Sexual Violence in the Digital Age: Replicating and Augmenting Harm, Victimhood, and Blame

Abstract

This article examines some of the complexities and tensions which lie at the intersection of popular and official constructions of technology-assisted sexual violence (TA-SV). It argues that many of the core contextual understandings of victimhood and harm which underpin the cultural and legal framing of offline forms of sexual violence are not only reproduced but augmented in virtual settings. Drawing on debates from critical victimology, the article argues that TA-SV amplifies traditional understandings of ‘victim’ and ‘offender’ behaviours concerning sexual crime. In so doing, it highlights the particular challenges around: a) the ‘ideal victim’; (b) responsibilisation and blame; and c) victim-offender-bystander continuums which emerge not only within discourses on TA-SV, but also through the use of digital evidence at trial. The article concludes by examining the broader implications for academic discourses on victimhood and the challenges for legal and cultural discourses in responding to sexual violence in the digital age.

Keywords: technology-assisted sexual violence, digital age, victimhood, harm, blame, digital evidence