Simply explained terms
A lot of jargon gets thrown around these days, and especially if legislation has anything to do with it. Here's a rundown of key terms and their simple meaning.
Blackmail
Demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for not revealing compromising or damaging information about them.
Catfish or Catfishing
A person who created a fake online identity by using someone else's images or name.
Community guideline
A set of rules created platforms to ensure a standard of behaviour expected on the platform to create a safe environment for users
Conditional consent
Consent is granted under specific conditions
Consent
To agree to something
Copyright
This literally means the right to copy but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work.
Deepfake
This is where technology is used to import an image of a face onto the body of sexual content.
Doxxing
is the act of revealing identifying information about someone online.
DMCA
Stands for 'Digital Millennium Copyright Act', this covers the offence of sharing copyrighted materials.
Emotional labour
Often unrecognized and unappreciated emotional work performed to maintain relationships.
Evidence
Information and facts which can prove something to be true or false.
Fappening
This term was coined after a series of celebrities had cloud storage accounts hacked and their private sexual images 'leaked' online.
Harassment
Harassment is repeated behaviour that is intended to cause distress.
Impersonation
Pretending to be another person
Informed consent
Permission is given when sober, clear-headed and free from duress, while fully knowledgeable about the benefits and risks involved. All parties should retain the right to end the arrangement at any time.
Intimate image abuse
The act of sharing intimate images or videos of someone, either on or offline, without their consent.
Moderator (or mod)
Someone who closely follows a conversation to ensure safety. This can be either the website/platform or someone you to trust to help with this.
Offence
Breaking a law or a rule.
Outing
When someone reveals something about another person without their permission, such as their sex worker status or sexuality.
Private
The legal definition is: 'Something that is not of a kind ordinarily seen in public'.
Prohibited
Something that has been forbidden and or banned.
Safe words
A code word or series of code words used to signal approaching physical, emotional or psychological boundaries usually during BDSM activities.
Sexual
The legal definition is: 'Something that shows all or part of an individual’s exposed genitals or pubic area'.
Sextortion
Also known as ‘webcam blackmail’, is when intimate images and videos are recorded and used for financial exploitation and coercion.
Sex work clients
Persons exchanging money, goods and/or shelter in exchange for labour that could be considered sexual or erotic in nature.
Stalking
A pattern of fixated and obsessive behaviour which is repeated, persistent, intrusive and causes fear of violence or engenders alarm and distress in the victim.
Stealthing
Removal of a condom during sexual activity by one partner without the knowledge or consent of the other sexual partner. This should be considered rape and PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) should be obtained after stealthing.
Trolling
Online malicious behaviour, usually targeted at a specific person. “Trolls” seek to provoke, upset and harm others via inflammatory messages and posts.
Upskirting
This is the criminal act of operating recording equipment beneath someone's clothes with the intention of seeing the buttocks, genitals or underwear of the person recorded.
URL
Stands for 'Uniform Resource Locator', this is the address of a webpage.
Violation
Something that breaks a rule
Voyeurism
The offence of recording a private or sexual image or video without their knowledge or consent for sexual gratification.