Refuge responds to Revenge Porn Helpline recording record number of calls

Lisa King, director of communications and external affairs at Refuge said:

“These statistics are as concerning as they are horrifying – but sadly reiterates what Refuge knows only too well –  that sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images or videos is a huge issue impacting women and girls across the country.”

“Our The Naked Threat report showed that one in seven young women have been threatened with sharing an intimate image or film. At the moment threatening to share intimate images is not yet a crime and means millions of women  have been controlled and coerced by their abusers and are made to live with the fear that this might happen to them.  Until this threat is made a crime perpetrators of this form of abuse  will remain at large and women stand little to no chance of accessing support from the police.  This must change.”

“Refuge, through its The Naked Threat campaign, is calling for the Government, through the upcoming Domestic Abuse Bill, to make this legal change a reality – and in so doing give abused women and girls the protection they so desperately need and deserve.”

For further information, please contact press@refuge.org.uk.