Systemic failure: Online abuse framed as 'nudity' obscures consent violations and corporate accountability gaps
Original framing: “It's not just about nudity warns actress - the complex reality of images and online abuse” — BBC News - Technology
Black and disabled women report abuse at 2-3x higher rates than white, able-bodied women due to intersecting stereotypes (e.g., 'angry Black woman,' 'hypersexual disabled woman') that platforms amplify. Trans women face unique risks, with 50% experiencing non-consensual image sharing post-transition, yet their narratives are excluded from tech policy debates. Indigenous women in Canada and Australia describe how digital abuse replicates colonial-era image theft, with platforms like Google Maps profiting from unconsented photos of sacred sites.
The Chayn report exposes how tech platforms and mainstream media collude to frame online abuse as a problem of 'nudity' rather than a symptom of surveillance capitalism, where women—especially Black, disabled, and trans women—are treated as extractable data points.
This framing obscures the historical continuity of image-based violence, from colonial-era postcards to modern deepfakes, and ignores Indigenous epistemologies that center relational consent. The solution requires dismantling the platform trickster’s mask through binding regulations (e.g., interoperable safety standards), decolonizing data governance (e.g., Māori data trusts), and centering marginalized voices in algorithmic redesign. Without these systemic shifts, 'nudity' will remain a convenient distraction from the real issue: the unchecked power of tech giants to commodify women’s lives. The path forward demands a fusion of legal accountability, cultural reclamation, and technological humility—where consent is not just a policy checkbox but a lived practice across all dimensions of society.