Configuring Consent: Emerging Technologies, Unauthorized Sexual Images and Sexual Assault
| Published date | 01 April 2010 |
| DOI | 10.1375/acri.43.1.76 |
| Author | Anastasia Powell |
| Date | 01 April 2010 |
76 THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY
VOLUME 43 NUMBER 1 2010 PP. 76–90
Address for correspondence: Dr Anastasia Powell, School of Social Science, Level 4 Social
Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora 3086, VIC, Australia. E-mail: a.powell@latrobe.edu.au
Configuring Consent: Emerging
Technologies, Unauthorised Sexual
Images and Sexual Assault
Anastasia Powell
La Trobe University, Australia
Contemporary teens and young adults, often collectively referred to as
the .NET generation or the ‘digital generation’, represent the largest
proportion of end-users in the information and communication technolo-
gies market (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2007; Australian
Communications and Media Authority [ACMA], 2007, 2008). While there is
much written concerning the rise in pornographic and other sexual mater-
ial via the internet and mobile phones there is comparatively little published
work regarding the use of information and communication technologies for
the distribution of unauthorised sexual images, more particularly, where a
sexual assault has occurred. This article considers the issues raised by the
use of information and communication technologies in sexual violence and
the distribution of unauthorised sexual images. The implications of this
emerging issue are considered in light of existing and potential legislative
frameworks.
Keywords: sexual violence, young people, technology
The burgeoning development and use of information and communication technolo-
gies, or ICTs, is an increasingly evident feature of contemporary life. In particular,
technologies such as mobile phones, social networking websites such as Facebook®
and MySpace™, personal blogs and video posting websites including YouTube™are
ever-expanding, with young people (aged 14 to 34) representing the greatest propor-
tion of this consumer market (ACMA, 2008). Indeed, technology has arguably
emerged as a key medium facilitating the (re)production of selves and identities,
including sexual identities, in late-modern societies (Hall, 2000; Ho, 2003). There
is already a well-known association between the expansion of ICTs and the simulta-
neous access to, and indeed expansion of, pornographic and amateur sexual imagery
(see Barron & Kimmel, 2000). However, while there is much written concerning
the rise in pornographic and other sexual material, via the internet and mobile
phones, there is comparatively little published work regarding the use of ICTs for
the distribution of unauthorised sexual images, more particularly, where a sexual
assault has occurred.
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