Supporters have been pressing policymakers for years to crack down on revenge porn, warning that it subjects victims — many of whom are women — to harrowing economic and emotional damage
For the second straight lawmaking term, the House unanimously approved legislation aimed at closing a “loophole” that makes Massachusetts one of the only states without a clear, enforceable ban on revenge porn.
Representatives voted 151-0 Wednesday to pass a revised bill that would deem it criminal harassment to share sexually explicit images or videos of someone without their consent, a practice that has become increasingly common in the digital age.
The legislation (H 4241) also crafts a new legal framework for sexting by teenagers and, in a change from the version the House approved two years ago, adds “coercive control” to the definition of abuse in state law.
Supporters have been pressing policymakers for years to crack down on revenge porn, warning that it subjects victims — many of whom are women — to harrowing economic and emotional damage.
Rep. Tram Nguyen supported the inclusion of coercive control in the legal definition of abuse.
“Many of us think of abuse as physical violence, but so many times, it’s so much more insidious than that,” Nguyen said. “The emotional, financial and mental abuse, and so that relates to images or just access to very personal things, and so these pieces come together to effectively make sure that we protect those who have been victimized and hold perpetrators accountable, particularly those who do this willfully in the sense that they are repeat offenders who continuously violate multiple people multiple on multiple occasions.”
She also supported including an educational diversion program for teens.
“We want to educate young people on what does it mean for you to use certain images that your friends, your classmates, and others who are in your circle share with you, and what does that mean for and the harm that can cause to others not only to them, but to yourself as well as someone who has to live with that for the rest of your life,” said Nguyen.
Abington Selectman Alex Hagerty is a survivor of revenge porn who testified in support of the legislation.
“A number of years ago, a partner who I loved and I trusted — as relationships do, they fade, and we broke up. He took something without my permission. I never knew it ever existed, and then posted it without my permission on to a website for for all the world to see to attack me and to try to defame me and really embarrassed me myself,” Hagerty said. “I found out about a month and a half later, as the imagery and videos went online. I found out through a complete and utter stranger and it crumbled me. I went to the Abington Police Department, which we’re not far from, and I shared my story. I filed a police report, and to my horror, finding out that in Massachusetts, it’s legal to do revenge porn to somebody.”
Hagerty explained the trauma that came along with the situation.
“I almost took my own life. If it weren’t for my father, and soon-to-be State Rep. Alyson Sullivan-Almeida, I probably wouldn’t be alive here today,” he said. “And when I saw that Massachusetts is one of two states that doesn’t have revenge porn laws in place. I felt it was my duty to come forward and share my story. Massachusetts needs to be better. By not having revenge porn laws in the books, Massachusetts is protecting the vengeful abuser over the revenge porn victim, and honestly, I couldn’t stand by anymore.”
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He said it’s important that people affected by revenge porn have legal recourse.
“What this does is it gives voices to the victims and survivors that they can seek an avenue to hold their acts or eventual abuser accountable,” said Hagerty. “I was fortunate enough to confront my abuser. But not everybody has the same privilege that I did.”
“It’s a huge thing that survivors have not been able to seek any form of protection in Massachusetts,” said Nithya Badrinath, associate director of policy and advocacy for Jane Doe Inc. “Because currently, we are one of two states without any protection for survivors of image-based sexual assault, or what’s commonly referred to as revenge porn.”
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
Badrinath says it’s important for Massachusetts to address the issue in law.
“Really, at the foundation of it, it is power and control, and exerting power and control, over a victim or survivor with his sharing someone’s images without their consent, taking photos without consent,” she said. “All of that is a form of sexual assault and can cause so much emotional trauma — trauma and damage to a survivor … It’s really important for us when we talk about revenge porn to actually frame it in the way that it is a form of sexual harassment, sexual assault.”
She points out that Jane Doe Inc.’s website offers resources to help, and that survivors can call SafeLink, the state’s domestic violence hotline, at 877-785-2020.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
Senators waited until the final days of the 2021-2022 session to take up the previous House-approved bill, leaving too little time to iron out differences before the term ended.
“For every person that comes forward and tells this story, we know that there are five, 10, 15 people who don’t tell this story, because they know there’s really no remedy available to them. There’s no way to prosecute these types of crimes,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Keenan, who sponsored the bill. “So we’re going to push really hard over the next few weeks to get this to the Senate floor and to the governor’s desk.”