[LUM#7] Confronting revenge porn

[LUM Magazine] - Published on April 10, 2018 in Doctoral and HDR Training, Science and Society

These doctoral students in law saw their article win an award and get published in Le Monde. In it, Cécile Lefrançois and Clémence Vialatte explore "revenge porn," a devastating phenomenon that is still poorly punished.

Some rejected lovers are now resorting to a new form of revenge: posting videos or photos of a former partner, taken in private, on the Internet. Originating in the United States, this phenomenon, known as revenge porn, is gaining momentum around the world... sometimes even driving victims to suicide.

So much so that Cécile Lefrançois and Clémence Vialatte, doctoral students at the University of Montpellier, decided to explore the legal gray area that still surrounds these cases. In May 2017, when they decided to compete for the prestigious Guy Carcassonne Prize, which rewards an article related to constitutional law, they turned their attention to the subject of revenge porn. "This recent phenomenon raises important legal issues ," explains Clémence Vialatte.

Better legal framework

Over two intensive days, the PhD students wrote the article together... and won the prize, which included publication in Le Monde, beating 155 other articles submitted in France. Laurent Fabius, President of the Constitutional Council, presented them with the award in the presence of Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet. "We are immensely proud, especially since we were not working in our comfort zone, being specialists in criminal law ," says Clémence.

In their article, the winners call for better legal regulation of revenge porn. Since October 2016, the law has punished the distribution of a person's image or voice without their consent"when it is of a sexual nature." The penalty? Two years' imprisonment and a fine of €60,000. This is a clear step forward, as revenge porn often went unpunished until then due to the lack of appropriate legislation.

450 friends

But this new law is flawed due to its lack of precision. "How do you define 'sexual nature'? " asks Clémence. "Are artistic nude photos, or photos of young girls who are clothed but posing suggestively, considered to be sexual in nature?" This lack of clarity could allow a litigant to submit a priority constitutionality question... thereby challenging the law. "Lawyers are also unfamiliar with this provision on revenge porn, which is buried in a very broad law," says Cécile.

Beyond the legal aspect, the young women wanted to alert young people to the violence of these acts. "Many young people take it lightly. For them, a photo shared with 450 friends on social media remains 'confidential'. They forget that it is fundamentally a romantic context, a relationship of trust," explains Cécile. The title chosen by the authors for their article clearly evokes this feeling of horror in the face of such sordid betrayal: "What remains of our love?"...

Keywords: doctoral students, Law, LUM#7, LUM Magazine, Company