Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

Concern group says women face common threat of nude photos taken without their consent

Majority of respondents to questionnaire say they had no idea they were being photographed or filmed. Victim have little success in seeing their perpetrators prosecuted due to lack of laws

An overwhelming majority of people responding to a questionnaire about image-based sexual violence said they had been photographed or videotaped nude or in a sexually revealing way without their consent, a concern group said on Saturday.

Some 73 per cent of participants reported being victims of such abuse, while more than half said the perpetrator was someone they knew, according to the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, which released its findings a day ahead of International Women’s Day. Winning justice through the courts was difficult due to a lack of specific laws allowing for prosecution, the group said.

Between last May and January, the concern group received 206 responses to a multiple-choice questionnaire posted online that listed different types of image-based abuse, with 90 per cent of the participants being female. Respondents ranged in age from 11 to 54.

Some 73 per cent of respondents said they had been photographed or taped nude or in a sexually revealing way, including falling victim to upskirting while in a public space or being recorded during a sex act.

The group reported that 54 per cent said the perpetrators had been partners, with some using the compromising images to control or coerce the victims. Some 37 per cent of respondents said they had been violated by strangers.

“Image-based sexual violence is becoming more and more serious,” said Linda Wong Sau-yung, executive director of the association. “Of the sexual violence cases we received at [rape-crisis centre] RainLily in 2019, every one in seven cases was related to image-based sexual violence.”

Other forms of the abuse included distributing intimate images without the subject’s consent and creating fake pornography depicting the victim.

The association also carried out in-depth interviews with 11 victims. One interviewee, identified only as “F”, said her life was all but destroyed after she learned a recording had been made of her in a sex act. The perpetrator used the clip to extort her and is believed to have shared it with others.

“I would definitely not agree to have my sexual activities recorded, let alone being shared,” the victim was heard saying in an audio clip played at the press conference. “It was like being raped in public ... The panic and damage I experience are endless.”

Through tears, the woman described suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of committing suicide.

She had repeatedly checked online forums or pornography websites to see whether the clip had been posted but had not found it.

“The pressure and torment I have undergone are not things ordinary people can understand.”

The association said 60 per cent of victims avoided seeking help or sharing their experience with others mainly because they were afraid of making the situation worse or feared they would be blamed.

Of the respondents, 51 said they had gone to the police for help, but 35 were told a case could not be opened, mainly due to insufficient evidence or because no specific crime had been committed. Only four saw the perpetrator successfully prosecuted.

The association said it hoped the government and the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission could launch a review of how overseas jurisdictions combated the problem and introduce penalties targeting image-based sexual violence.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×