A new Web site was launched yesterday to provide legal assistance for victims of “revenge porn” — sexually explicit photographs or film clips disseminated online without consent, often with the intention to seek revenge or damage the reputation of the pictured individual.
Members of the Taiwan Women’s Rescue Foundation said that 157 cases of “revenge porn” were reported in Taiwan over the past three years — and 94.9 percent of the victims were women — the youngest being 13 years old.
A majority of the cases involved former partners seeking revenge or reconciliation after a breakup, the group said, adding that some of the perpetrators used explicit images to demand monetary or sexual favors.
The foundation said they launched the Web site to offer counseling services and emotional support to the victims, adding that it was important for the victims to stop blaming themselves for these increasingly common cases of “intimate violence.”
“Even if one gives consent to have their [nude] image taken, it does not automatically give others the right to disseminate the content; any act of recklessly disseminating private images is condemnable as criminal behavior,” foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said.
She said that it was important for the victims to seek assistance and urged members of the public to empathize with them.
Attorney Chou Han-wei (周漢威) said acts of disseminating “revenge porn” violated articles of the Criminal Code relating to the distribution of obscene materials and slander.
The foundation also established a telephone hotline that offers free counseling services for victims.
The issue of “revenge porn” was highlighted in the media following a recent incident in which Internet personality Cheng Chia-chen (鄭佳甄) — known as “Chicken Cutlet Girl” (雞排妹) — posted an image from an anonymous sex tape on Facebook, refuting allegations which implied that she was the woman filmed in the video.
Cheng’s post sparked further controversy when it was revealed that the young woman in the video clip attempted to commit suicide on Monday.
The woman’s family said that the video clip was originally uploaded by her ex-boyfriend as an act of revenge more than three years ago. They said that Cheng’s post — which failed to cover the woman’s face — had brought the family unwanted exposure.
Commenting on the incident, the foundation said that media reports of such cases should refrain from exposing the explicit images again to prevent further harm to the victims.
The telephone hotline is (02) 2555-8595 extension 31 or 32.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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