An influencer who received ‘hundreds’ of unsolicited explicit images without consent over the last decade has backed a campaign to make cyber-flashing illegal.
Jess Davies (a former glamour model), is 27 years old and hails from Aberystwyth in Wales. She said that she feels ‘dirty” when she sees these obscene photos.
Cyber-flashing occurs when someone sends a unwelcome sexual image to their phone by an unknown person via social media messages, SMS or other sharing options.
Although cyber-flashing was declared illegal in Scotland twelve years ago, there is no current law that addresses it in England and Wales.
The feminist podcaster said she has become almost ‘numb’ to the unsolicited explicit photographs she receives every month.
Jess Davies (pictured), 27, from Aberystwyth, Wales, has received ‘hundreds’ of unsolicited explicit images without consent over the last decade
After admitting that she felt ‘dirty” after receiving the obscenities images, she has supported a campaign to ban cyber-flashing.
“I’m probably cyber-flashed every other month. It all depends on what I share.
“This goes on for over ten years. These images have probably been sent to me in the hundreds. Close-ups or images of them doing sex are the kind of things I receive.
Speaking to the BBC, she added: ‘When I receive the images it makes you feel a bit dirty and you start thinking, “why me? They sent the images to me because they thought it was something that I had done.
Jess wrote about the campaign via Instagram and stated that she believes cyber-flashing should not be legal because it seeks’shame on’ individuals.
She stated that if there were thousands of men faking females in public, this would make it illegal. This would also spark an important conversation on safety for women and society’s standards. People laugh at it and try to blame others.
Those who send photos of their genitals or sex acts to others should be investigated. We know from the sad cases of Sarah Everard, Libby Squire that public flashing can lead to greater crimes. Online violence perpetrators should have the same energy.
“We have to stop normalizing this criminal act. And I will continue to advocate for cyber-flashing being made illegal in England & Wales to ensure the safety and well-being of women.
In an Instagram post, she stated her convictions that cyber-flashing is illegal as it seeks to shame and dehumanize individuals.
The report comes at a time when a joint committee made up of MPs is set to publish its draft Online Safety Bill Report on Tuesday. This bill would place a new legal obligation of care on major social media platforms to safeguard UK users against harmful content.
YouGov’s research showed that nearly four out of ten women millennials have received a photograph of their genitals from a man without consent. Bumble’s data suggests that the number may be even greater.
The dating site found that 48% of people aged 18-24 have had an uninvited sexual photo taken in the last 12 months.
Bumble observed that women receive less explicit images than men, and these photos are shared via messaging apps, Bluetooth (AirDrop), WiFi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, WiFi, Bluetooth, AirDrop and other social media platforms.
Bumble started cross-party parliamentary consultations alongside UN Women UK (the United Nations’ equality arm) on November 2.
Similar measures were also passed elsewhere, including in Scotland and the US. Bumble called on England to criminalize cyber-flashing.
In 2009, cyber-flashing in Scotland was made a crime under Section 6 (Sex Offence). A similar bill was passed unanimously by the Texas Senate in May 2019.
House Bill 2789 was passed on September 1st 2019. It stated that sending unconsenting lewd photos could lead to a 500-dollar fine.
An earlier Conservative MP called for cyberflashing being made a crime in order to prohibit Britons from sending X rated snaps to people using AirDrop on their iPhones.
Fay Jones (35) is a 35-year old MP from Breconshire and Radnorshire. She has demanded that ‘digital Flashing’ be considered a crime.
In January, she told MPs that cyber-flashing, where unsolicited and indecent photos are sent to mobile phones via the internet, was a crime.
Victoria Atkins, Home Office minister, responded by saying: “We are currently running a request for evidence on producing new violence against girls and women strategy.” She also said that she was very conscious of the offense and wants to see those 21st-century online crimes dealt with.
Later Liz Twist (Labour MP) said: “Will the minister consider introducing a law requiring public authorities that frontline staff recognize the signs and symptoms of domestic abuse?”
Ms. Atkins said, “I view this as part of our overall efforts in ensuring that people understand domestic abuse and the various forms it takes, as well how everyone can help.”
After an unwelcome graphic image appeared on an iPhone of a London commuter, police investigated cyber-flashing.
Three cases were reported in 2016, and fifteen in 2017.
Victoria Atkins, Minister for Home Office (pictured), said that she hopes the 21st Century online crimes are dealt with.
British Transport Police figures show that 35 more offences were reported in the first six months of 2019, compared to the 34 recorded for 2018.
It is believed that the reported number of cases is much smaller than actual instances. This is partly because cyber-flashing itself isn’t a crime.
Some cases may be subject to current public decency laws or the Malicious Communications Act. However, there are no provisions currently for cyber flashing.
McGlynn is an expert on the law regulation of sexual violence and pornography. He says the Ministry of Justice “so far just keeps refusing to act” despite numerous reports.
She stated that, regardless the “tangible impact” of cyber-flashing it is still a violation of civil liberties.
She stated that the bottom line was she shouldn’t have had to deal this type of thing. AirDrop shouldn’t be made private. We don’t need to chastise ourselves or change the settings.
Cyberflashing violates our right of everyday life. A life that isn’t influenced by the news or worrying about it.
AirDrop works only with iOS devices, such as iPads or iPhones.
The default setting for it is for “contacts only”, which means that only you and your friends can view you.
To share data with others, however users have the option to make changes to their settings to change it to “everyone”.
Anyone can send an image via this setting. It will display the photo on the screen instead of other message apps, such as SMS and WhatsApp.
The user can then choose whether or not to accept the image. However, they have seen the preview.