Abstract
Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA), including the non-consensual creation and distribution of generative or synthetic intimate imagery, represents a significant and growing form of gender-based violence with profound implications for victims, predominantly women and girls. This dissertation synthesises existing literature to examine the gendered impacts of IBSA and explores how victims navigate reporting and removal systems. The synthesis draws upon peer-reviewed research from multiple jurisdictions, revealing that IBSA operates as a mechanism of coercive control embedded within broader patterns of gendered sexual violence. Findings demonstrate that women experience disproportionately severe psychological, social, and existential harms, including anxiety, depression, social isolation, and suicidal ideation, often compounded by victim-blaming attitudes rooted in sexual double standards. Analysis of reporting pathways reveals significant barriers, including anticipated stigmatisation, institutional minimisation, and complex platform processes that frequently result in secondary victimisation. The Australian eSafety scheme demonstrates promise as a state-backed intervention, achieving approximately ninety per cent removal success rates. The dissertation concludes that effective responses require gender-aware legal frameworks, simplified reporting mechanisms, proactive platform accountability, and victim-centred support services that prioritise survivor autonomy and dignity.
Introduction
The proliferation of digital technologies has fundamentally transformed human communication, intimacy, and social interaction. Whilst these developments have enabled unprecedented connectivity and expression, they have simultaneously created new vectors for harm, exploitation, and abuse. Among the most concerning manifestations of technology-facilitated harm is image-based sexual abuse, a phenomenon that encompasses the non-consensual creation, distribution, or threatened distribution of intimate or sexual images. This category of abuse has expanded dramatically with advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, which now enable the creation of realistic synthetic intimate imagery—commonly termed deepfakes—without the subject’s knowledge or consent.
IBSA is not merely a technological problem; it is fundamentally a social and gendered phenomenon that reflects and reinforces existing power structures and patterns of sexual violence (McGlynn and Rackley, 2017). Research consistently demonstrates that women and girls bear the overwhelming burden of this form of abuse, experiencing more severe and lasting harms than male victims at comparable rates of victimisation (Powell et al., 2022). The gendered nature of IBSA situates it within a continuum of violence against women that includes domestic abuse, sexual harassment, stalking, and rape, sharing common features of coercive control, objectification, and the assertion of patriarchal power (Henry, Gavey and Johnson, 2022).
The emergence of generative image abuse adds new dimensions of complexity to this phenomenon. Unlike traditional IBSA involving authentic images, synthetic imagery can be created without any prior consensual or non-consensual capture of intimate content. This development means that any individual whose likeness appears publicly—through social media photographs, professional profiles, or media coverage—potentially becomes vulnerable to having their image manipulated into pornographic content. The implications for women’s participation in public life, professional advancement, and digital engagement are profound and deeply troubling.
Understanding how victims navigate the systems designed to address IBSA is equally critical. Reporting and removal mechanisms exist across multiple domains, including criminal justice systems, civil remedies, platform-based reporting processes, and specialised regulatory bodies. However, evidence suggests that these systems frequently fail victims, imposing additional burdens of proof, emotional labour, and potential re-traumatisation whilst delivering uncertain outcomes (Huber, 2022). The discrepancy between the severity of harm experienced and the adequacy of institutional responses represents a significant justice gap that demands scholarly attention and practical intervention.
This dissertation matters academically because it contributes to the growing interdisciplinary literature on technology-facilitated abuse, feminist legal scholarship, and victimology. Socially, it addresses a phenomenon affecting millions of individuals worldwide, with documented cases spanning diverse cultural, economic, and legal contexts. Practically, the analysis of reporting and removal systems offers insights that may inform improved policy responses, platform governance, and victim support services.
Aim and objectives
The primary aim of this dissertation is to critically examine the gendered impacts of image-based sexual abuse, including generative image abuse, and to analyse how victims navigate reporting and removal systems.
To achieve this aim, the following objectives guide the investigation:
1. To synthesise existing research on the prevalence, nature, and targeting patterns of IBSA, with particular attention to gendered dimensions and the role of synthetic imagery.
2. To examine the psychological, social, and existential harms experienced by victims of IBSA, identifying how these harms manifest differently across gender, age, and cultural contexts.
3. To analyse the influence of gendered attitudes and victim-blaming on both the experience of IBSA and victims’ decisions regarding disclosure and reporting.
