Agora: Red Deer Polytechnic Undergraduate Journal
Volume 15:1 2024 Agora Conference Proceedings

Gender-Based Violence: Sextortion the Targeting of Women and
Vulnerable Individuals
Reginald Kaip
There are many topics where one can explore the various ways sexual acts and explicit
imagery are consumed or produced in a violent, coercive, or malicious manner. Some of which are
more prevalent than others in todays modern and globalized society, which is most likely due to
the widely adopted use of technology. Sextortion refers to the threat of nonconsensual distribution
of sexually explicit images to coerce targets into agreeing with other demands (Wolak et al., 2018).
This paper will focus on sextortion, the groups that are targeted by such malicious acts, and the
devastating impacts it can have on survivors of such experiences. Perpetrators of acts such as sextortion often target vulnerable groups of people and can cause great amounts of distress for the
individuals they victimize. For the targets this can lead to feelings of shame, guilt, and in some
cases even result in suicide. Thus, sextortion can be considered a form of sexual based violence
which has greatly damaging impacts on the individuals who are targets and are often vulnerable to
begin with. A review of research will highlight and provide insight into the common targets and
gender of sexual-based violence such as sextortion and the impacts it can have on the well-being
of the targets of such incidents.

Gender and Sexual Based Violence
Gender based violence is a recognized human rights problem by both the United Nations
and Canada. It is known to impact both genders and has been a longstanding issue within Canada
and across the world.
Gender Based Violence
The Canadian government defines gender-based violence as; violence committed against
someone based on the individuals perceived gender, gender expression, or gender identity (Cotter
& Savage, 2019). The Canadian Government distinguishes between five dimensions of genderbased violence and recognizes that gender-based violence can take on may forms. These five dimensions include unwanted sexual behaviour in public, unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace, unwanted sexual behaviour online, sexual assault, and physical assault (Cotter & Savage,
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2019). Some critics argue that such cases of violence are not being perpetuated based on gender
because discrimination against men and boys also occurs. One article points out that other factors
such as age, ethnicity, and sexuality also play an important role and reducing causes for experiencing violence to sex is misleading (Benatar, 2012). According to 2018 Canadian statistics, Genderbased violence disproportionately affects women. 33% of women experienced unwanted sexual
behaviour in public spaces and only 13% of men comparatively experienced such unwanted behaviours (Cotter & Savage, 2019). Another example of how women are more often targets can be
seen in statistics regarding criminal victimization where it has been found that women are nearly
twice as likely to be violently targeted than men (Cotter, 2021). Cotter and Savage (2019) found
age and sexual orientation to be two of the main predictors to experiencing unwanted behaviour in
public for both men and women. They highlight how young women and bisexual women experienced the highest incidences of unwanted behaviour when compared to women overall at 61% and
76% respectively. For men they found that gay men and bisexual men experience unwanted sexual
behaviour at three times the rate heterosexual men do (40% compared to 12%). Thus, critics are
correct when they say that there are other factors at play regarding gender-based violence. However, when looking at statistics that account (and compare) for differences in sexuality, age, and
ethnicity it is evident that women in all categories are disproportionately targeted compared to men
within the same category (age, sexuality, etc.). It is evident that gender-based violence impacts
and is a concern for both genders. However, it occurs much more frequently to women and dimensions of sexual orientation and age also greatly impact the likelihood of being a target thus, making
it gender based. Vulnerable populations such as sexual minorities (LGBTQ2S+) and youth (aged
15-24) tend to be the preferred targets of the various forms of gender-based violence for both
females and males.
Sexual Based Violence
In many developed countries such as Canada women have a basic reproductive and sexual
right to a satisfactory sex life which includes being free of coercion, violence, risk of unwanted
pregnancies, or sexually transmitted infections (Tavara, 2006). However, in recent years there have
been various attempts to reduce the autonomy over women’s reproductive rights such as the right
to have an abortion. Anti-abortion movements have come back into the spotlight in recent years,
largely in North America, and have resulted in restricted access to abortion services in some areas.
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These anti abortion movements and, in some cases, restrictions regarding reproductive rights can
be argued to be a form of sexual-based violence. Sexual-based violence is defined as an extreme
form of gender-based violence and is often accompanied by other forms of violence, infringing on
the basic sexual and reproductive rights of women. Of the forms of sexual violence against women
some of the most severe (and more researched) forms are sexual abuse, rape, trafficking, forced
prostitution, and sex-selective abortions. Perpetrators of such sexual-based violence may be
spouses, friends, family members, neighbours, or men in powerful positions (Tavara, 2006). As
sexual-based violence is seen as an extreme form of gender-based violence it is not surprising that
women, especially young women and those of sexual minorities, are disproportionately impacted
(Cotter & Savage, 2019). Some characteristics that were common among targets of sexual-based
violence include being a female, being young, living alone (or with one parent or with a stepparent), drug/alcohol consumption, history of abuse (sexual, physical, or oppression), and socioeconomic status (Tavara, 2006). The work also notes that data from police and health services tend
show perpetrators as someone unknown to the target. The article then provides conflicting evidence through population-based surveys which indicated perpetrators are more often someone
known to the individual such as a member or friend of the family, or another person known to the
target (Tavara, 2006). One glaring issue echoed through research in this area is that of underreporting.

