My Lords, I support Amendment 135A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson. I also support Amendment 269 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Merron, and Amendment 270 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, and have added my name to both. I wish the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, good health and hope to see her back soon.
I welcome adding coercive control to Schedule 7 to ensure that content amounting to this offence counts as priority illegal content. Coercive control has a very damaging and long-term impact on mental health and, increasingly, abusers are maintaining their power and hold over victims through digital coercive control, which is like having invisible chains that you cannot break free from. This will send a clear message to tech companies that they must better understand and tackle online domestic abuse and will mean that perpetrators will be held accountable for their actions.
I also welcome the effort by the Government to criminalise cyberflashing. No one should be forced to see images of genitals. This is a growing form of sexual harassment of girls and women. Of course, I acknowledge that young boys and men can also be sent unwanted images. However, the majority of the cases involve images of male genitals being sent by men to women and girls. Very worryingly—as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Burt—research by Professor Jessica Ringrose from 2020 found that 76% of girls aged 12 to 18 had been sent unsolicited nude images of boys or men.
While I am pleased that concerns raised by women and women’s groups have been heard by the Government, the wording in the Bill does not go far enough to protect women and girls from this type of sexual harassment. With the present wording, an offence is based on motive rather than consent, as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Burt. I also thank Professor Clare McGlynn, Bumble and many others who have made a strong case for a consent-based cyberflashing offence rather than the motive-based approach proposed by the Government.
I put my name to these amendments because the offence in its current form will not be effective. It relies on the victims of cyberflashing, who will mostly be women and girls, to prove that the motive or intention in sending the image of genitals was deliberately to cause distress or for sexual gratification, so I ask: why should the onus be put on the victim to prove the sender’s intent when it comes to reporting cyberflashing? I would be grateful if the Minister could respond to this question.
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How are women and girls going to prove the motive of the person sending the images, as already mentioned? I would also like the Minister to share his thoughts on that, as it will not be easy. The perpetrator could say “It was a joke” or “I did not do it for sexual gratification”. Then imagine them reporting it to the police, who research already shows do not take offline stalking and harassment seriously. In reality, many women and girls are likely to be turned away by the police because they will say it is hard to prove the motive. Once men realise that they can get away with sending unwanted sexual images, they may then deliberately gaslight women and girls and send further images, safe in the knowledge that they will not have the law used against them.
The current wording in the Bill, which bases the offence on motive and not consent, may well have been adopted because the Law Commission recommended it. However, that does not mean the commission got it right, despite its best intentions. What is even more confusing is that the current approach is out of step with other laws. For example, for intimate image abuse, offences are based on consent, which the Law Commission actually recommended. I am not sure why the Law Commission has not been consistent in its approach, as has been mentioned.
Perhaps it may not have wanted to criminalise young people for misjudged humour. However, I understand that there are CPS guidelines on having the option to be more lenient on younger people when
they commit offences. Perhaps guidelines for this offence can be drawn up where they are given a first warning, which is logged by the police, and arrested only if they commit a second offence. Similar warnings exist for harassment, but that first warning must still be counted, even if the perpetrator moves on to a different victim.
I feel that the current approach in the Bill is sexist because it prioritises the entitlement of men to send images over a woman’s entitlement not to receive those images. The current approach also does not consider the impact on women and girls of receiving such unwanted images. It can cause significant emotional distress, with feelings of violation, it can be traumatic due to past trauma, and it can make them feel very unsafe. The current approach will also contribute to the further normalisation of sexual harassment, and inadvertently help to perpetuate a culture where men will feel entitled to invade the boundaries of women without any consequences.
Research by Bumble has found alarming statistics, including that: 35% of women have received an unsolicited nude image at work; 27% of women have received an unsolicited nude image when on public transport; one in five women have received unsolicited nude images when walking down the street; and almost half of 18 to 24 year-olds have received a sexual image that they did not consent to. Let us make the law clearer and stronger by basing the offence on consent. If anyone has not consented to receiving sexual images then it should be an offence. I therefore urge that Clause 167 is left out and replaced with the new clause as proposed by the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone.