LIBERTY, Mo. — The online fad of “revenge porn” involves the posting of risqué photos to get even with one’s former significant other. To the surprise of some — it isn’t against the law locally.
One victim from Cass County is asking lawmakers to change that.
Alecia Crain calls it the most humiliating moment of her life. On February 20, the 40-year-old mother of two from Harrisonville got an email, claiming someone had done something “nasty to her.”
Crain said the email led her to a website, where nude photos of her had been posted, but she hadn’t posed for them, or given permission to post them. Since then, she’s worked day and night to get those so-called “revenge porn” photos off line.
“Instantly, I hit the ground,” Crain said, remembering her shock.
Crain remembers that morning in February. She says she walked out of her shower to find an estranged ex-husband recording her with a video camera. She says she’d recently obtained a restraining order against the man.
“I opened the shower curtain, and there he was and he was taking photographs,” Crain said.
Seven days later, Crain learned the pictures had been posted on a website called MyEx.com as a means of revenge.
“Once I clicked on the link, I then realized that these pictures existed,” Crain said. “They were connected to my professional network, LinkedIn, as well as my personal network, Facebook.”
Crain said she was mortified to learn the photos were seen by thousands of people, and it’s cost her friends and business opportunities.
“Even if it was lovers exchanging photos, and they trusted and were flirting, you still don’t have the right to take someone hostage or punish them,” Crain said.
Crain says her efforts to encourage Missouri lawmakers to make revenge porn illegal has carried to the state house in Jefferson City. State Representative Kevin Engler even sponsored a bill to make this against the law.
Liberty resident Diana Johnson is a licensed therapist who says what Crain is experiencing is a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Johnson says the revenge porn fad is widespread and destructive to its victims.
“It’s never going to go away. It’s harder with different kinds of trauma and abuse,” Johnson said. “You have the event or an ongoing event, but this event is going for the rest of her life.”
Revenge porn is illegal in only nine states. Crain wants Kansas and Missouri lawmakers to follow the example of those in Arizona, the state that made it a felony sex crime earlier this year.
That Missouri house bill we mentioned didn’t advance past the House vote in April. We contacted the office of Rep. Engler for an explanation — but our calls weren’t returned.
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