Image-Based Sexual Abuse in the Workplace: Examining the Effects and Responses of Professional Women
Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Bishop, Carol Mills
Abstract
Although the sensationalized term “Revenge Porn” is used by media outlets to spark conversation about consent and digital privacy, the nonconsensual distribution of intimate media, or “image-based sexual abuse” (IBSA), is the preferred term by scholars for its more accurate depiction of the variety of modes, methods, and damages. I argue that targeted women experience many of the same damages to their socioemotional, interpersonal, and professional well-being that targets of traditional, offline, sexual violence experience, and that the nature and affordances of digital technology often allow these harms to transcend the once isolated contexts in which offline cases of sexual violence occurred. Moreover, regulatory bodies often trivialize and dismiss IBSA, deeming it inconsequential despite the devastating professional and socioemotional effects targets experience. This research explored a) how women navigate and respond to IBSA in the workplace when boundaries of personal and professional identities are crossed nonconsensually and whether demographic differences influence approaches via fifteen interviews with IBSA targets and two organizational leaders. The findings revealed that organizational environment and attitudes were the most influential factors in female employees' decisions to report, and in turn, employee turnover, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Demographic characteristics, such as age and gender, influenced how and from whom targets sought informal, or emotional support. Therefore, this research demonstrates the need for, IBSA and its impact to be foregrounded in how traditional sexual violence and harassment are dealt with. Finally, to extend the IBSA and workplace sexual harassment literature further, I argue for the importance of an organizational climate that is not only understanding, but supportive of IBSA targets in establishing appropriate training, regulations, and policy for sexual harassment both online and offline, structured around target support, prevention, and bystander intervention.
Extent
233 p.
Recommended Citation
Stewart, Veronica Tyler, "Image-Based Sexual Abuse in the Workplace: Examining the Effects and Responses of Professional Women" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present. 1435.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/1435
Identifier
FA00014389
Comments
Includes bibliography.|Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.