A multi-country study of image-based sexual abuse: extent, relational nature and correlates of victimisation experiences

Abstract

This study examined image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) victimisation in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand ( n = 6,109). Findings showed that 37.7% ( n = 2,306) of respondents had at least one IBSA victimisation experience since 16 years of age. Logistic regression analyses further identified that demographic characteristics (age, sexuality, disability/assistance), attitudes towards IBSA, and experiential variables (online dating and sexual self-image behaviours, IBSA perpetration) were each predictors of IBSA victimisation. Though gender did not predict the overall extent of IBSA victimisation, the relational contexts and impacts of IBSA remained gendered in particular ways. Implications of the study are discussed with respect to conceptualising gendered violence and future research.