Quebec’s new law fighting revenge porn is a win for women, and it’s about time

If you’ve ever been the victim of “revenge porn,” or had someone unlawfully and without your consent share intimate images of you, Quebec has now made it easier to have those harmful images removed. 

A new law, Bill 73, now gives victims the legal means to speed up the process. A simple online form or judge’s order at a courthouse will force any person skeezy enough to engage in this behaviour to remove the images — or risk steep fines of up to $50,000 per day for a first offence, or an 18-month stint in jail.

We still live in a world that routinely shames and sexualizes women’s bodies. Therefore, for some, the non-consensual distribution of images is perfectly appropriate for public consumption. Revenge porn primarily affects women and teen girls and is very much a gender-based crime. It’s routinely used as a method of coercive control, with significant emotional, social and professional consequences for the victims.

I’m the furthest thing from a CAQ supporter, but in this case, the Quebec government absolutely got it right. This news, combined with the recent promise the Liberals made to introduce similar legislation, gives me hope that politicians are starting to wake up to the fact that these privacy violations are more than just unethical — they’re criminal and therefore punishable by law. ■

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Read more weekly editorial columns by Toula Drimonis.