Untangling Non-Consensual Intimate Image Sharing: Exploring Legal Consciousness Among Danish Youth

• In Event: Cybercrime Working Group - Youth and interpersonal cybercrimes

Abstract

The proliferation of digital technologies has raised significant questions about justice in the digital era, particularly regarding the comprehension and prosecution of digital violations. However, little is known about how young people define and negotiate legal boundaries when it comes to non-consensually sharing intimate images. In Denmark, the concept of digital violence has gained traction in recent years, encompassing digital violations such as sextortion, hurtcore, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Despite legal efforts to address these crimes, a growing number of young people are exposed to and guilty of digital transgressive behaviour. Previous research has primarily examined the practice of non-consensual sharing of intimate images within the context of sexual violation, abuse, and lack of self-control. This leaves little research exploring how contextual factors influence and shape young people’s digital transgressive behaviour, particularly how legal boundaries regarding the non-consensual sharing of intimate images are defined and negotiated in everyday life. Drawing upon Ewick and Silbey’s socio-legal concept of 'legal consciousness', this paper enables an understanding of how the practice of non-consensual sharing of intimate images depends on prevailing norms and common interpretations of the law in everyday life.

Author

• Anne Mosegaard Gravholt, PHD-student