffective this method is. One victim testified that the police asked her to go ask a judge what to do and the judge sent her back to the police.
Nowhere Else to Turn?
At this point, there is seemingly nowhere else to turn, unless a victim is financially secure enough to hire an attorney. The mountain each victim must climb emotionally and legally to find peace is so overwhelming, it’s no wonder that many give up and consider a much darker escape. My father was a prosecuting attorney when it happened to me. I was too ashamed to even ask him for help.
What’s the solution?
Number one: Funding. The United Kingdom has robust federal laws, funding and outreach. We need that in the USA. We need to invest in the organizations that are fighting for that.
Second: Prevention. Tech giants like Meta have a no shortage of funding and technology to build preventative and detection software. My dad always said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
And right now, every tech company that provides an opportunity for technology-facilitated sexual abuse to occur on their platform must be held accountable for their responsibility to ensure a safe experience for their users including: robust preventative safety measures, strict bans policies, and an avenue of support for those victimized on their platforms.
Third: Advocacy.
Grab the megaphone and continue the dialogue about this snowballing issue in today’s digital world.
The language we needed to understand how mental health factors into crime wasn’t household knowledge a decade ago. In this digital age, communication is lightning fast and we are speeding into an era of self and societal awareness.
IBSA is a symptom of the greater problem so educate yourself about the mental health aspects of IBSA that lend to the reason it exists: misogyny, purity culture, shame as a manipulation tactic, and toxic masculinity.
IBSA is just another outlet that perpetuates the cycle of trauma and abuse. Every day that we read the news of another hate crime, school shooting, gang violence, domestic violence, child abuse, and other unthinkables, we are staring in the face of a society that’s suffering a massive mental health crisis, exacerbated by technology.
How many abusive and violent situations result from mental health crises? All of them.
Imagine a society with therapy and mental health education for all. Now imagine how many of those abusive and violent situations that we could prevent. To get there, we have to replace systematic destructive and abusive control tactics with constructive and strategic solutions to problem-solving.
My initiative, Victor by Danielle Green, is a streetwear and activewear collection with empowering messaging that provides victims with resources and allows me to keep advocating. 10 percent of the profit is donated to organizations that provide victim support and fight for legislation against IBSA.
Victor by Danielle Green has been featured in Rolling Stone, Yahoo News, Psychology in Seattle and The Tamron Hall Talk Show.
Please join me in this campaign.
Danielle Green is an award-winning creator in the fashion, beauty, lifestyle and wedding industries. She is a branding consultant with a niche in art direction under her own agency and a master photographer and owner of L A Y E R S, a U.S.-based adventure photography company.