4. To evaluate the barriers victims encounter when accessing reporting and removal systems across institutional, platform-based, and regulatory domains.
5. To assess existing and proposed interventions for addressing IBSA, identifying features of effective victim-centred approaches and areas requiring further development.
Methodology
This dissertation employs a literature synthesis methodology, drawing together existing empirical research, theoretical analyses, and policy evaluations to construct a comprehensive understanding of the gendered impacts of IBSA and victims’ experiences with reporting and removal systems. Literature synthesis represents an appropriate methodological approach when seeking to consolidate knowledge across a rapidly developing field, identify patterns and gaps in existing research, and generate insights that transcend individual studies (Snyder, 2019).
The synthesis draws primarily upon peer-reviewed journal articles, scholarly monographs, and reports from governmental and intergovernmental bodies. Sources were selected based on relevance to the research aim, methodological rigour, and contribution to understanding gendered dimensions of IBSA. Priority was given to empirical studies employing qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches, supplemented by theoretical and conceptual analyses that situate IBSA within broader frameworks of gender-based violence.
The geographic scope encompasses research from multiple jurisdictions, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Nigeria, and multinational comparative studies. This international perspective enables identification of both common patterns and context-specific variations in the experience and governance of IBSA. Temporal boundaries prioritise research published from 2017 onwards, reflecting the period during which IBSA emerged as a distinct area of scholarly inquiry and during which generative image technologies became widely accessible.
The analytical approach involves thematic organisation of findings, grouping literature according to key dimensions including targeting and perpetration patterns, psychological and social harms, gendered attitudes and blame attribution, reporting behaviour and barriers, and institutional and platform responses. Critical analysis attends to methodological limitations, conceptual tensions, and areas of scholarly consensus or disagreement.
This methodology acknowledges certain limitations. As a literature synthesis, the dissertation does not generate new primary data and remains dependent upon the scope and quality of existing research. The rapid evolution of generative image technologies means that some findings may require updating as new studies emerge. Additionally, publication bias may mean that certain populations, contexts, or outcomes are underrepresented in the available literature.
Literature review
Conceptualising image-based sexual abuse as gendered violence
The conceptualisation of image-based sexual abuse has evolved significantly over the past decade. Early terminology including ‘revenge pornography’ has been increasingly rejected by scholars and advocates as misleading and victim-blaming, implying that victims have acted in ways warranting retaliation and obscuring the diverse motivations of perpetrators (McGlynn and Rackley, 2017). The term ‘image-based sexual abuse’ better captures the abusive nature of the conduct and its connection to other forms of sexual violence.
IBSA encompasses multiple forms of conduct, including the non-consensual taking of sexual images, the non-consensual sharing or threatened sharing of such images, and the non-consensual creation of sexual images through digital manipulation or generative technologies. This latter category has expanded dramatically with the development of machine learning applications capable of producing realistic synthetic imagery. These technologies enable perpetrators to create sexually explicit content depicting individuals who have never consented to or participated in such imagery (Hall, Hearn and Lewis, 2023).
Feminist scholars have consistently situated IBSA within a continuum of gender-based violence and coercive control. Henry, Gavey and Johnson (2022) demonstrate that intimate images are frequently weaponised within abusive relationships as mechanisms of entrapment, intimidation, and ongoing control. The threat of image distribution may be used to prevent victims from leaving relationships, reporting other forms of abuse, or asserting autonomy in various life domains. This analysis positions IBSA not as an isolated digital phenomenon but as an extension of patriarchal violence into technological spaces.
The perpetration of IBSA is overwhelmingly gendered, with men comprising the majority of offenders and women comprising the majority of victims. Henry and Beard (2024) conducted a scoping review of IBSA perpetration research, confirming that perpetration is predominantly male and directed against female victims. Motivations for perpetration include sexual gratification, relationship coercion, punishment for perceived transgressions, financial gain through sextortion, and entertainment or social status among peer groups. The gendered pattern of perpetration reflects broader social structures in which men’s sexual access to women’s bodies is normalised and women’s sexual autonomy is contested.
Prevalence and targeting patterns
Establishing accurate prevalence rates for IBSA presents methodological challenges, including variations in definitions, sampling approaches, and respondent willingness to disclose victimisation. Nevertheless, available research indicates that IBSA is widespread across jurisdictions and age groups. Umbach, Henry and Beard (2025) conducted a ten-country study finding that 22.6 per cent of adults reported experiencing some form of IBSA victimisation. This finding suggests that IBSA is not a rare occurrence affecting isolated individuals but rather a common form of harm with population-level significance.
