{"id":38723,"date":"2024-03-21T09:45:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/?p=38723"},"modified":"2024-03-21T09:45:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:45:52","slug":"i-nearly-took-my-own-life-mass-poised-to-become-49th-state-to-outlaw-revenge-porn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/i-nearly-took-my-own-life-mass-poised-to-become-49th-state-to-outlaw-revenge-porn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I nearly took my own life.\u2019 Mass. poised to become 49th state to outlaw \u2018revenge porn.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span> Matt Stout<\/span><\/a><\/span> Globe Staff,<\/span>Updated March 20, 2024,\u00a0<\/span>4:46 p.m.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When Katelynn Spencer discovered in 2020 that two videos of her had been uploaded to a pornographic website, they had already been online for a decade. By then, she said, the videos \u2014 both recorded when she was 18, one without her knowledge \u2014 had spread far across the internet. One clip alone had amassed 970,000 views, the Fairhaven resident said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, lawyer after lawyer told her she didn\u2019t have a case despite her having \u201clost everything\u201d because of the videos, Spencer said \u2014 friends, family, her marriage. Unlike in\u00a048 other states<\/a>, Massachusetts doesn\u2019t outlaw people from sharing sexually explicit images or videos online without another person\u2019s consent.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBecause there is no law,\u201d Spencer, 33, said, \u201cno one wants to help you in this state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After years of inaction and disagreement, Massachusetts lawmakers finally appear poised to change that. The state Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a bill criminalizing \u201crevenge porn\u201d that hews closely to a proposal that unanimously cleared the House. Both bills would also extend the criminal ban to sharing so-called\u00a0deep-fake pornography<\/a>\u00a0using computer-generated images.<\/span><\/p>\n

With more than three months until lawmakers wrap up formal sessions, legislators, survivors, and advocates say they\u2019re hopeful \u2014 some for the first time \u2014 that after floating around Beacon Hill for years, the\u00a0<\/b>legislation will finally reach Governor Maura Healey\u2019s desk and close a loophole that nearly every other state long ago addressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s taken too long,\u201d said state Senator John F. Keenan, a Quincy Democrat who has pushed to fix the issue. \u201cFor all those that have come forward, it will show that they\u2019re being heard. . . . We also hope we send a message that this behavior is not acceptable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Revenge porn is a form of abuse that advocates say follows survivors for years on social media and online, yet for so long carried none of the same penalties as other crimes. Dozens of states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam, have acted in recent years, creating laws that make it illegal for former partners and others to disseminate sexually explicit images of another person without consent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, just two outliers remain, according to the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative: South Carolina and Massachusetts.<\/span><\/div>\n

It\u2019s an ignominious designation that former governor Charlie Baker\u00a0repeatedly wielded<\/a>\u00a0as part of\u00a0<\/b>his push to outlaw revenge porn during his final year in office. But while the House passed language in May 2022, the measure stalled in the Senate,\u00a0incensing survivors<\/a>. The chamber later embraced its own version in the final days of the legislative session, but lawmakers gaveled out in January 2023 without a deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawmakers appear more aligned this time. Both chambers\u2019 version would make it a crime to knowingly distribute sexually explicit video or images \u2014 including \u201cvisual material produced by digitization\u201d \u2014 either with the intent to harass, coerce, intimidate, or cause emotional distress, or to do so with \u201creckless disregard for the depicted person\u2019s lack of consent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those convicted would face up to 2\u00bd years in jail and a $10,000 fine, while those guilty of second or subsequent offenses could face up to 10 years in prison and $15,000 in penalties.<\/span><\/p>\n

The legislation would also expand on past proposals by adding \u201ccoercive control,\u201d to the definition of abuse, making it illegal to limit a person\u2019s activities, isolate them from friends or family, or threaten to publish sexually explicit images.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawmakers supporting the legislation\u00a0<\/b>have argued that legal precedent currently ties\u00a0<\/b>the hands of police in pursuing many revenge porn cases. The state\u2019s criminal harassment statute requires that prosecutors prove someone engaged in a \u201cknowing pattern of conduct or series of acts\u201d \u2014 or three or more incidents, according to a 2005 Supreme Judicial Court ruling \u2014 to be charged.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\""It\u2019s
“It\u2019s taken too long,” state Senator John F. Keenan, a Quincy Democrat, said of outlawing “revenge porn” in Massachusetts.\u00a0<\/span>PAT GREENHOUSE\/GLOBE STAFF<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Yet, it only takes a single image or video posted online to sabotage someone\u2019s life. Alex Hagerty, a former Abington selectman, said he felt \u201clower than dirt\u201d when a former partner posted an explicit video of him the day they broke up roughly eight years ago. He didn\u2019t consent to making the video, and only learned it was online after a stranger messaged him on Instagram.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after Hagerty went to local police, he said investigators told him they could do nothing because \u201crevenge porn is legal.\u201d That, he said, devastated him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went out to my car, and cried and cried,\u201d Hagerty said. \u201cAnd I just thought of different ways I can take my own life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hagerty said it was his father and his friend, Alyson Sullivan \u2014 now a state representative \u2014 who \u201csaved my life.\u201d He has since testified at a legislative hearing on the need to update state laws to outlaw revenge porn, and has spoken to Keenan about the legislation. Hagerty, who was elected to the GOP state committee earlier this month, is planning to attend Thursday\u2019s vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe biggest thing people thought for a long time was, \u2018It isn\u2019t an issue.\u2019 And it really is,\u201d said Hagerty, adding that many who fall victim to revenge porn suffer in silence. \u201cI\u2019ve heard of people who have taken their lives because of this; I nearly took my own life because of it. The idea that this isn\u2019t a problem, it\u2019s close-minded.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hema Sarang-Sieminski \u2014 deputy director for Jane Doe, Inc., an advocacy group that works against domestic violence and sexual assault \u2014 said when the legislation collapsed at the finish line of last session, the feedback she and other advocates got from lawmakers \u201cwas that there wasn\u2019t enough survivor outrage or input into why this is so necessary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That surprised her. \u201cHonestly, from what we saw, there certainly were survivors who spoke up early and often about this issue throughout that session,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, she said there has been \u201creal mobilization\u201d behind a bill this year. \u201cIt felt like we\u2019re at a place where survivors are leading the demands for these protections,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spencer, the Fairhaven woman who discovered videos of herself a decade after they were posted, has appeared on\u00a0national television<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0podcasts<\/a>, hoping her story could help spur legislative changes. Should it finally happen in her home state, \u201cI\u2019ll probably break down and cry,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to do something for me. I get no justice,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if my story helps a little bit for this to pass, at least what happened to me made something happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Stout Globe Staff,Updated March 20, 2024,\u00a04:46 p.m. When Katelynn Spencer discovered in 2020 that two videos of her had been uploaded to a pornographic website, they had already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38724,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38723\/revisions\/38724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janedoe.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}