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Durham Law expert joins call to change law on image-based abuse

19 June 2024
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Professor Clare McGlynn in Durham Law School is playing a key role in a new national campaign to demand a change in the law surrounding image-based abuse.

Clare, a world-leading legal expert on image-based abuse, has partnered with the End Violence Against Women Coalition and Not Your Porn in the campaign which is headed-up by GLAMOUR Magazine.

They are calling upon the next UK Government to introduce a dedicated image-based abuse law to protect women’s online and offline safety.

Image-based abuse law

As part of the GLAMOUR Talks Consent Campaign they want the new government to introduce an image-based abuse law that includes the following commitments: 

  • Strengthen criminal laws about creating, taking, sharing and threatening to share intimate images without consent (including sexually explicit deepfakes).

  • Improve civil laws for survivors to take action against perpetrators and tech companies.

  • Prevent image-based abuse through comprehensive relationships, sex and health education.

  • Fund specialist services that provide support to victims and survivors of image-based abuse.

  • Create an online abuse commission to hold tech companies accountable for image-based abuse.
Women are being systematically failed by the legal system. The criminal law is full of holes, and women’s experiences are not taken seriously by the police. It is also extremely difficult to get material deleted or taken down from the internet, even after a criminal conviction. For too long, survivors of image-based abuse have been ignored, their experiences trivialised and dismissed. Women’s rights to privacy and free speech are being systematically breached, with society as a whole suffering. Women deserve a holistic, comprehensive response to these devastating and life-shattering harms.
Professor Clare McGlynn
Durham Law School

Influencing changes in UK law

Clare, along with her colleagues, has been carrying out pioneering research in this field for several years, developing the concept of image-based sexual abuse and the legal framework that underpin this new campaign.

Her work has been shaping and influencing laws across the UK and worldwide including changes in UK legislation which will make it easier to prosecute those sharing intimate images without consent, including sexually explicit deepfakes, where AI is used to create pornographic videos without consent.   

In 2020 Clare was appointed an Honorary KC in recognition of her work championing women’s equality in the legal profession and shaping new criminal laws on extreme pornography and image-based sexual abuse. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Lund University, Sweden, in recognition of the international impact of her research on violence against women and girls.

Media Information

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