Targeting patterns demonstrate clear gendered dimensions. Whilst men may experience IBSA at rates approaching those of women in some surveys, the nature, context, and consequences of victimisation differ substantially by gender. Women are more likely to experience IBSA within contexts of intimate partner violence and coercive control, whilst men’s experiences more often involve distribution among peer networks or in contexts of homophobic targeting (Powell et al., 2022). Young people, and particularly adolescent girls, represent a population at elevated risk, with research documenting significant victimisation among school-age populations (Mandau, 2020).
LGBTQ+ individuals and sexual and gender minority youth experience heightened vulnerability to IBSA, facing both the direct harms of image abuse and the compounding effects of homophobia, transphobia, and potential forced disclosure of sexual or gender identity. Colburn et al. (2025) found that childhood IBSA victimisation among young adults, including sexual and gender minority participants, was associated with lasting life impacts extending into adulthood. The intersection of IBSA with existing marginalisation creates multiplicative rather than merely additive harms.
The emergence of generative image abuse has expanded the population of potential victims beyond those who have ever created or shared intimate images. Any individual whose face appears in photographs accessible online may become the subject of non-consensually generated sexual imagery. This technological shift has particular implications for women in public-facing roles, including politicians, journalists, academics, and entertainers, who face weaponisation of their professional visibility for sexual harassment and intimidation.
Psychological and social harms
Research consistently documents severe and lasting psychological harms associated with IBSA victimisation. Women report experiencing intense fear, anxiety, shame, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms following the non-consensual distribution of their images. In qualitative research, many victims describe the harm as comparable to rape or sexual assault, emphasising the violation of bodily autonomy and sexual integrity that transcends physical contact (McGlynn et al., 2020). This comparison is not metaphorical but reflects genuine phenomenological similarity in the experience of sexual violation.
Mandau (2020) explored IBSA victimisation among adolescent Danish girls, finding pervasive self-blame and internalisation of responsibility despite the non-consensual nature of image distribution. Girls described feelings of shame, contamination, and damaged identity that persisted long after the immediate incident. The developmental context of adolescence, during which identity formation and peer relationships assume particular significance, amplifies the potential for lasting harm. These findings are echoed in research with adult women, suggesting continuity in the psychological mechanisms of harm across age groups.
Social harms extend beyond individual psychological distress to encompass relational rupture, isolation, and constrained participation in public life. McGlynn et al. (2020) identify social rupture as a key dimension of IBSA harm, involving damage to relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and broader communities. Victims may withdraw from social media, change educational or employment settings, relocate geographically, or restrict their public presence to manage the ongoing threat of image circulation.
Huber (2022) emphasises the existential dimensions of IBSA harm, describing victims’ experiences of identity disruption and loss of control over self-presentation. In digital societies where online presence constitutes a significant component of social existence, the non-consensual circulation of intimate images represents a fundamental violation of identity and autonomy. Victims describe feeling that a distorted version of themselves exists independently of their control, circulating indefinitely across digital networks.
Cultural context significantly shapes the manifestation and severity of IBSA harms. Aborisade (2021) examined IBSA victimisation in Nigeria, a culturally conservative context in which female sexuality is heavily regulated and stigmatised. Victims in this setting experienced extreme social condemnation, family rejection, forced marriage, and institutional re-victimisation by authorities ostensibly responsible for assistance. These findings demonstrate that whilst IBSA harms are universally gendered, their specific expression is mediated by local norms, values, and institutional arrangements.
Gendered attitudes and victim-blaming
The attribution of blame in IBSA cases follows patterns consistent with broader rape myth acceptance and sexual double standards. Research consistently finds that female victims face greater blame than male victims for equivalent conduct, and that victims who initially created or shared images consensually face greater blame than those whose images were taken without consent (Zvi, 2021). These patterns reflect persistent cultural assumptions that women bear responsibility for managing male sexuality and that female sexual expression carries inherent risk warranting moral sanction.
Adair and Senn (2025) examined the relationships between rape myth acceptance, situational factors, and gender in perceptions of IBSA victims and perpetrators. Their findings confirm that individuals with higher rape myth acceptance attributed greater blame to victims and minimised perpetrator culpability. Gender moderated these relationships, with female victims evaluated more harshly than male victims across conditions. These attitudinal patterns have direct consequences for victims’ willingness to report and seek assistance.
