The Texas appeals court has blocked the earlier revenge porn law [the Relationship Privacy Act, SB 1135(2015)] due to Constitutional concerns. The law previously prohibited the promotion or disclosure of intimate images without obtaining consent from the individual(s) depicted.

Lawmakers intended SB 1135 to stop revenge porn. It covered those images taken in circumstances in which the individual depicted in images might have reasonable expectations that the images or materials would be kept private.

What's Revenge Porn?

Revenge porn concerns the unauthorized release of intimate images arising from a relationship to the public. It also encompasses the capture of unlawful distribution of these intimate erotic images, regardless of the offender's relationship to the victim. It may also include faux nude images.

Lawmakers argue that an offender's act of revenge porn may be viewed as a type of sexual assault because of its possible impact on victims.

In other countries like Israel, revenge porn offenders face stiff laws. In fact, the offender is prosecuted as a sexual offender in Israel.

Of course, Texas law makes important distinctions between the ways in which the physical sexual assault victim differs from the revenge porn victim.

Importantly, not all revenge porn victims are female. In fact, women and men report image-based abuse.

According to Forbes, about five percent of females and three percent of males report non-consensual sharing of online intimate images.

U.S. Data Research and Institute (2016) reports that one out of 25 Americans online have been victimized by another person's posting—or threats about posting—naked or nearly nude images without his or her permission. Read more