Foundation Course-
Evaluation Of The Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Current Theories In Explaining Revenge Pornography And The Implications That These Have For Policy And Practice In The UK
In the recent past, there have been numerous cases of revenge pornography. Revenge pornography arises when an individual takes photographs of someone else without consent or knowledge. Then distribute the information either through the social media or any media channel (Cowen p.511, 2015).Revenge pornography takes many forms; for instance, through hidden recordings of sexual activity, taking photos of one when he/she is naked, recording of sexual assaults within the environment of a private or private relationship(DeCew p.33, 2002). The act has made it so easy for people to get away with acts of revenge that have left several individuals falling victims of sexual abuse, physiological problems, neglect from family and friends, and damage to self-image and esteem. The goal of revenge pornography is often to intimidate or humiliate someone. The most affected victims of revenge pornography are often women (Cowen p.513, 2015). The high profile that the community has about one's self-image especially womanhood is critical. The foundations that build our morals and our code of conduct in the community is very important especially to women. The paper shall discuss and critique the strengths and weaknesses of the current revenge pornography theories and explain the implications of these for policy and practice in the United Kingdom.
Strengths And Weaknesses Of Current Theories Explaining Revenge Pornography
Revenge pornography is a social issue and therefore, it has called the attention of sociologists and psychologists to develop theories that are targeted at explaining the concept of revenge pornography and the implication of the action to the individual both socially, physically, spiritually and economically to some extent (Acquisti p.11, 2008). The theories try to explain the perceptions the society and the individuals have concerning the issue. These theories have strengths, for instance, they have strong evidence of the consequences of the act or weakness, for example, they may not have addressed certain issues adequately (Brown p.231, 2012). The theories that explain revenge pornography are within the overall context of the theories that are aimed to help the victim collect damages because of the encounter. These theories include:
Westin's Theory (1967)
Any content that is counseling or revealing is often regarded as private information. However, there should be a notable distinction when describing private information and self-disclosure (Margulis p.10, 2011). Westin proposed that people needed privacy at some point in their lives, whether in, reserve, intimacy, anonymity, or solitude. Westin also postulated the purposes of privacy as confidential autonomy, self-evaluation, emotional release, and restricted and protected communication (Margulis, 2011, pg10). The concept of privacy regards the information regarding oneself, and it may include and not always limited to sharing the burden with a trusted individual, correcting a mistake, or influencing others. Private information is often about an individual or people, and it is the owner of information who chooses what, how, and when to share information. Our bodies are sacred and so as the sexual activity (Trepte and Reinecke p. 6, 2011). Thus, it is against the law of privacy when one takes a photo of someone who is in a birthday suit, or in sexual activity and spread it to other individuals. The rules of privacy often combine information coordination, the disclosure characteristics, and the attributes the boundaries have in nature regarding that type of information.
The theory has notable strengths to it, for instance; it gives one the right to own private information, which can only be, disclosed with his/her consent. That is one of the most powerful concepts of this theory. One has the power to control what to share about his/herself and the individuals to share the information to (DeKeseredy and Corsianos p. 211, 2015). The concept of one's sexuality should be private and it often against the rule of privacy to disclose once sexuality without consent because of the fact that it is sacred and with it comes some of the worst consequences one may never want to go through. The other strength of privacy theory is that it protects one's information from the public eye. Revenge pornography often violates this rule because it exposes some of the most intimate information of an individual to the public (Margulis p. 11, 2011). The courts of criminal laws often charge people guilty of infringing into one's private information without consent. That alone gives an individual security that his/her information is well protected.
The weakness of this theory is tied up to the fact that, one cannot be certain that any information that is stored on the internet is safe or not. People share nude photos with their partners, but the one thing they are not always certain is the integrity of the information their sharing once it is on the internet. There are many cases of hacked information even from the most sophisticated software systems (DeCew p.33, 2002). One is not always certain if the information they are sharing with their partners particularly through Facebook or any other social media is safe. People hack into these accounts and extract personal information from their accounts and distribute them in social media and other media channel that can be accessed to the publicly. Some of these could be nude photos or even a sex video. The partners of that person can also decide to leak the information to the public if they break up or land into a fight with earn other as a way of revenging that individual.