Flynn et al. (2022) explored victim-blaming in IBSA contexts, identifying links to broader patterns of sexual violence minimisation. Participants in their research expressed views that victims should have anticipated the possibility of image distribution, should not have created intimate images, or bore responsibility for trusting untrustworthy partners. Such attitudes effectively relocate responsibility from perpetrators to victims and from societal structures to individual choices, obscuring the abusive dynamics underlying IBSA.
The anticipation of victim-blaming significantly deters reporting and disclosure. Mandau (2020) found that adolescent victims of IBSA remained silent due to fear of parental disapproval, school sanctions, and peer judgment. Adult victims similarly report concern that disclosure will result in blame, stigmatisation, or professional consequences. The chilling effect of anticipated blame extends beyond individual cases to shape broader patterns of silence that enable perpetrator impunity.
Reporting behaviour and barriers
Research on IBSA reporting reveals significant gaps between victimisation prevalence and formal reporting rates. Umbach, Henry and Beard (2025) found that among individuals experiencing IBSA across ten countries, approximately thirty-nine per cent reported to a platform or authority, fourteen per cent disclosed informally only, and thirty-one per cent told no one. These figures indicate that the majority of IBSA incidents remain unreported through formal channels, limiting the potential for perpetrator accountability and victim support.
Women report more serious harms from IBSA than men but paradoxically continue to under-report relative to the severity of their experiences. Powell et al. (2022) identified this pattern in multi-country research, attributing it to gendered barriers including anticipated stigmatisation, self-blame, and lack of confidence in institutional responses. The under-reporting of serious harms by female victims represents a significant failure of existing support systems and contributes to the invisibility of IBSA as a social problem.
Barriers to reporting operate at multiple levels. At the individual level, shame, self-blame, and fear of consequences deter disclosure. At the interpersonal level, concern about relationship damage, family reactions, and community standing creates additional obstacles. At the institutional level, anticipated and experienced victim-blaming, minimisation, and mishandling by authorities compound the difficulty of seeking assistance (Aborisade, 2021). These barriers interact synergistically, creating cumulative obstacles that particularly affect those with fewer resources and less social power.
Institutional responses frequently produce secondary victimisation rather than support and redress. DeKeseredy (2021) notes that police, schools, and workplaces often dismiss IBSA as trivial, fail to understand its severity, or respond in ways that exacerbate victim distress. Victims report being questioned about their sexual behaviour, advised to simply avoid technology, or told that nothing can be done. Such responses compound the original harm and reinforce the message that IBSA is not taken seriously as a form of abuse.
Navigating platform and regulatory systems
The reporting and removal of non-consensual intimate imagery involves navigating complex systems spanning platform policies, criminal law, civil remedies, and specialised regulatory mechanisms. Victims describe these processes as opaque, burdensome, and emotionally costly, requiring repeated proof of abuse across multiple institutional contexts (Huber, 2022). The fragmentation of response systems places substantial labour on victims at precisely the moment when they are least equipped to manage additional demands.
Platform-based reporting processes present particular challenges. Eaton et al. (2024) document victim-survivors’ experiences with platform reporting, finding widespread frustration with unclear procedures, slow response times, inconsistent application of policies, and inadequate communication about outcomes. Victims must often locate and report content multiple times across multiple platforms, only to face re-upload by perpetrators or third parties. The emotional toll of repeatedly encountering one’s own abusive images during the reporting process compounds the original harm.
Victim-survivors have articulated clear priorities for improving responses to IBSA, encompassing legal, corporate, educational, technological, and cultural approaches. Eaton et al. (2024) synthesised these proposals, identifying calls for clearer reporting portals with simplified procedures, faster and more proactive content removal, improved moderation of both authentic and synthetic non-consensual sexual content, and stronger corporate accountability for platform governance failures. Victims emphasise the need for systems that reduce rather than increase their burden and that prioritise their safety and dignity.
