Status: 08/20/2022 4:30 p.m
In Pakistan, too, people flirt and date online. Authorities are registering an increase in revenge porn crimes: Intimate images of women end up online without their consent – with catastrophic consequences for them.
A desperate call to a chaplain: “Ma’am, please help me. My father has forbidden me to leave the house. How can I go to the office now? How can I file a complaint now? My father will pick me up in a moment and wanna take my phone, just take everything.”
The fiasco described by this Pakistani woman began online when her ex-boyfriend posted intimate pictures of her on the internet, presumably to humiliate her. Someone had forwarded the pictures to her father. He then not only wanted to take the daughter’s phone away, but also to forbid her from studying at university.
It is a much-discussed topic in the Pakistani media: Dating via app has long been established in Pakistan. But since young people in this country have increasingly been exchanging intimacies online, another phenomenon has also increased: it is becoming increasingly common for men in particular to disseminate intimate photos of women online without their consent. Revenge Porn is the common term for these attacks.
Consequences from ostracism to death
The motives of the perpetrators are mostly similar, says Hyra Basit from the Pakistani NGO Digital Rights Foundation:
Oftentimes, perpetrators want to pressure the woman to stay in the relationship, forcing her to engage in further sexual activity in a video chat in order to receive money or sometimes even to get information about other women. It is about maintaining power and control over the victim and defaming and publicly humiliating them.
The Digital Rights Foundation provides 24/7 advice to victims of so-called revenge porn. In addition to psychological help, this also includes legal advice. The organization is now closely linked to the online platforms on which the pictures are posted in order to be able to delete unwanted content as quickly as possible.
Because the consequences of this exposure are often catastrophic for the victims in conservative Pakistani society, says Basit: “It can lead to physical and psychological abuse by the family because they blame the victim. Their ‘reputation’, the ‘honor’ family is at stake – and in certain cases the woman may be at risk of honor killing or suicide.”
More women report perpetrators
Since 2016, a specialized department of Pakistan’s federal police has been dealing with reported cases of revenge porn. The authority can show successes. Perpetrators are identified and arrested.
Activist Basit still doesn’t think the police are ideally positioned: “They’re not perfect. They’re understaffed and badly funded. There aren’t nearly as many resources as would be required to deal with the many cases.” In addition, there are always cases in which the activist and those affected would like the authorities to act more sensitively when it comes to the needs of women.
Nevertheless, according to the activists at the Digital Rights Foundation, there are more and more women in Pakistani society who are willing to fight for their rights. And so the increasing number of reported revenge porn offenses is also a sign that more and more women are finding the courage to defend themselves.