Revenge Porn In Japan: 110 Reports In 1 Month Despite Countrywide Ban, Survey Finds

The act of posting sexually graphic images or video of former lovers to the Internet continues to rise in Japan, according to the results of a new survey that was released Thursday. Cases of so-called “revenge porn” were reported 110 times in the last month of 2014, Japan Times reported, and the majority of the victims were female.

The survey, which was conducted by Japan’s National Police Agency between Nov. 27 and Dec. 31, 2014, showed that the bulk of those posting revenge porn were in their 30s while most of the victims were in their 20s or older. Some of the men arrested charged with committing revenge porn in Japan offered a wide range of excuses for their behavior, according to the Japan News, including: “I asked her to come back to me, but she didn’t reply,” and “I got angry when I learned she was going out with another man.”

Masashi Yasukawa, chairman of the National Web Counseling Council, which is based in Tokyo and counsels victims of revenge porn, has offered some cautionary words for potential victims, saying in part, “People should avoid situations where they can be secretly photographed or refrain from posting private information and photos that lead to identifying [victims].”

Japan in November passed a countrywide ban on revenge porn after a male citizen stalked his ex-girlfriend before posting explicit sexual photos of her online and ultimately killing her.

Earlier this month, Twitter -- to which many of the social network’s users have posted such content – implicitly banned revenge porn from being tweeted, mandating in part that "You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject's consent." Facebook has also enacted a similar policy.

Revenge porn’s prevalence is also growing in the United States, and a Democratic California Congresswoman is planning to introduce a bill this month against the practice. "Today it's possible to ruin someone's life with the click of a button, by publishing another person's private images without their consent," Rep. Speier told Gizmodo last month. "Our laws haven't yet caught up with this crime." A bill to make revenge porn illegal in North Dakota passed overwhelmingly in the state’s legislature Wednesday.