It's already been a landmark year in the fight against image-based abuse [IBA]. At Glamour, we've been incredibly proud to be a part of the movement, led by Jodie Campaigns, the End Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition, Not Your Porn, and Professor Clare McGlynn.
In 2026 alone, the government has made it illegal to create deepfaked, sexualised images without consent, introduced 48-hour takedown orders for sites hosting abusive images, and announced plans to ban so-called ‘semen’ images. While such progress is encouraging, we need to know more about how these changes will actually impact survivors’ experiences, in particular when reporting to the police.
That's why Not Your Porn has partnered with the Centre for Women's Justice and Leigh Day Solicitors to create a short survey for image-based abuse survivors to better understand their experiences.
Elena Michael, the co-founder of Not Your Porn, says, "While the legal changes that Glamour and partners have been an essential part of are fantastic, we know that legal reform is only one part of the picture of tackling image-based abuse. The way we enforce laws is essential to regulating and also preventing image-based abuse.
“We need to not only listen to survivors' experiences but also make sure that our systems are practically addressing their needs. There is a data gap on how key institutions handle image-based abuse. #NotYourPorn, Leigh Day and the Centre for Women's Justice are gathering information to address that gap, furthering the fantastic work of survivors, campaigners, journalists, experts and academics that has already been done in this space.”
Leigh Day human rights solicitor, Claire Powell, tells Glamour, “Survivors of image-based abuse must be able to access justice, and a key part of that is the response and actions of the police.
“It should not be the responsibility of individual survivors to hold perpetrators or online platforms to account. That responsibility lies with the public bodies whose role is to protect our rights and freedoms, both online and offline.”
Harriet Bland, Solicitor at Centre for Women's Justice, adds, “We regularly hear from women who have been badly let down by police when reporting image-based abuse. The system needs to change. Understanding survivors' experiences – where and why things are going wrong – is the first step to making a real difference and helping survivors to get justice.”
The goal of the survey is to gather information to address survivor experiences and call for improvements. The survey is looking to capture both the experiences of survivors who have and those who haven’t reported to the police. The time survivors take to respond to the survey is truly valued, and we recognise that it may be a re-traumatising experience. Anyone who would like to discuss their experience in more detail or provide further information to the team is welcome to contact the partners directly at: IBAresponse@leighday.co.uk.
For more from Glamour UK's Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra or on TikTok at @lucyalexxandra.
