What can you do if people send you unwanted explicit photos online? It’s complicated

Before Charlotte Morritt-Jacobs moved to Yellowknife to work as a reporter for a Canadian media company, she was warned about the explicit photos she would receive when making new contacts on Facebook. 

“It came fairly swift. I remember receiving messages almost immediately when I moved here, followed with some photos,” Morritt-Jacobs said.

The phenomenon, sometimes referred to as cyberflashing, involves accepting a new friend request on social media and shortly after receiving an unsolicited picture of their penis. 

Sharing her experience with other reporters in the Northwest Territories, Morritt-Jacobs said it was commonly discussed between women in the North, but never labelled as harassment. 

“I don’t think ever within conversation that I’ve had with others [people], whether they’re journalists or other women, we’ve used the term harassment,” Morritt-Jacobs said. 

“Unfortunately, the language kind of betrays the severity and with that, I’ve never necessarily felt like a victim or a survivor, and I don’t think many [other] women have necessarily felt that way either because it’s not chalked up to harassment — it’s just you know, something that women experience.”

“I had almost become desensitized” 

Great Slave MLA Katrina Nokleby is also no stranger to receiving unwanted explicit photos since joining politics in the Northwest Territories.

“Two years ago, my Facebook Messenger pops up on my computer screen and I can see that it’s a video, and I can see it’s a video of a man’s erect penis,” Nokleby said, noting the video was sent on her birthday. 

In February, the MLA gave a member’s statement in the Legislative Assembly about the issue.

“It wasn’t until I started speaking about it, and almost joking it off, that people coming back to me were saying, ‘You know that’s an assault,'” Nokleby said, comparing receiving the unsolicited photos to a stranger flashing their genitals in public.

“I had definitely become almost, like, desensitized to it or feeling like it was just part of my job that I was going to get this kind of attention.”

There is a belief that because the photos are shared through social media, and it is an online interaction that it is not as violating, the Great Slave MLA said, but that is wrong.

“It is actually, in some way, more violating. because when I leave my home, I leave with my armour up and my politician face on and I know that I’m going to be subjected to these things,” Nokleby said.

“But when I’m sitting in my home and it’s Saturday night and I’m relaxing with my cats, the last thing I expect is to get something like that.” 

Nokleby said she was inspired to speak out about the issue because she wants people to know, this type of behaviour is not OK.

But what is the law?

The Canadian Criminal Code has many laws for nude photographs. 

For example, laws against indecent exposure protect people under the age of 16 from being exposed to another person’s genitals in person or online; laws against voyeurism protect people who have a reasonable expectation of privacy from being recorded without their knowledge; laws against child pornography — including its making, distribution or possession — protect children; and there are laws against publishing or sharing an explicit image of someone else who has not given their consent. 

But sending unsolicited explicit photos has yet to be codified in the Criminal Code. 

Yellowknife lawyer Peter Adourian said it could fall under harassment in the Canadian Criminal Code, but noted it is an issue he doesn’t commonly see.

“I think it’s probably something that goes underreported,” Adourian said. 

“Because most people don’t necessarily think of it as a crime. They feel that it’s a nuisance and they’re disturbed by it but it doesn’t sort of scream out criminal matter.”

Laws exist around the world

While the issue has yet to be specified in the Canadian Criminal Code Law, it is not untrodden ground. Other places across the world have had laws in place for years. 

In 2009, Scotland criminalized sending unsolicited explicit photos in the Sexual Offences Act.

In September 2019, Texas passed House Bill 27-80, creating a criminal offence of unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit visual material. The law states that anyone who sends an image that is “not sent at the request of or with the express consent of the recipient” can be fined with a Class C misdemeanor.

The UK is also working on an Online Safety Bill to make “cyberflashing” a criminal offence, for which perpetrators can face up to two years behind bars.

The CBC asked the RCMP for comment, but got none by deadline. 

“It’s not often or common, I suppose, for us to see a criminal charge laid for somebody who just sends the image and there isn’t much more than that,” Adourian said. 

But if a person receiving the explicit photos wanted to pursue charges the lawyer says — take screenshots.

“Make sure it’s well documented and saved somewhere where you’re not going to lose those images … so that you can show the police and they have access as well,” Adourian said. 

‘Blocking and deleting’

Morritt-Jacobs has always remained professional when contacting people through social media, she said, but now has boundaries. 

“No, I won’t have a drink with you. No, I am not going to call you at one in the morning … I have no problem blocking and deleting,” she said. 

While the reporter has not pursued legal action, Morritt-Jacobs said the narrative surrounding online harassment needs to change.

“You know, just ignore it, just delete the message, you don’t have to respond,” she said, repeating advice she has been given about the issue.

“That’s putting the onus on the recipient of the harassing message and not the perpetrator.”