Underreporting
Sexual based violence has become such a pervasive issue in our modern society that some
have begun to call it a pandemic acknowledging the severe underreporting of such incidents. One
study found that approximately only 6% of sexual assaults and as little as 1% of date rapes get
reported to police and noted how other studies echo very close to the same results (8% of all sexual
assault cases being reported within Canada) (Kelly & Stermac, 2008). The same study also highlighted reasons for such high incidences of underreporting including rape myth acceptance, criminal justice systems response to sexual assault, and community resources and responses to targets.
Rape myth acceptance considers the general cultural and societal views surrounding sexual assault,
specifically the acceptance of false beliefs about rape and targets of rape. Some examples of these
myths include beliefs that only certain kinds of women get raped, that such women put themselves
in dangerous situations, and that men cannot control their sexual urges (Kelly & Stermac, 2008).
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With regards to the criminal justice systems’ response to sexual assault it is acknowledged that
underreporting often occurs due to additional trauma resulting from interaction with law enforcement. These interactions may include screening techniques used by police and discrimination
against specific types of targets. Authorities are less likely to pursue an investigation depending
on the target or targets group membership (prostitution, ethnicity, socioeconomic status) (Kelly &
Stermac, 2008). Kelly and Stermac (2008) outline how people who are targets of rape are often
hesitant to disclose such information in part due to the lack of available community resources and
supports. It was also found that clinical service providers are susceptible to rape myth acceptance
as well and may demonstrate bias in their treatments of rape targets. Finally, and possibly most
concerning is how a qualitative study identified how many targets of rape experienced secondary
targeting at the hands of both medical professionals and police (Kelly & Stermac, 2008). It is
evident that there is an issue in Canadian society regarding gender and sexual-based violence in
which women are disproportionately targeted and harmed. There is a glaring issue with underreporting which indicates that this issue is likely much more prevalent than we are led to believe for
both men and women. With such rampant levels of sexual misconduct and with societal factors
such as acceptance of rape myths intertwining with responses from the justice systems, it is hard
to argue that women are not overly represented as targets of sexual-based violence.

