Judgement Differences of Types of Image-Based Sexual Harassment and Abuse Conducted by Celebrity Perpetrators and Victims

Abstract

An emerging corpus exists pertaining to societal judgements of image-based sexual harassment and abuse (IBSHA). This type of research centres on the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (NCSII; sometimes called ‘revenge pornography’), but recent legislative developments seeking to convict those who engage in the unsolicited sending of intimate images (USII; sometimes called ‘dick pics’) evoke a need to broaden this literature. Moreover, in the context of recent and highly publicised accounts featuring both celebrity perpetrators and victims of IBSHA, it is important to understand whether celebrity status impacts said judgements. We present three studies outlining judgement differences between vignettes featuring NCSII and USII as a function of perpetrator/victim celebrity status and as predicted by previously implicated personality traits and beliefs. In Studies 1 (N = 261) and 2 (N = 237), though vignettes involving NCSII were perceived more criminal in nature and anticipated to evoke more harm than USII, said victims also received more blame. Contrary to our hypotheses, there was no further impact of celebrity status on either the perpetrator (Study 2) or victim (Study 3; N = 207). Finally, although dark personality traits (associated with callousness and low empathy) predicted variation in judgements of IBSHA across all studies, in Study 2, psychopathic personality traits specifically predicted proclivity to engage in NCSII but not USII. The results are discussed in reference to the importance of IBSHA-related education on an international level and the pursuit of further legislation in this area.

Keywords

• image-based sexual harassment and abuse
• unsolicited sending of intimate images
• non-consensual sharing of intimate images
• victim blame
• psychopathy
• proclivity