Erotic Extortion: Understanding the Cultural Propagation of Revenge Porn

Stefanie Davis Kempton

doi:10.1177/2158244020931850

Abstract

Revenge porn is a growing problem in current U.S. media culture. According to the Data & Society Institute, one in 10 women under the age of 30 have been victims of or threatened with having their private sexually explicit images shared with the public without their consent. Most of the current research on revenge porn is from a legal perspective, dealing with issues of privacy and copyright. This article uses feminist phenomenology to explore the cultural influences of revenge porn, specifically the prevalence of the male gaze and male voyeurism in mainstream media. Understanding how revenge porn is situated in culture will allow for a better understanding of potential sites of resistance. This article argues for critical pedagogy and media literacy as possible solutions.

Highlights

On July 5, 2017, reality television star Rob Kardashian embarked on a social media tirade against his ex-fiancée Angela White, better known as Blac Chyna
Revenge porn targeting women is a direct result of the normalization of gendered inequalities in society that are continually reified through media techniques like the male gaze and male voyeurism
Revenge porn victimizing women is a major problem in modern U.S media culture

Summary

Introduction

On July 5, 2017, reality television star Rob Kardashian embarked on a social media tirade against his ex-fiancée Angela White, better known as Blac Chyna. Through qualitative interviews with women revenge porn victims, Bates (2017) found that many victims suffered posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.2 It is important, that media scholars try to understand how the current media culture is influencing sexual meaningmaking. Ince (2013) concluded that Varda’s approach embraced the “woman as subject” way of thinking rather than the cinematic standard of “woman as object.” According to Ince (2013), Varda’s decisions about her female characters’ actions, movements, and relationships to space allowed the characters themselves to perform a certain type of feminist phenomenology, asserting the importance of the characters’ lived experiences as women.

Results

Conclusion