Australia’s eSafety scheme represents a notable example of state-backed intervention in IBSA reporting and removal. Burton et al. (2025) evaluated this regulatory mechanism, finding that it achieved successful removal in approximately ninety per cent of actioned cases. The scheme provides a centralised reporting pathway that can compel platform compliance, reducing the burden on individual victims. However, reports to the scheme have surged dramatically, particularly regarding sexual extortion, indicating both increased awareness and potentially increased prevalence of IBSA. Women more frequently seek removal of larger volumes of images, consistent with patterns of gender-based targeting.
The emergence of generative IBSA creates additional complications for reporting and removal systems. Synthetic images may be more difficult to identify as non-consensual, particularly if they do not depict recognisable individuals or if platforms lack verification mechanisms. The potential for mass generation of content overwhelms response systems designed for individual case processing. Additionally, the legal status of synthetic imagery remains uncertain in many jurisdictions, creating gaps in regulatory coverage.
Discussion
The synthesised literature reveals image-based sexual abuse as a phenomenon fundamentally structured by gender, operating within and reinforcing existing patterns of violence against women and girls. This discussion examines how the research findings address each stated objective, critically analyses their implications, and identifies areas requiring further attention.
Regarding the first objective concerning prevalence and targeting patterns, the evidence clearly demonstrates that IBSA is both widespread and gendered. The finding that over one-fifth of adults across ten countries have experienced IBSA indicates a problem of considerable social magnitude, whilst the consistent pattern of male perpetration against female victims situates IBSA within established frameworks of gender-based violence. The conceptualisation of IBSA as part of a continuum of coercive control, rather than as an isolated technological phenomenon, represents a significant theoretical contribution that connects this emerging form of abuse to longstanding feminist analyses of patriarchal power.
The emergence of generative image abuse complicates existing understandings of IBSA in important ways. Traditional IBSA involves the distribution of images that were, at some point, authentically captured—whether consensually or not. Synthetic IBSA removes this requirement entirely, enabling the creation of abuse material from any available likeness. This technological development expands vulnerability to all individuals with public-facing imagery whilst simultaneously challenging legal and policy frameworks designed around concepts of authentic images and original consent. The implications for women’s participation in professional, political, and public life are particularly concerning, as the threat of synthetic image abuse may operate as a form of pre-emptive silencing.
The second objective concerning harms is addressed comprehensively by research documenting severe psychological, social, and existential impacts. The comparison of IBSA harm to rape and sexual assault by victims themselves carries significant weight, challenging tendencies to minimise technology-facilitated abuse as somehow less serious than physical violations. The documentation of social rupture, constrained liberty, and withdrawal from public spaces reveals IBSA as a mechanism of control that extends beyond individual psychological harm to restrict women’s freedom and citizenship.
Cultural context emerges as a critical mediating factor in harm manifestation. Whilst IBSA harms are universally gendered, their specific expression varies substantially across settings with different norms regarding female sexuality, family honour, and institutional responses. Research from conservative contexts demonstrates how IBSA can trigger extreme social sanctions including family rejection, forced marriage, and institutional re-victimisation. These findings caution against universalising interventions developed in liberal Western contexts and highlight the need for culturally responsive approaches.
The third objective concerning gendered attitudes and victim-blaming is substantiated by consistent research findings linking IBSA blame attribution to rape myth acceptance and sexual double standards. The pattern whereby female victims face greater blame than male victims for equivalent experiences reveals the persistent operation of misogynistic norms even in ostensibly progressive societies. The anticipation of blame emerges as a significant barrier to disclosure and reporting, creating a vicious cycle in which silence enables perpetrator impunity whilst victims bear the costs of abuse in isolation.
The relationship between victim-blaming attitudes and reporting behaviour has important implications for intervention design. Efforts to encourage reporting must address anticipated as well as actual blame, recognising that victims’ decisions are shaped by reasonable assessments of likely responses. This requires not merely improving formal procedures but transforming the cultural attitudes that inform both victim expectations and institutional responses.
The fourth objective regarding reporting barriers and system navigation is addressed by research revealing significant gaps between victimisation and formal reporting, multiple overlapping barriers, and frequent secondary victimisation. The finding that a substantial proportion of victims tell no one about their experiences represents a profound failure of existing support systems. Barriers operate at individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels, creating cumulative obstacles particularly burdensome for those with fewer resources.
Platform reporting processes emerge as particularly problematic, characterised by opacity, inconsistency, and emotional burden. The requirement for victims to repeatedly locate, view, and report their own abusive images imposes psychological costs that compound original harms. The fragmentation of response systems across platforms, jurisdictions, and institutions further increases victim labour. These system features suggest design priorities that centre institutional convenience over victim wellbeing.
