CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 31Stalking, Cyberstalking, and HarassmentIntimate Partner and Family ViolenceSexual Assault and Victimization Studies

Image-Based Sexual Abuse as a Means of Coercive Control: Victim-Survivor Experiences

Open access
Henry, Nicola, Gavey, Nicola, Johnson, Kelly·2023·Violence Against Women
DOI 10.1177/10778012221114918
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Scholars and practitioners increasingly acknowledge the ways that abusive partners create, distribute, or threaten to distribute intimate images without consent, yet little empirical research has comprehensively explored image-based sexual abuse within intimate partner contexts. This article responds to this gap and reports on the findings of a study involving interviews with 29 women and one gender-diverse person who experienced image-based sexual abuse as part of a pattern of “coercive control.” The authors argue that abusive partners use intimate imagery as a means of exerting power and control, and as a tactic of intimidation, entrapment, and degradation. They note that law, policy, and practice responses should recognize the gendered nature of image-based sexual abuse and its growing use as a means of coercive control.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/10778012221114918

Cites

53 of 53 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Sextortion occurs in a diverse range of contexts, including intimate partner abuse, cyberbullying, sexuality or sex worker "outing," online dating, "cybersex," sex trafficking, online sexual exploitation of children, computer hacking, and organized crime.

    “Sextortion occurs in a diverse range of contexts, including intimate partner abuse, cyberbullying, sexuality or sex worker “outing,” online dating, “cybersex,” sex trafficking, online sexual exploitation of children, computer hacking, and organized crime.”

    From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Henry et al., 2023

  • Victims of sextortion often experience fear, humiliation, shame, and self-blame.

    “Victims of sextortion often experience fear, humiliation, shame, and self-blame (Henry et al., 2023; Mandau, 2021; Trendell, 2019; Walsh & Tener, 2022)”

    From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Henry et al., 2023

  • Sextortion can result in significant harms.

    “sextortion can result in significant harms”

    From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Henry et al., 2023

  • Sextortion is perpetrated by a diverse group of offenders, both known and unknown to the victim.

    “Sextortion can occur in a variety of contexts and is perpetrated by a diverse group of offenders, both known and unknown to the victim.”

    From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Henry et al., 2023

  • Sextortion can result in significant harms, inducing or exacerbating a range of negative emotions, including fear, anxiety, anger, humiliation, shame, and self-blame.

    “Sextortion can result in significant harms, inducing or exacerbating a range of negative emotions, including fear, anxiety, anger, humiliation, shame, and self-blame (Henry et al., 2023; Mandau, 2021; Trendell, 2019; Walsh & Tener, 2022).”

    From Sextortion: A Scoping Review (2025) · cites this paper as Henry et al., 2023

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Henry, N., Gavey, N., & Johnson, K.
Affiliations
University of London (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Violence Against Women
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2022-08-22
Volume
29
Issue
6-7
Pages
1206-1226
ISSN
  • 1077-8012 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-8448
DOI
10.1177/10778012221114918
OpenAlex
W4292573247
Cited by
31
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2
FWCI
7.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Violence Against Women (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion)
Funders
Australian Research Council (DP170101433)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
  • Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
Keywords
image-based sexual abuse, coercive control, intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, power and control, intimidation, entrapment
MeSH terms
Coercion, Female, Humans, Sex Offenses, Survivors, Policy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review