Legal theory: Intentional infliction and emotional stress
The theory of intentional infliction and emotional stress tries to analyze the psychological position of an individual once they have an encounter with revenge pornography. It tries to explain the survival process that an individual goes through to overcome the trauma associated with revenge pornography (Levit and Verchick p.165, 2016). It is apparent that different individual reacts differently to situations, but studies have revealed that victims of revenge pornography often go through almost similar social encounters, and they face almost similar experiences. The theory establishes that once may get suicidal thought after the encounter because they cannot stand their selves when they look at themselves in the mirror (Levit and Verchick p.165, 2016). The person often goes into a phase of rejection, and he/she may develop chronic stress that could lead to depression. Others develop complications such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Others may start abusing drugs or may engage in heavy alcohol consumptions hence wasting off their lives completely in the process (Levit and Verchick p.167 2016). This theory has proven to be true as evidenced by victims of revenge pornography
The strengths of the theory: the theory explains the different life one goes through when they fall victims of revenge pornography, and studies have established that indeed, one goes through drastic life transformations after falling victim of the situation (Levit and Verchick p.167, 2016). People change their social lives, they may be affected academically, and they might adopt a lone life. The theory also explains some of the worst consequences of self-infliction and emotional stress that one goes through after the encounter of revenge pornography (DeCew, 2002). These phases have aided psychological councilors and psychiatrists to develop counseling therapies for the victims so that they can go back to their normal lives. It also assists in the establishment of medical therapies that can be used to treat the victim from the chronic form of stress.
Some of the identified weaknesses of the theory include its failure for the theory to narrow down the scope of their approach to meet the individual needs. It addresses the consequences of revenge porn without factoring in the personal detail of it (DeKeseredy and Corsianos p.230, 2015). The specific therapy sessions it explains may not be appropriate in addressing the needs of a specific patient/victim needs because it is so ambiguous in its approach. The theory is not also friendly to victims that have a history of abuse in the family or society level. They may develop rejection to people, and special therapies might have to be developed for him/her.
Thomson's Reductionism Theory
Judith Jarvis Thomson is one of the famous reductionist viewers of privacy (Margulis p.13, 2011). Thomson noted that that the society perhaps had little agreement on what privacy is, and he even explains some cases that are were speculated to be violations of rights to privacy in his theory. Thomson believed that all cases that were termed as violations can be sufficiently and adequately explained that they could be indeed explained regarding violations of with regards to property or an individual right, for instance, the right not to be listened to (Margulis p13, 2011). She classifies the right to privacy as a cluster of rights that are overlapped and that they can only be explained by the rights to bodily security or property right. She views the privacy right as a derivative and that it does not require one to find out what could be common in that cluster of rights (Margulis p.14, 2011). Judith acknowledges that privacy as a derivative in its importance and justification as well, and therefore its violation should be classified as a violation of once basic right. From this theory, we can draw that Thomson is not justifying that the right of privacy has to be infringed because it lacks the proper explanation (Law.nyu.edu, 2016). In our context, revenge pornography touches on one's privacy, and it is an important element in the analysis of how best can it be classified as a violation of one's basic right to privacy.
The strengths of the theory can be drawn from the number of instances that Thomson tries to put across. She acknowledges that the right to privacy is a basic right and that it need to be fully respected by individuals and parties (Law.nyu.edu, 2016). Though the term right to privacy is a collective term according to her, she regards that privacy is derivative to almost all the rights that one has currently (Law.nyu.edu, 2016). The theory justifies that it is a violation to infringe into one's private information without relevant authority from the parties involved.
The theory, however, has weaknesses, for instance: it treats privacy rights on a less serious point of view compared to the credit it should be given as a derivative of all other rights. Thomson classifies the right to privacy as a cluster right, for instance; she regards it as a collection of rights that could define one's boundaries (Law.nyu.edu, 2016). On the contrary, the right to privacy is a single right with many elements to it. It describes the guidelines when it comes to handling one's private issues.
