If i Go There Will Be Trouble, If i Stay There Will Be Double: Revenge Porn, Domestic Violence, and Family Offenses

• Date: 01 October 2019
• Published date: 01 October 2019
• Author: Sarah Beechay
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12447

STUDENT NOTES

IF I GO THERE WILL BE TROUBLE, IF I STAY THERE WILL BE

DOUBLE: REVENGE PORN, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, AND FAMILY

OFFENSES

Sarah Beechay

New York State’s current lack of legislation criminalizing the threat of revenge porn allows repetitive, invasive, and

embarrassing attacks on the morality and sexuality of victims. This can have a severe impact on survivors of domestic vio-

lence who are prevented from leaving dangerous situations bythreats of dissemination. Victims of revenge porn and domestic

violence often face isolation, threats of violence, and thoughts of suicide. This Note proposes that threats of revenge porn

become family offenses under the New York Family Court Act § 812.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Revenge porn is a gendered phenomenon which disproportionately effects women, with one study finding that

women were 1.5 times more likely than men to be victims, while men were twice as likelyto be per petrators.

Revenge porn is a key aspect of modern domestic violence and an effective strategy for manipulating victims into

staying with their abusers.

Revenge porn has a significant mental health impact on victims, with 51% contemplating suicide, 42% seeking out

professional psychological services, and 93% experiencing significant emotional distress.

More than half of self-reported perpetrators of revenge porn would not have shared the images if they knewthat they

could be imprisoned or be required to register as a sex offender as a result of their behavior.

Keywords: Domestic Violence; Family Offenses; Intimate Partner Violence; NewYork State; Nonconsensual Image

Dissemination; Nonconsensual Pornography; Proposed Legislation; Revenge Porn; and Sexual Harassment.

Nadia Hussain’s family slept with the house phone off the hook.

1

The alternative was nonstop

ringing, all night.

2

During the day, Nadia tried to ignore the intimidating and threatening text mes-

sages that her ex-boyfriend, Akhil Patel, sent her 20–30 times a day.

3

The relentless messages con-

tinued long after her relationship with Patel had ended in late 2010, as he continuously

demonstrated that he was willing to do anything to hurt her.

4

Nadia’s mother, Sakina, feared for

Nadia’s life “all the time”because she was unsure of just how far Patel was willing to take his

revenge.

5

Patel had made it clear that his anger knew no boundaries.

6

He repeatedly posted sexual

videos of Nadia on YouTube and pornography websites when she refused to respond to his mes-

sages.

7

Eventually, he sent those same videos to her grandparents and employer.

8

Patel’s desperate

attempts to harm Nadia only ended when she took legal action against him.

9

In court, Nadia’s testi-

mony revealed that she was living under extreme fear and anxiety, that she was concerned that

nobody would ever hire her again, and that she worried about whether new romantic par tners were

motivated solely by knowledge of the videos.

10

The terrifying reality of nonconsensual image sharing, and more specifically, revenge porn, is

that more often than not, it is committed by someone the victim knew, trusted, or loved.

11

After an

individual has been betrayed by a person close to him or her, he or she begins to feel increasingly

isolated due to the possibility of being ostracized by friends and family.

12

The phenomenon is more

Corresponding: sbeechay1@pride.hofstra.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 57 No. 4, October 2019 539–553

© 2019 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts