Published on: 29 March 2021
In the past few days, Students for a Safer NUS has been notified of the presence of new Telegram groups established for the purpose of engaging in image-based sexual violence (IBSV). Similar to now-defunct groups like the “SG Nasi Lemak” channel, these platforms with thousands of users are used to distribute obscene images of women as well as their personal information. We are aware that, alongside police reports, a petition has been made with hopes that they will expedite necessary action to shut down the groups. The link to the petition is here: https://tinyurl.com/SGTeleIBSVpetition
Any NUS student affected by these events can approach us or the channels listed in the last slide if they require assistance.
IBSV survivors, more often than not, tend to be women and may be subject to victim-blaming due to the nature of IBSV. This is dangerous as survivors are never to blame for having their privacy and consent violated. This also prevents others from believing in their experiences and, not only does it discourage survivors from finding support for their trauma, it could foster further feelings of both fear and shame, not just for survivors but others as well.
With the resurgence of these Telegram groups, it is imperative that we highlight how prevalent the issue of IBSV appears to have become in Singapore. The recurring nature of these groups, some with thousands of users, indicates the persistent and widespread phenomenon of IBSV in our society. This demonstrates how consent is either willingly breached or heavily misunderstood by not just individual perpetrators, but in a significant portion of our society.
The petition we linked to calls for proper investigation and punishment to be taken towards the perpetrators, but we have to acknowledge that this step is not enough. The “SG Nasi Lemak” group had over forty thousand members that partook in this, yet only four were arrested and ‘brought to justice’. We cannot focus on this as an individualised problem and one to be handled by punishment & deterrence, but we have to address it at a wider, systemic scale.
We encourage institutions, friends, family and ourselves to explore and engage in healthy discussions regarding sex and consent, to provide survivor-centric support for survivors of IBSV, and to look at the roots of the systemic and structural issues surrounding sexual violence, like a lack of consent-based education, understandings around setting boundaries and imbalances of power that contribute to sexual violence.
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