South Africa is no stranger to the horrendous acts of Gender Based Violence (GBV).

Cases have been on the increase over the years, with little progress in changing this ‘second pandemic’, as President Cyril Ramaphosa referred to it in 2021.

In 2013, we learnt of the brutal attack, rape, and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen.

Karabo Mokoena went missing in 2017, her body was later found burnt in an open field in Lyndhurst. In 2019, 19 year-year-old university student Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and murdered at a post office in Cape Town.

Later followed by the murder of 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule in 2020, who was eight months pregnant – found stabbed and hanging from a tree outside Johannesburg.

Nompumelelo Tshaka, Nomfazi Gabada, Nwabisa Mgwandela and the 89- year-old grandmother who was killed at an old age home in Queenstown and another raped in KwaSwayimane in KwaZulu-Natal.

These cases are just a few of the hundreds that have been reported by the media over the years. Thousands more are unreported every year.

South Africa holds the shameful eminence of being recognised as one of the most unsafe countries in the world particularly for women, children, and the elderly.

According to Stats SA, the rate of violence against women in South Africa is one of the highest, with one in five women in relationships having experienced physical violence by their partners.

While the second quarter crime statistics for 2023/24 released by Police Minister Bheki Cele demonstrated a bleak picture of 10,516 rapes, 1514 cases of attempted murder as well as 14 401 assaults against women between July and September.

Revenge pornography as a form of Gender Based Violence

In today’s world where technology and social media are part of every aspect of our lives, there is a form of cyberbullying known as revenge pornography. The rapid advance of technology has changed how we perceive relationships, vulnerability, and emotions in more ways than we think.

This includes what is considered private and public. Therefore, the conversion from sharing explicit private images or videos to experiencing revenge pornography is becoming a more frequent phenomenon these days.

It usually begins as a consensual and trust-based disclosure between two people in an intimate relationship. Intimate videos, texts, or images are shared with a trusted person. And then, all too easily, it turns to catastrophe, psychological torture, and blackmail.

The menace of revenge pornography often stems from vindictiveness and malicious behaviour. Such acts have devastating effects on the victims, who are overwhelmingly women, most of whom are tech savvy but vulnerable teens, although all women of all ages, and even some men are vulnerable to this.

The distribution or leaking of sexually explicit images or videos occurs without the consent of the person involved. A practice familiar in relationships by an ex-partner who is seeking revenge, intending to humiliate their victim, to exert control over them, or to coerce them back into the relationship after a separation.

We have seen reports of the media inundated with such acts of abuse, particularly towards women. In 2023, a sexually explicit video involving Member of Parliament, Zanele Sifuba, was leaked and gained traction from various people across the country. While in February, a woman referred to as ‘Spar Lady’ saw her graphic video surfacing on the internet. A private video meant for her partner only.

The public shaming of Gcnile Twala is GBV

Gender Based Violence takes many forms – ranging from verbal, psychological and sexual abuse to physical violence, as well as revenge pornography.

Revenge pornography is a form of Gender Based Violence. It is cyberbullying. And it is a criminal offence.

The recent sex tape of Gcinile Twala and Themba Selahle, popularly known as ‘Grootman’ - who are no longer a couple was allegedly leaked on Monday morning by Grootman.

The viral video between the two has rapidly gained widespread attention, capturing the gaze of countless users across one of the leading social media platforms and becoming a popular topic of public discourse in the country.

As if the trauma, humiliation, and pain are not enough, victims like Gcinile Twala are also victimised, shamed, bullied, blamed and face so much backlash from some members of the public.

Though many other followers and organisations such as Women For Change – a nonprofit organisation that advocates for the constitutional rights of women and children in South Africans have come out strongly and in defence of Twala, asking for her followers to support her and calling for the immediate arrest of her ex-partner for allegedly leaking their sex-tape.

Similar backlash was shown to singer Cassie Ventura who was brutally assaulted by ex- partner Sean “Diddy” Combs.

This came after many attempts by Cassie to call Combs out for rape, sexual trafficking as well as physical and sexual violence.

Why did it take a humiliating video for us to believe Cassie’s claims about Combs and his disturbing and predatory behaviour? Definitionally, this is how patriarchy operates.

How many women suffer in silence?

As I write this, I think about women who do not trend on social media to be supported and hopefully see their perpetrators being prosecuted because of the public outcry.

What about those women and how they deal with the humiliation and blame from society? What about women who have to suffer in silence to preserve their jobs, protect their children, families, reputation, and dignity at all costs?

It is critical for us to view revenge porn as part of a bigger societal issue of GBV, sexism, patriarchy, chauvinism, and objectifying women rather than just a character or personality phenomenon.

Not only is it in our communities, but it is also in our institutions of higher learning and workspaces. It is more than just about revenge on an ex-partner. Such acts of abuse often affect women much more than it does men, although men are also victims of revenge porn.

However, women generally are judged, criticised, and blamed more harshly and more frequently than men. This is reflected on social media, particularly because of behaviour and societal expectations of how women need to portray themselves, particularly in public.

Such acts of abuse towards women prolong the perceived negativity around female sexuality and body image. Furthermore, women face many existing challenges of inequality and imbalance of power across the spectrum.

Such practices continue to make women vulnerable to being targeted, shamed, and abused, just because they are women in a patriarchal world.

What does the law say about revenge pornography as a form of abuse?

Revenge porn infringes on the human right to dignity and privacy. This includes the right to informational privacy, which is one of the values embedded in the Constitution.

The right to human dignity and privacy, entrenched in Sections 10 and 14 of the Constitution recognises that people have the right to have their dignity respected and protected, as well as the right to an environment and autonomy that should be protected from invasion at all costs.

Criminal law in South Africa supports and enables victims of revenge porn to press charges relating to injuria, criminal defamation, or extortion.

One of such Acts includes The Protection of Personal Information Act (Act no 4 of 2013) enables victims a civil claim for damages against a perpetrator. Section 99(1) of POPI allows the victim to claim non-patrimonial damages against the party responsible.

The perpetrator can also be charged with the intentional distribution of private sexual pictures or videos without consent of the victim. If the perpetrator is found guilty and charged of these claims, the maximum sentence can be up to two years or have a fine of up to R150 000. This sentence can be increased to a maximum of four years in prison or face a fine of up to R300 000.

The Protection from Harassment Act, Act no 17 of 2011 also ensures and provides support to the victim to apply for protection order, which goes together with a suspended warrant of arrest in case the perpetrator continues to cyberbully the victim through revenge pornography.

The lasting scar of revenge porn

The effects of revenge porn on the victim are usually long lasting and severe. Such acts of abuse can cause irreparable damage to families, marriages, reputations, and the dignity of the victim.

The impact goes beyond the trauma and shame of having your privacy and most vulnerable moments on public display. Victims are also left scarred facing depression, judgement and alienation from society, suicidal ideation, social anxiety, anger issues, panic attacks and isolation from family and friends.

This act of abuse often affects the reputation of the victim the most, which may inevitably lead to loss of any form of work for the victim.

Revenge porn is a form of abuse. The consequences of such acts of abuse should be taken seriously as well as the need for perpetrators to take full accountability.

South Africa has remained a country with the highest levels of Gender Based Violence. This is a cause for concern. The need to hold perpetrators accountable and face consequences of their actions is critical.

*Naledi Ngqambela is a writer and a researcher.

** The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of IOL or Independent Media.

IOL Opinion

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