Crowdsourcing Sexual Objectification

Carissima Mathen
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Carissima Mathen: Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa, Fauteux Hall, 57 Louis Pasteur Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada

Laws, 2014, vol. 3, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: This paper analyzes the criminal offence of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images (what some call “revenge porn”). Focussing on the debate currently underway in Canada, it notes that such an offence would fill a grey area in that country’s criminal law. Arguing, more broadly, that the criminal law has an important expressive function, the paper posits that the offence targets the same general type of wrongdoing—sexual objectification—that undergirds sexual assault. While not all objectification merits criminal sanction, the paper explains why the non-consensual distribution of intimate images does and why a specific offence is legitimate.

Keywords: criminal law; revenge porn; sexual assault; criminal wrongdoing; consent; Canada; sexual objectification; distribution of intimate images; cybercrime; online harassment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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