Table 1 Data categorisation from adult RS-IBSA court transcripts (n = 19)

Social elements

 Actors involved

Offender; victim; third parties (victim’s child, offender’s and victim’s child, extramarital partner, victim’s parent, third party engaging in sex with the victim, male peers)

 Relationship between victim and offender

Committed partner, sexual partner, cheating partner (see Drouin et al. 2013); former sexual relationship; former dating partner; current dating partner; former domestic partner; current domestic partner; married; separated; in the process of separating; victim’s parent; mother-daughter; ex-partner-mother (victim’s) biological son; mother (offender)

 Circumstances

Dating/domestic relationship/marriage breakdown; victim initiates break-up; victim refuses to get back together; victim refuses to accept break-up initiated by offender; victim refuses to communicate with offender after break-up; victim takes action to have intimate photos taken down from sites; victim requests photos to be deleted on offender’s mobile device; extramarital affairs; victim does not find offender’s threats credible; victim refuses to pay sum of money to offender; victim does not know offender is in possession of intimate pictures/videos; victim sent offender images during online interactions before formalising offline domestic/sexual relationship

Approach method

 Confrontation

Offender wanted to get back together with victim; wanted to get victim to stop seeing new partner; wanted to turn daughter against her father; initiated break-up and moved on to date victim’s friend; threatened to disseminate images if victim did not stop contacting him; installed tracking app on mobile device; unauthorised access of victim’s unattended smartphone/computer/email/Facebook accounts; changed passwords; uploaded victim’s images from victim’s social media account

 Surprise

Offender possesses/still possesses victim’s images and/or has kept images not withstanding victim’s constant requests that the offender deletes them; non-consensual photography; intimate covert filming; consensually taken images disseminated without warning; breach of trust; sending victim’s images to victim as proof that they are still in possession of the victim’s images and are not afraid to post them publicly or to friends and family

 Blitz

Used victim’s intimate images (taken with victim’s consent and/or without victim’s consent); victim’s face fully identifiable in nude/semi-nude images; close-up images of victim’s genitalia and intimate visual recordings of victim engaging in sexual acts such as masturbation, oral sex and sexual intercourse; exploiting digital communications technologies and poor regulation of social media platforms; pornographic sites; victim leaving smartphone and computer unattended; victim not logging out of social media accounts on smartphone; knowing the victim’s social connections and how best to inflict harm on them through selectively targeting recipients (public, friends and family or victim directly); blackmail with or without a sum of money

Setting

 Location

Pornography sites; social media public groups catering to men seeking sexual services; work-based website; social media pages; a website of a corporation; smartphones; Facebook messenger; victim’s social media account; email; threats to post during physical meetings and via text messages; physical setting where victim was covertly filmed/photographed (with or without consent)

 More than one crime scene

Yes/no

 Time

Daylight; darkness

Interaction

 Victim reaction

Resisted; ignored offender; stayed in relationship with offender out of fear; complied to sexual requests out of fear; initiated steps to get images taken down from websites; sought legal help and intermediary services; filed police report

 Offender reaction

Used threats; ignored victim’s pleas not to disclose images; refused to delete victim’s intimate images; blackmail; negotiation; ceased to demand anything from victim; posted image on victim’s social media account Timeline (private settings) or sent image via instant messenger (IM) to victim’s family (e.g., son or daughter—can be minors, mother, etc.); repeated uploading of intimate visual recordings; bypassed threats

 RS-IBSA acts

Disclosing content to a specific target audience (victim’s closest family or friends, usually 1–2 individuals); disclosing content to a larger audience (victim’s friends or public) using multiple platforms; disclosing personal information such as direct reference to name, mobile phone number, e-mail; attaching a price tag of “$1” to each image; advertising victim’s body for sexual services (e.g., “She’s DTF boys”); disclosing victim’s intimate video recordings on pornographic site; offensive labelling of images or video footage (e.g., “Dirty whore” and “Slut begs for it in the arse”)

Other variables

 Disruption

Third party intervened/disrupted (friend of victim and witness during trial); victim sought help from police before images were posted; police investigating offender for other charges; offender (wife) tried to undo damage on victim (husband) and their child by confessing to lawyers and the police her unauthorised access of husband’s smartphone and FB account; changing passwords and disseminating intimate images using FB account

 Exit

Offender stops contacting victim; victim stops contacting offender

 Threats/force

No threats with immediate action; threats used (1-12 threats); threats severe enough to elicit victim compliance with sexual requests by offender and/or relationship continuation with offender; doxing to inflict the most harm on victim

 Tools/transport

iPhone with camera and image storage folder; smartphone with social media applications downloaded; smartphone with IM software downloaded (WhatsApp and FB Messenger); victim’s address book; victim’s browser history; pornography sites; email; work-based sites; social media (FB) public groups; privacy settings; tagging option; public groups catering to men seeking sexual services; smartphones left unattended by victim; passwords given to offender by victim; creating new social media account; websites and other digital (including social media) platforms allowing uploads of nude and semi-nude photographs; sexual videos and advertising for sexual services and with poor regulation policies for IBSA offences

 Post-action

Tried to comfort victim/be intimate with victim; concealed circumstances from police

Other

Potential “triggers” (date/sexual advance rejection, prior relationship break-up); prior alcohol and drug problems or convictions (e.g., driving dangerously or driving with excess breath alcohol, possession of drugs); prior history of domestic violence or convictions (e.g., male assaults female, breach of protection order); mental health problems (e.g., self-harm, substance abuse/addiction)