Sextortion
With the growing adoption of technology and internet usage there also comes new concerns
around which society and youth must navigate. One study found that 95% of youth in the United
States have access to a smartphone and access is being acquired at younger ages (Vaterlaus et al.,
2021). With youth gaining increased access to the internet and cell phones at younger ages there
comes with it new and modern issues which require research and examination. Some of these
modern issues are sexting, nonconsensual pornography, revenge porn, and sextortion (Wolak et
al., 2018). Revenge porn includes the malicious nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit
media often with the intent of inducing feelings of pain, shame, or guilt on the target (may include
sextortion). Finally, as defined earlier, sextortion (the combination of the terms sexual and extortion) involves the threat of nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit material with an intent
to coerce the target into agreeing to the perpetrators’ demands. There are three important distinctions between cyber sextortion and similar problems, which are how the target and offender may
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never share physical space, offender possessing images of the target, and the target being forced
into acts (O’Malley & Holt, 2020). According to research done with high school students in the
United States approximately 5% of students reported being a target of sextortion (Patchin & Hinduja, 2018). The article also found that non-heterosexuals were significantly more likely to be a
target and that males were significantly more likely to experience sextortion overall (compared to
females) in the form of both a perpetrator and target. The prevalence of sextortion in youth is
echoed in other research such as the work done by Kopecký (2017) regarding the online sextortion
of Czech children. Within his research Kopecký found that 6-8% of children between 2013 and
2015 reported serious cases of blackmail (sextortion). However, this study provides conflicting
evidence to that of Patchin and Hinduja’s as it found that girls were more often the targets of
sextortion. Regarding the prevalence of sextortion in genders, other studies found that girls and
women were disproportionality targeted, such as the work of Feigenblatt (2020). Some studies
found that some accounts of sextortion suggest cooccurrence with teen dating violence with prevalence rates as high as 21% for girls and 10% for boys (Wolak et al., 2018). According to Statistics
Canada incidents of online sexual offences against children have increased and are on an upward
trend and highlights how 73% of such offences targeted girls aged 12 to 17 (Ibrahim, 2022). It is
evident that youth, females, and sexual minorities are disproportionately represented as targets of
sexploitation. With youth having increased access to internet and media services issues such as
sextortion continue to rise in prevalence as a form of sexual and youth-based violence. Some critics
may argue that the youth are at fault for agreeing to produce or sending explicit media on the
internet in the first place, or that the parents are at fault for not monitoring their children’s internet
usage or educating them on internet safety. Unfortunately, such critiques do not consider other
factors such as socioeconomic status (ability / time to monitor), parental internet fluency levels,
the fact that these are emerging and changing issues, and the level of internet safety related education in public schools. Research suggests that K-12 comprehensive sexuality education has the
potential to prevent emergence of risk factors (such as acceptance of rape myths, victim blaming,
and hostility towards women) associated with sexual-based violence. This further suggests that
ideologies and notions that tend to put the blame on the target are considered risk factors for sexualbased violence and that community level education can be a preventive measure starting with reframing such ways of thinking.

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Perpetrators
Though there is conflicting evidence and agreement on whether perpetrators are known or
unknown to the targets of sextortion, some research gives insight into the common themes regarding perpetrators. O’Malley and Holt (2020) highlight how perpetrators differ regarding target preference, types of demands, possible motivations, and methods employed to commit offences. Four
main themes emerged within their findings including minor-focused offenders, cybercrime offenders, intimacy violent offenders, and transnational offenders. Minor-focused offenders made up
most cases (52%) with an average target age of 14 years (O’Malley & Holt, 2020). Demands
among minor-focused offenders were commonly requesting production of more sexually explicit
media and noted that 88% of perpetrators used some form of grooming to pressure minors. O’Malley and Holt (2020) also noted that the primary motivation appeared to be sexual interest in minors
and the target preference was females (71%).

Impacts
Sextortion is considered an extreme form of cyber abuse. This is highlighted though evidence provided, which can also present the argument sextortion is an also an extreme form of
gender-based violence. Unfortunately, sextortion is a growing concern that has real implications
for the wellbeing of targets and is likely occurring much more frequently than believed due to
issues surrounding underreporting. Minors who are targeted fear both punishment by their parents
and the social consequences such as social ostracization which would follow the release of their
explicit media (Hong et al., 2020). Some common themes of helplessness, fear, shame, humiliation, self-blame, depression and fear were identified in targets (Nilsson et al., 2019). In some of
the most severe cases individuals resorted to suicide as was the case of a 15-year-old girl in Canada
who had been experiencing sextortion since she was 12 (Kopecký, 2017) and a 17-year-old boy
from Scotland (Nilsson et al., 2019).

Conclusion
Rapid advancements in technology have allowed the widespread adoption of internet use
beginning at an earlier age and this has brought forth modernized issues and concerns such as
sextortion. Sextortion, like many other forms of violence, seems to be rooted based on sex and
gender as it disproportionately targets young females and other young sexual minorities who are
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already vulnerable. Within gender and sexual-based violence (including sextortion) there is an issue regarding the vast underreporting of such instances which has been argued to be caused by the
acceptance of rape myths and the resulting responses, resources, and supports that a target may
receive from the criminal justice system, police, and society. The impacts on the targets of sextortion are profound and can include feelings of shame, humiliation, helplessness, anxiety, and depression and in some cases can result in suicide. However, there may be ways to combat and potentially reduce instances of such horrible and damaging acts of gender-based violence such as the
implementation of more comprehensive and modern sexuality education to combat ways of thinking that result in putting blame on the target.

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