The fifth objective concerning effective interventions is addressed by research identifying features of successful approaches and articulating victim-survivor priorities. The Australian eSafety scheme demonstrates that state-backed reporting and removal mechanisms can achieve high success rates in content removal, suggesting that centralised regulatory approaches offer advantages over relying solely on platform self-governance. However, surging report volumes indicate both increased awareness and potentially increased prevalence, raising questions about the sustainability of response systems.
Victim-survivors consistently prioritise approaches that reduce their burden, accelerate removal, ensure accountability, and treat them with dignity. The articulation of these priorities provides clear guidance for policy and platform development, suggesting that victim-centred design should involve meaningful consultation with those who have experienced abuse. Current systems frequently fail these standards, indicating substantial scope for improvement.
The analysis reveals several areas of tension and uncertainty requiring further attention. The relationship between IBSA-specific interventions and broader gender equality efforts remains underexplored, raising questions about whether targeted responses address symptoms whilst leaving underlying causes intact. The rapid evolution of generative technologies creates ongoing challenges for legal and policy frameworks, suggesting the need for adaptive governance mechanisms. The international dimension of IBSA, involving content hosted across multiple jurisdictions, complicates enforcement and accountability in ways that current responses inadequately address.
Conclusions
This dissertation has examined the gendered impacts of image-based sexual abuse, including generative image abuse, and analysed how victims navigate reporting and removal systems. Through synthesis of existing research, the analysis has demonstrated that IBSA constitutes a significant form of gender-based violence with severe and lasting consequences for victims, predominantly women and girls.
The first objective has been achieved through documentation of IBSA prevalence across multiple countries and populations, establishing that this form of abuse is widespread and follows clear gendered patterns in perpetration and victimisation. The emergence of generative image technologies has expanded the scope of potential victims and created new challenges for existing response frameworks.
The second objective has been met through comprehensive analysis of psychological, social, and existential harms, revealing impacts including fear, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, social rupture, isolation, and constrained liberty. Victims’ comparisons of IBSA harm to rape and sexual assault substantiate the severity of this form of abuse and challenge tendencies toward minimisation.
The third objective has been addressed through examination of how gendered attitudes and victim-blaming shape both the experience of IBSA and victims’ decisions regarding disclosure. Research consistently demonstrates that female victims face greater blame than male victims, reflecting persistent sexual double standards that deter reporting and compound harm.
The fourth objective has been achieved through analysis of barriers to reporting and system navigation, identifying individual, interpersonal, and institutional obstacles that result in significant under-reporting. Platform-based and institutional responses frequently produce secondary victimisation rather than support, indicating substantial failures in existing systems.
The fifth objective has been met through assessment of interventions including the Australian eSafety scheme, which demonstrates that state-backed regulatory approaches can achieve high removal success rates. Victim-survivor priorities for simplified processes, faster removal, stronger accountability, and dignified treatment provide clear guidance for improvement.
The significance of these findings extends across academic, policy, and practice domains. Academically, the dissertation contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship on technology-facilitated abuse, feminist legal studies, and victimology by synthesising existing knowledge and identifying patterns across diverse contexts. For policy, the analysis highlights the inadequacy of current legal frameworks and platform governance arrangements, supporting arguments for enhanced regulation, accountability, and victim-centred design. For practice, the findings inform improved victim support services, reporting mechanisms, and professional training.
Future research should address several identified gaps. Longitudinal studies tracking IBSA impacts over time would strengthen understanding of harm trajectories and recovery processes. Research specifically examining generative image abuse remains limited despite its growing prevalence and distinct characteristics. Comparative analysis of regulatory approaches across jurisdictions would inform evidence-based policy development. Studies centring victim-survivor perspectives in intervention design would ensure that responses address expressed needs rather than institutional assumptions.
The pervasive nature of IBSA, its gendered dimensions, and its connection to broader patterns of violence against women indicate that effective responses require not merely technical or legal adjustments but cultural transformation. Addressing IBSA ultimately requires challenging the misogynistic attitudes that enable perpetration, excuse perpetrators, and blame victims. Such transformation demands sustained effort across educational, cultural, institutional, and technological domains, guided by commitment to gender equality and the safety and dignity of all people in digital and physical spaces alike.
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