Dealing with the criminal justice system as a victim of sexual assault can be frustrating and even traumatizing. You don’t need to go through it alone.
Working on the frontlines has informed us on how women are impacted by pornography. Our collective member Sophia Hladik shares Vancouver Rape Relief's demands with regards to MindGeek, and revenge porn, before her interview with Meghan Donevan from the Sweden based organization Talita, who supports women exiting the porn industry.
In recent years we have talked to a growing number of women who have been blackmailed and threatened by their former male partners that they will distribute intimate photographs and videos unless she agrees to have sex with him again or resume their relationship. Women in our transition house tell us that the abusive husbands whom they are fleeing have profited off pornographic videos of them for years and continue to do so.
Even with a feminist advocate on her side, the vast majority of women will be failed by the criminal justice system. In 2019, although sexual assaults reported to police rose from 4,419 in 2018 to 5,553 in 2019 (a 25.7% increase), charges laid actually decreased in that same period from 1,786 to 1,768.
To uphold the principles of transparency and accountability we must have all judgements in sexual assault trials transcribed and posted online so that judges’ decisions in sexual assault cases will be available for public scrutiny
Many of the Asian women who call us don’t speak English. They did not find out about us through an internet search or seeing an interview with us in the media. Somehow, they got our phone number from someone who knew that we could help them. Regardless of the reason they call us, Asian women often tell us that they’re constantly propositioned to have sex for money by men that they know, as well as men who are strangers to them.
