Darieth Chisolm gave a TED Talk about revenge porn. She shares her first-hand experience and explains how her manipulative and abusive ex-boyfriend in Jamaica created a website with explicit photos of her because she ended the toxic relationship. Before this heinous act, he sent her threatening text messages for months.
It was terrifying to learn that one in twenty-five women have been affected by revenge porn and one in ten for women under thirty. Forty of the dirty states have laws in place to handle this --- issue, but the repercussions can only be a $500 fine. Someone intentionally ruining another person’s life is only punishable with a fine? Women (and men) are losing their jobs, reputations, and relationships, and the perpetrator gets a fine.
As a Criminal Justice major, I know well that the entire system, laws, and penalties included need a major transformation. Technology is constantly changing, and it seems like the laws cannot catch up. Chisolm explains just a small part of the long process she went through to get the website taken down:
“You’re looking at a woman who spent 11 months in court, thirteen trips to the courthouse and thousands of dollars in legal fees, just to get two things: a protection from cyberstalking and cyberabuse, otherwise known as a PFA, and language from a judge that would force a third-party internet company to remove the content. It’s expensive, complicated, and confusing. And worse, legal loopholes and jurisdictional issues drag this out for months, while my private parts were on display for months. How would you feel if your naked body was exposed for the world to see, and you waited helplessly for the content to be removed?”
Her photos were on the internet for months before they were taken down. She had to spend thousands of dollars of her own money in legal fees, go through unnecessary legal loopholes, and other issues to get the website taken down. Luckily, the Jamaican authorities arrested him and he could get up to ten years in prison and a hefty fine.
As a young woman in this society, I am disgusted at how complicated it is for justice to be achieved in these types of situations. At the very least, the photos need to be removed immediately. There shouldn’t be any legal loopholes to jump through, and the process should be a quick one since someone’s reputation is on the line. America needs to take notes from Jamaica and add on some time in prison and increase the fine.
Link: Darieth Chisolm's TED Talk