The Revenge Porn Wars

"Stuff Mom Never Told You" is a podcast that deals with all kinds of things about being a woman, from breast cancer to body shaming, abortion, women scientists, etc. 

In “The Revenge Porn Wars” episode, hosts Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin discuss thoroughly this somewhat still new kind of abuse. They start off by explaining what revenge porn, or cyber rape, is — the act of nonconsensually sharing sexually explicit images and videos on the Internet. 

Further on, the hosts take the listeners through a short history of revenge porn, from the 1980s when Hustler magazine published an issue where they asked readers to send photos and personal information of women, through the late 2000s when the first websites dedicated to the subject appeared, to nowadays when some authorities are more or less struggling to make the laws so that such breaches of privacy don’t happen anymore. 

We also get to know some of the perpetrators who used revenge porn to harm women. And, most importantly, we get a detailed account of the impact of this abuse on women: they suffer anxiety disorder, paranoia, and other extreme emotional issues, their relationships and job prospects are affected, they get isolated, victim-blamed and slut-shamed. 

Towards the end of the episode, we get advice about how to tackle things if we become victims of revenge porn, and we find out about a few dedicated organizations that we can reach out to.