At Chayn, we consider image-based abuse to include any and all abuse that uses images or videos, whether these visuals are of us or of others. So besides the abuse of our personal images, we may be forced to consume explicit visuals too, which is also abuse. This can happen to any of us.
With each type of abuse, we’ll give examples to acknowledge how this might happen in different parts of the world. For many of us, we may not be aware of the terms used for such abuse, but we have experienced it. The examples help validate our experiences and allow us to seek out more resources for this type of abuse.
Because of these examples, the content can be triggering and difficult to consume so take care as you read this. There is a mention of so-called honour killing as well. Feel free to step away, take a break, and use our grounding exercises, as and when needed.
We also recognise that the abuse you have experienced might be ongoing, which will also make reading this difficult. Feel free to only read about the type of image-based abuse that you feel might be most relevant for you. Press the toggle buttons to read a description and example.
The abuser may share our images or deepfakes on different platforms such as subscription sites, porn sites, or social media. They may send these to our family or community too. This may be done to earn money, bolster their own reputation, or for any of the reasons explored below. They could also take the abuse offline and could share our printed pictures by post or bulletin boards. Or threaten us through phone calls or in person. Or even send our photos to a magazine without our consent. Such abuse used to be very common previously and can still be practised wherever access to the internet is low.