Responding to revenge porn : challenges to online legal impunity

Revenge pornography is a category of online pornography that includes amateur images or videos that were self-produced or manufactured with the consent of those depicted, but then later distributed without their consent. This is typically done in revenge following the breakdown of a relationship, hence the moniker "revenge porn." There are now a range of dedicated Web sites and blogs that encourage viewers to maliciously upload material of their partners or ex-partners. Uploading and circulating revenge porn is a highly gendered activity that is primarily perpetrated by men and disproportionately impacts women, although men may also be victimized. This also occurs among minors with their peers circulating images. The paradox is that minors who engage in such activity appear to be criminalized in arguably inappropriate ways by child pornography statutes while adult perpetrators have been, at least until recently, almost immune from legal sanction