Privacy Regulation Theory
The regulation privacy theory is an ideology developed by Irwin Altman. In his theory, he attempts to explain why people would sometimes choose solitude and sometimes choose to get involved in a private activity. While the traditional theorists regard privacy as a condition of public withdrawal, Altman considers it a dynamic boundary and a dialectic regulatory process where solitude is not just static but a selective control process that one adopts to access oneself or a social group (Keats Citron and Anne Franks, 2016). Dialectic according to Altman is one's openness or closeness to others. In addition, dynamics refer to the desired intimacy fulfillment one wants to achieve in the process, and is influenced by cultural and environmental interactions and processes (Acquisti p.115, 2008). The goal of privacy regulation is always once attempting to achieve the desired privacy regulation. Applying the case of revenge pornography to the theory, we can draw conclusions that the acts of revenge could be a failure for one to achieve the optimum privacy regulation, because of anger and stress (Margulis p.16, 2011). When one becomes a victim of revenge porn, he/she also loses the sense of privacy, and he/she withdraws from the social life completely.
Strengths of the theory- the theory may have come in handy when we are determining the best way to ensure that there is adequate privacy in the technical social environment that we live in today. The theory, therefore, suggests that considering the dynamic evolvement of technology, there is a wide change in the perceived physical space and virtual space (Keats Citron and Anne Franks, 2016). The theory seeks to remind us that the virtual space of an individual could be very vulnerable to that individual especially if he/she has the influence on that side. For instance, if one has a lot of friend in social media pages such as Twitter or Face book in an attempt to ruin that space can have detrimental consequences to that person (Trepte and Reinecke, par 1., 2011). The weakness of the theory is that is somehow outdated, but few ideas can be borrowed from it when handling real time situation in the society, through the psychological view.
Implication of The Theories To Policymaking And Practice In The United Kingdom
The government of the United Kingdom prohibits revenge pornography, and the individuals who are found are convicted for a serious criminal offense that can make an individual serve a jail term of over fourteen years (Cowen p.509 2015). The other countries that follow the same verdict include Australia, Israel, 20 states of the United States, among other countries that take the issue of revenge pornography very seriously(Steeves and Bailey, n.d.). The stigma and the deterioration of an individual that is accompanied by privacy infringement are enough ours, and the consequences of it can take a lifetime to realize full recovery (Connection.ebscohost.com, 2016). The government of the United Kingdom has prevented that from happening by ensuring that the policies that are made and practice act to protect individual against privacy infringement.
The policies that have governed individual policy in the United Kingdom were developed based the available literature, theory that was developed by scholars in the 20th century. Most of the policies that run the laws that govern the privacy rights of the individual are tied to the ideas that valued human dignity and secrecy (Publications.parliament.uk, 2016). For instance, applying the Law theories on the fact that privacy infringement causes trauma and stress to the individual, the UK laws on privacy, ensure that the value worth of any human being is protected by the law system of the United Kingdom. The law identifies with Westin's theory, which stated that individuals have to need privacy as a mandatory need to realize full dynamic processes (Publications.parliament.uk, 2016). The law of the United Kingdom is very strict with person's privacy needs, and they have made it a mandate to meet those needs.
The regulation privacy theory requires that individuals need their privacy to realize a specific psychological goal in life (DeKeseredy and Corsianos p .231, 2015). The policy of the UK has heavily borrowed on it to ensure that the system security systems are free from hacking and infringement from other bodies that they have agenda with personal information (DeCew, 2002). They have created filtered systems that block potential privacy threat from targeting private information (Keats Citron and Anne Franks, 2016). The laws of the United Kingdom want an individual convicted of infringement tried and charged in the civil, criminal court for infringement charges.
The issue of privacy and the corporate social responsibility is partly discussed by Thomson in her theory that privacy is a basic right but with several clusters and it is, therefore, becoming a challenge to segregate these issues by both the government and the private sector (Publications.parliament.uk, 2016). The cases of revenge pornography may not be having a strong enforcement to prevent it from being fully implemented hence sometimes the cases of revenge pornography go undetected (Brown p. 234, 2012). The policymakers need to find ways to streamline policies to reduce cases of revenge pornography because it is likely that they will increase with improvements in the technology and with increased moral degradations in the society.
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