Welcoming new research for victims of image abuse

We always welcome research here – we know that intimate image abuse is very understudied which can leave a lot of the victims feeling overlook and undervalued. This also means for us as a service, we can sometimes not show how much this horrible crime impacts the victims involved – we have our own report on this soon too. Though we cannot endorse any other research directly; it is always important to keep the wheels of research turning!

At present, there isn’t a lot of work that brings together the “numbers” and the “experience” of people affected by intimate image abuse, sextortion, or upskirting, but Clinical Doctorate candidate Emily Geissler from Coventry University is aiming to do just that. Her research is investigating the impacts of the aforementioned crimes if the incident had occurred less than two years ago (victims now can be living in UK, USA, Australia, Canada and NZ).

We are hoping that research can pave the way for more knowledge about the lived experience from those who have suffered and continue to suffer the impacts of initiate image abuse and that the support given to them can be effective and long-lasting.

We are unable to endorse specific studies but if you would like to find out more about this research, please contact Emily directly at mulholle@uni.coventry.ac.uk