London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Concern group says women face common threat of nude photos taken without their consent

Majority of respondents to questionnaire say they had no idea they were being photographed or filmed. Victim have little success in seeing their perpetrators prosecuted due to lack of laws

An overwhelming majority of people responding to a questionnaire about image-based sexual violence said they had been photographed or videotaped nude or in a sexually revealing way without their consent, a concern group said on Saturday.

Some 73 per cent of participants reported being victims of such abuse, while more than half said the perpetrator was someone they knew, according to the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, which released its findings a day ahead of International Women’s Day. Winning justice through the courts was difficult due to a lack of specific laws allowing for prosecution, the group said.

Between last May and January, the concern group received 206 responses to a multiple-choice questionnaire posted online that listed different types of image-based abuse, with 90 per cent of the participants being female. Respondents ranged in age from 11 to 54.

Some 73 per cent of respondents said they had been photographed or taped nude or in a sexually revealing way, including falling victim to upskirting while in a public space or being recorded during a sex act.

The group reported that 54 per cent said the perpetrators had been partners, with some using the compromising images to control or coerce the victims. Some 37 per cent of respondents said they had been violated by strangers.

“Image-based sexual violence is becoming more and more serious,” said Linda Wong Sau-yung, executive director of the association. “Of the sexual violence cases we received at [rape-crisis centre] RainLily in 2019, every one in seven cases was related to image-based sexual violence.”

Other forms of the abuse included distributing intimate images without the subject’s consent and creating fake pornography depicting the victim.

The association also carried out in-depth interviews with 11 victims. One interviewee, identified only as “F”, said her life was all but destroyed after she learned a recording had been made of her in a sex act. The perpetrator used the clip to extort her and is believed to have shared it with others.

“I would definitely not agree to have my sexual activities recorded, let alone being shared,” the victim was heard saying in an audio clip played at the press conference. “It was like being raped in public ... The panic and damage I experience are endless.”

Through tears, the woman described suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of committing suicide.

She had repeatedly checked online forums or pornography websites to see whether the clip had been posted but had not found it.

“The pressure and torment I have undergone are not things ordinary people can understand.”

The association said 60 per cent of victims avoided seeking help or sharing their experience with others mainly because they were afraid of making the situation worse or feared they would be blamed.

Of the respondents, 51 said they had gone to the police for help, but 35 were told a case could not be opened, mainly due to insufficient evidence or because no specific crime had been committed. Only four saw the perpetrator successfully prosecuted.

The association said it hoped the government and the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission could launch a review of how overseas jurisdictions combated the problem and introduce penalties targeting image-based sexual violence.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×