Campaigners expect to see revenge porn made illegal
Laws to outlaw revenge porn are set to be introduced in Scotland.
The Scottish Government said it would look closely at new laws banning the posting of naked pictures of individuals without their permission.
It comes after the Liberal Democrats added their support to the debate alongside that of the lord advocate, Frank Mulholland.
Women’s groups have been campaigning to create new laws over the past two years as incidents steadily increased.
Revenge porn involves individuals having naked images of themselves posted online, often by a former partner.
Christina McKelvie, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse MSP, has been the prime mover behind the debate in the Scottish Parliament over the last two years.
She said: “As a direct result of my close contact and support of organisations like Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland, I learned just what an extensive problem revenge porn is and I began the work to introduce legislation to ban it.
This is an extremely distressing threat and making it a crime would hopefully act as a strong deterrent - Pamela McElhinney
"The fight to ban Internet publication of intimate images without the consent of those depicted has been on the Scottish Government’s agenda for more than two years.
“Revenge porn wrecks lives and as well as speeches in the chamber, I have written in blogs and on targeted websites in an effort to raise awareness and commitment to change.”
Pamela McElhinney, of Glasgow East Women’s Aid, said it had become a growing problem.
“We are finding more women of all ages, some of school age, disclosing to us that ex-partners are threatening them with the distribution of private images or videos on social network forums.
“This is an extremely distressing threat and making it a crime would hopefully act as a strong deterrent to perpetrators of revenge porn.”
The Scottish Government said it was “exploring seriously the creation of a specific new offence for posting or distributing revenge pornography”.
A spokeswoman added: “We expect to make a formal announcement very soon.”
The proposed law would mirror legislation in England and Wales and passed by the House of Lords this week.
