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Sextortion is a rapidly growing new cyber crime where the perpetrator uses nude photographs of victims to gain even more sexually explicit content from them. Read on.
If you thought extortion had nothing to do with your privacy, then you’re in for a rude shock. Sextortion is a new form of cyber/online harassment that appears to be on the rise.
Operating through the use of nude or racy photographs of a person to demand even racier photographs or videos, Sextortion is fast becoming a dangerous crime that targets adolescent and adult women alike.
In October 2015, in Cincinnati, USA, three men were charged for pressuring several young women into giving them sexually explicit photographs of themselves, threatening them with vengeful consequences if they did not comply. Sextortion becomes all the more possible thanks to the many devices that enable a person to get on the grid with visual imagery.
Sextortion presents a horrible threat that women are forced to guard against: one more to an already terribly long list of crimes that women face on a daily basis. Needless to say, sextortion as a crime has its roots in patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes, in that a woman’s body is objectified and appropriated through blackmail and extortion.
In a profiling of the victims by a recent study by the Brookings institution, most victims happen to be adolescent minors. Of the adult victims, a majority are women. In a profiling of victims of cyber stalking, abuse and harassment by the Pew Center in 2014, it came to light that a majority of those targeted are women who have low self-esteem, teenage girls who are lonely or looking for friends, or even simply trying to fit in.
It is no surprise that the existence of Sextortion throws up manifold consequences. Today, sex-positive feminism and body-positive imagery is growing to be one of the most powerful tools to spread positive messages of empowerment.
On the other hand, the appropriation of the pictures of a person to extort even racier images is a dreadful crime that also has the potential to single-handedly wipe all the marginal gains that have been made vis-à- vis sex-positive feminist activism. That photo manipulation and redesign makes everyone equally vulnerable and it is alarming.
So far as the law goes, in India, Sextortion is not defined as a distinct crime – although the confluence of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and cyber laws may be brought forth to bring a perpetrator to book. Section 383 of the Indian Penal Code defines Extortion as a crime when coercion, blackmail and fraud is used to extort something – which this section confines to valuable property or signed documentation. This could be interpreted creatively to include photographs and imagery – while reading alongside Sections 292 to 294 of the Indian Penal Code that penalise obscenity as a crime.
Section 72 of the Information Technology Act, 2008, addresses cyber stalking and harassment. Sextortion is every bit a nuanced crime in the manner in which it is perpetrated – and the legal approach, until such time the law evolves to specifically define and punish, it will be just as nuanced.
Image Source: Youtube
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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