Other Resources

We’re just the lawyers. If someone has shared an intimate image of you without your consent, there are more than just legal issues at play. We’ve put together a few resources that might be of help. Titles are linked to source documents.

Other Websites

YWCA Canada

YWCA Canada is the country’s oldest and largest women’s multi-service organization. This Guide on Sexual Image-Based Abuse includes links to other helpful resources online.

Draw the Line

‘Draw The Line’ is an interactive campaign that aims to engage Ontarians in a dialogue about sexual violence. The campaign challenges common myths about sexual violence and equips bystanders with information on how to intervene safely and effectively.

The BADASS Army

BADASS (Battling Against Demeaning & Abusive Selfie Sharing) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support to victims of revenge porn/image abuse, and eradicating the practice through education, advocacy, and legislation. 

Ontario Women's Justice Network

The Ontario Women’s Justice Network (OWJN) is a project of METRAC Action on Violence. This link is to their page entitled “Sexting and the Law about Sharing Intimate Images”

Cyber Civil Rights Initiative

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative is a US-based and focussed organization which has as its mission to fight nonconsensual pornography and other online abuse.

withoutmyconsent.org

WMC makes educational materials on these topics available through this website, free of charge. Though the materials provided here are broader in scope, much of our work currently centers on the nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit images.





Support Services

Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres

The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) is a network of sexual assault centres across Ontario. 

Victim Services Toronto

Victim Services Toronto provides immediate crisis response, intervention and prevention services which are responsive to the needs of individuals, families and communities affected by crime and sudden tragedies.

Distress Centres of Greater Toronto

Since 1967, Distress Centres of Greater Toronto has provided 24-hour support, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to individuals in our community at risk and their most vulnerable. We are Canada’s oldest volunteer delivered crisis, emotional support and suicide prevention + intervention + postvention service agency.

Kids Help Phone

Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only 24/7 national service offering professional counselling, information, referrals and volunteer-led text-based support for young people. Kids Help Phone’s free, anonymous services are available in both English and French





Additional Reading

Report of the CCSO Cybercrime Working Group to the Federal/ Provincial/ Territorial Ministers Responsible for Justice and Public Safety. Dating from June 2013.

From the Executive Summary: The Report is divided into two parts: the first part of the report addresses the issue of cyberbullying and includes  information relating to the scope of the problem, the impact of cyberbullying on victims, existing legislative and policy responses and options for Criminal
Code reform to address the issue. The second part of the Report addresses the issue of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images and contains information about the scope of the problem, existing Criminal Code responses and options for a new Criminal Code offence.

(Login required for full text) Academic article by Moira Aikenhead, a PhD candidate at the Peter Allard School of Law at University of British Columbia

Abstract: Bill C-13 introduced new Criminal Code provisions prohibiting the publication of intimate images without the consent of the person depicted. Women and girls are overwhelmingly the victims of this behaviour, which is premised upon their objectification. This article analyzes this crime as a form of gender-based violence and considers, based on the legislation and the limited case law, whether, and to what extent, judges may ignore the gendered context of the crime or blame women for their own victimization. The over-emphasis on victims’ privacy expectations in the legislative provisions has resulted in judges conceiving of this crime in early cases primarily as a violation of privacy rather than as a crime of sexualized gender-based violence. Judges in future cases must not lose sight of the gendered nature of this crime and its harms and should adopt a dignity-based approach to privacy to ensure women do not easily lose the ability to control the dissemination of their intimate images.