Is Posting Nude Pics An Act of Violence Against Women?

Sheena Gentle

There has also been much attention drawn to another form of violence against women, that of posting nude pictures on the internet and in social media. By no means is it a new phenomenon, but certainly the act has gained some dubious prominence. According to Gentle, there is need for more awareness and education, but also certainly a need for legislation addressing the practice.

Sheena Gentle, Programme Coordinator, WIN Belize

“Sexual violence is also becoming more rampant in Belize especially with the accessibility to social media. We’ve seen a lot of naked pictures go up; we’ve seen a lot of women being sexualized in a way that is very demeaning to them. Now, we do classify this as gender based violence. And gender based violence includes any violence against someone because of their gender—because you’re a male, because you are a female, because you are a trans[gender]—people are abusing you. But sexual violence on its own is becoming increasingly problematic in Belize.”

Mike Rudon

“Is there anything that the Women’s Issues Network can do to maybe push for legislation because this isn’t just happening today; it’s been happening for years—people put their pictures on Facebook, on the internet? What more can you all do to address it?”

Sheena Gentle

“Well I think one of the things that we can do now is a lot more education—education for the young people—for young girls, for the young men because a lot of the times, the people who are sharing these pictures are the young men who these women, who these young girls, trust with the private pictures. So I think one of the first steps for us to do right now, before we even go in to legislation, is to do a lot of education. Work with the schools and other organizations that deal with young people; that’s one of the ways that we can reach out right now. Now in terms of legislation; that does take a longer time for us to see an effect, but it is definitely something that we can look at.”