An Australian-first study into image-base sexual abuse has found nearly one in 10 adults have taken nude photos or recorded footage of others without consent.
RMIT researchers surveyed 4,200 people aged 16 to 49 and found more than 6% of respondents had shared the images or footage and close to 5% had made threats to do so.
Nearly 9% of respondents had captured images or footage without consent. And 1 in 5 survey respondents had been victims.
Image-based sexual abuse is sometimes referred to by the narrower definition of “revenge porn”.
The study, carried out in 2016, found men were significantly more likely than women to admit to the behaviour and offenders were more likely to share photos or videos of people they knew such as a partner, ex-partner, friend or family member.
The report said lesbian, gay and bisexual survey participants were more likely than heterosexual participants to engage in image-based sexual abuse.
Associate professor Nicola Henry said while there had been some focus on e-safety for high school students – sexting or using apps such as Snapchat – there was a need for education programs to target older aged groups.
“I think there has been a tendency to assume digital abuse and harassment only happens in younger cohorts,” Henry told Guardian Australia.
“We think the focus should be on designing respectful relationship education.”
She said the behaviour ranged from upskirting and downblousing to partners seeking revenge post breakup.
“We also know of computer hackers accessing a victim’s webcam and their personal computer files as well as sexual assaults or rapes being filmed,” she said.
Henry said there was a correlation between image-based sexual abuse and domestic violence.
She cited examples of men secretly recording their partners or ex partners in the shower, getting changed or involved in sexual acts.
The research, which will published next month in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, showed that many survey respondents held victim blaming-attitudes towards revenge porn.
