Derbyshire MP supports petition by resident to make it illegal to send 'unsolicited nudes'

The Conservative representative for Erewash Maggie Throup has given her support to the campaign started by Sophie Ingall which calls on the Government to make it an offence to send unwanted ‘nudes’.

While the petition only has 137 signatures so far and 100,000 are needed for the issue to be considered for debate in Parliament, the Erewash resident said that sending unsolicited naked pictures online is akin to flashing someone, which is already a recognised crime.

Sophie said: “I have, and every female I know has, been a receiver of unwanted photos of a male's genitals.

"Some containing captions like, "I know you want it", and "You can't handle this".

"This is a duplication of one pulling their trousers down in public, and uttering these phrases, otherwise known as flashing.

"If they get a criminal offence on record for this it could prevent them from developing into involvement in worse sexual offences.”

It follows statistics that show 41 per cent of women aged between 18 and 36 have reportedly received non-consensual sexual images.

Ms Throup added: “I am delighted to back this campaign, which has been set up by a brave young woman living in Erewash, following her own her own personal experience of receiving unsolicited sexual images.

“In recent years, the Government has made significant progress in this area, banning the abhorrent practice of ‘upskirting’ through the passage of the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 and ‘revenge porn’ through the Criminal Justice and Courts Act in 2015, and has made a commitment in this year’s Queen’s Speech to publish new strategies to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls and Domestic Abuse.

“Whilst these developments are to be welcomed, in an age where more people are now making contact online with people they do not necessarily know, it is important that Parliament continues to update the law to reflect the potential threats that this type of interaction poses.

“The forthcoming Online Harms Bill provides us with a golden opportunity to close the gaps and I have already held discussions with the Home Secretary about how a ban on these types of unsolicited images could be included in the legislation.”

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